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TV
December 26, 2012
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Pay-TV Subscriber Estimates 2013

Pay-TV subscriber growth to slow in 2013

By on December 26, 2012 at 8:15 AM.

Pay-TV subscriber growth to slow in 2013

The global pay-TV subscriber base is expected to top 900 million in 2013 according to recent estimates, driven largely by increased popularity of IPTV services and growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Market Research firm ABI Research says the global pay-TV market added almost 47 million net subscribers in 2012, pushing the global user count to 864 million. In 2013, however, the firm expects growth to slow as North American and Western European markets become saturated. More →

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TV
November 20, 2012
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Sony 84-inch 4K TV

Sony will give free 4K content that isn’t ‘goofy’ to everyone who buys its $25,000 4K TV

By on November 20, 2012 at 7:57 PM.

Sony will give free 4K content that isn’t ‘goofy’ to everyone who buys its $25,000 4K TV

If you’re one of the few privileged enough to be able to afford Sony’s (SNE) $25,000 84-inch 4K resolution LED TV, you can probably buy a few 4K resolution cameras and go to town filming your cat in Ultra High Definition. With over 8 million pixels to push, Sony’s 4K TV looks superb if the content is running at full 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. Of course, the price tag isn’t the only drawback for Sony’s 4K TVs — the lack of native 4K content. More →

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Business
September 27, 2012
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Apple’s downfall seen on the horizon

By on September 27, 2012 at 10:20 AM.

Apple’s downfall seen on the horizon

Apple TV Strategy Analysis

Have reports of Apple’s (AAPL) death been greatly exaggerated? Predicting the inevitable demise of the most successful consumer electronics company in the world is something of a pastime for many news outlets. Every leader eventually falls, of course, but predicting how and when is a sure way to attract attention. And so in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, an opinion piece proudly proclaimed that “TV will be Apple’s undoing.” More →

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TV
September 6, 2012
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Sony’s 84-inch LED TV with 4K resolution costs $24,999, ships in November

By on September 6, 2012 at 11:35 PM.

Sony’s 84-inch LED TV with 4K resolution costs $24,999, ships in November

Sony 84-inch XBR-84X900 4K TV Price

As if there was any doubt Sony’s (SNE) giant 84-inch 4K resolution LED TV would be expensive, Sony has finally priced its upcoming XBR-84X900 TV. The flat screen with a whopping 3840 x 2160-pixel resolution and integrated speakers will sell for $24,999. While Sony will start taking preorders for the TV beginning Thursday, September 6th, it won’t actually be available until November. Early adopters can find demo units at select Sony stores before deciding if 4K is worth the investment. Beyond the TV’s ability to scale 1080p content to 4K resolution, the XBR-84X900 also has SimulView (two-player gaming without split screens), full 3D with passive 3D glasses and large library of apps, videos and music services expected from a high-end HDTV. Sony’s full press release follows below.

More →

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TV
August 3, 2012
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Pay-TV didn’t lose 400,000 subscriptions last quarter – it’s more like 425,000

By on August 3, 2012 at 12:50 PM.

Pay-TV didn’t lose 400,000 subscriptions last quarter – it’s more like 425,000

Cable TV Subscriber Stats Q2 2012

A report on Thursday suggested that 400,000 American homes cut the cord last quarter, ditching cable and satellite television services to get their home entertainment elsewhere. A number of people argued that the massive figure didn’t account for the 275,000 subscribers that switched to AT&T’s (T) U-Verse and Verizon’s (VZ) FiOS service. What Reuters’s figure also doesn’t account for, however, is the estimated 280,000-300,000 subscribers Charter (CHTR) and Cablevision (CVC) are expected to report having lost during the second quarter. More →

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TV
June 8, 2012
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Big Brother is watching, and he wants to sell you a new car

By on June 8, 2012 at 11:45 AM.

Big Brother is watching, and he wants to sell you a new car

Intel Facial Recognition TV Ads

Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” painted a scary picture of the future in a number of ways. For privacy advocates, one of several nightmarish technologies used in the film allowed outdoor signs and billboards to play targeted interactive advertisements by scanning the eyeballs of passers-by in order to identify them. Such technology isn’t widely available yet, but Intel plans to take a big step toward a future chock-full of invasive ads when it launches a new TV advertising platform that makes use of facial recognition to target ads to viewers. More →

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Exclusive
May 30, 2012
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Apple to demo new TV OS at WWDC in two weeks

By on May 30, 2012 at 9:24 AM.

Apple to demo new TV OS at WWDC in two weeks

Apple iTV OS demo scheduled for WWDC

BGR has learned from a trusted source that Apple is planning to demonstrate a brand new version of the Apple TV operating system next week at WWDC. This new OS is said to be much more feature-complete than the current OS that runs on the Apple TV, and is apparently the one that Apple’s upcoming HDTV will run. Yes, that one.

More →

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Business
May 30, 2012
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Cook stirs the pot: Apple CEO on TV, Siri, upcoming products and more

By on May 30, 2012 at 7:45 AM.

Cook stirs the pot: Apple CEO on TV, Siri, upcoming products and more

Apple CEO Tim Cook Interview

Apple CEO Tim Cook opened up All Things Digital’s tenth annual conference on Tuesday evening and while no one expected any product announcements during his time on stage with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, all eyes were on Cook during one of his first public appearances as CEO. Highlights from the interview:

  • Cook believes the system that governs standards-essential patents is broken, and he says that Apple’s ongoing patent disputes with rival vendors like Samsung and HTC are a “pain in the ass.” We’re sure Samsung, HTC and other vendors targeted by Apple would agree.
  • While the company is considering killing off its social network flop “Ping,” integration with social services like Facebook will play a more important role in iOS moving forward.
  • Tim Cook would like to see his company launch products that are made in America.
  • Where Apple’s voice-controlled virtual assistant Siri is concerned, Cook made it clear that big things are coming in the next few months. “There’s more that it can do,” Cook said. “We have a lot of people working on this. You’ll be really pleased with the things you’ll see over the coming months. The breadth that you’re talking about… we’ve got some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this.”
  • Cook wouldn’t comment specifically on the upcoming “iTV” Apple is widely rumored to be readying for launch, but he did say Apple will focus more on the television market moving forward. ”This is an area of intense interest for us,” Cook said while speaking about Apple TV, noting that Apple has sold more than 2.7 million Apple TVs so far in 2012. “We’re going to keep pulling this string and see where it takes us.” Some reports suggest Apple’s HDTV will launch in the fourth quarter this year.
  • While he obviously didn’t get into specifics, the CEO mentioned that we can expect exciting new product launches from Apple in the near future. Apple’s annual WWDC convention kicks off next month and the rumor mill suggests we’ll see new MacBooks and iMacs unveiled with Retina Displays.
All Things Digital has posted a series of video clips highlighting various segments from the Cook interview that can be viewed on its site.
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Legal
May 25, 2012
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Dish sued by networks over ad-skipping Auto Hop feature

By on May 25, 2012 at 10:00 AM.

Dish sued by networks over ad-skipping Auto Hop feature

Dish Auto Hop Lawsuit

CBS, Fox and NBC have independently filed lawsuits against Dish Network, claiming its new automatic commercial-deleting service Auto Hop violates copyright laws; Fox even goes as far as to state that Auto Hop is “destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem.” Auto Hop is a feature launched recently for Dish Network’s Hopper DVR. When enabled, the free add-on allows users to automatically skip over commercials aired during prime time shows on each of the four major television broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. Networks took issue with the feature immediately, of course, and now complaints have been filed by three of the four affected networks, BGR sister site Deadline reports. Dish has already filed its own complaint with a New York district court seeking a declaratory judgement that its new service is “in full compliance with copyright law and its re-broadcast agreements.” More →

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TV
May 17, 2012
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Microsoft leading Apple and Google in TV race

By on May 17, 2012 at 7:40 AM.

Microsoft leading Apple and Google in TV race

Microsoft XBox TV

According to a new report from Forrester Research, Microsoft is leading both Apple and Google in the TV and home entertainment sector, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. While Apple and Google may control mobile, Microsoft’s Xbox entertainment system tops both Apple TV and Google TV according to the report. With the Xbox, Forrester analyst James McQuivey believes Microsoft is the farthest along when it comes to delivering users content through their television sets. “Using those metrics, Microsoft is in the lead, offering everything that matters: a growing content library, a convenient engagement path for millions of existing Xbox 360 owners, and a growing ecosystem of partners and developers eager to exploit the platform for their own purposes,” McQuivey wrote in the report. Microsoft has continued to add more content apps — such as Comcast Xfinity, Verizon FiOS and HBO Go — to the Xbox, alongside thousands of games. The software giant has shipped more than 66 million Xboxes worldwide, and Forrester estimates that half of all Xboxes in the United States are connected to the Internet. More →

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TV
May 16, 2012
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Sony and Panasonic in talks to make OLED TVs

By on May 16, 2012 at 7:30 AM.

Sony and Panasonic in talks to make OLED TVs

OLED TVs

Sony and Panasonic are reportedly in talks to develop the technology needed to mass produce next-generation OLED televisions, according to Reuters. The two companies would be playing catch up to their South Korean rivals, Samsung and LG, both of which plan to market 55-inch OLED TVs later this year. “Overseas competitors have gotten a head start in this area and I feel like they’re stepping into this too late,” said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan. “There’s no question OLED TVs are going to be the mainstream. The issue is price and size of the displays.” OLED panel technology, which Sony pioneered in 2007, provides users with improved picture quality, deeper color saturation with high contrast, and allows vendors to make TVs as slim as 4 millimeters that consume less power than traditional LCD sets. There is a barrier, however: current OLED TVs are very expensive — Samsung’s upcoming 55-inch OLED TV will cost $9,000 when it launches in South Korea in the coming months. More →

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TV
May 15, 2012
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The Holy Grail of TV: Dish's automatic commercial skipping angers networks

By on May 15, 2012 at 10:00 AM.

The Holy Grail of TV: Dish's automatic commercial skipping angers networks

Dish Commercial Skipping

Dish Network made no friends among the major television broadcasters last week, but it will likely pique the interest of tens of thousands of consumers in the coming weeks as news of its latest feature proliferates. Dubbed “Auto Hop,” Dish began rolling out a new commercial-skipping feature to owners of its multi-room digital video recorder, the Hopper. Currently compatible with recorded shows originally broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX, Auto Hop skips commercials automatically when enabled, with no action required by the viewer. Groups of ads are replaced by a single black frame for separation, and then the Hopper will skip directly to the next segment of the program. More →

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Internet
May 8, 2012
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LG to launch new Google TV this month

By on May 8, 2012 at 12:00 AM.

LG to launch new Google TV this month

LG to launch Google TV device in late May

According to an LG executive, the South Korean firm plans to launch an Internet-enabled Google TV in the United States the week of May 21st, Reuters reported on Monday. The company is looking to gain a larger share of the emerging smart TV market and defend itself against Apple, which is widely expected to unveil an HDTV later this year or early next year. “Production of Google TVs will start from May 17 from our factory in Mexico and U.S. consumers will be able to buy the product from the week of May 21,” said Ro Seogho, LG’s executive vice president of its TV business. The executive said the company will decide whether to expand its Google TV offering to Europe and Asia based on sales performance in the U.S. market. More →

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