Following Amazons strong Q1 earnings, sources close to the e commerce giant have confirmed their development of a set-top box, which is set to release next year. Amazon’s progression into audience’s living rooms, following the introduction of their 14 original pilots and highly anticipated smartphone, means their keen to capitalize on audience’s changing behavior.

Tweet this: Ashley Swartz asks, “aren’t we already suffering enough from set-top box fatigue?”

My thoughts on Aereo.com

I finally got in on Aereo. For me its one of those things that just simply worked right out of the box as it were. Technology is so great when it just works. The service is good, I get local broadcast TV online, more importantly on my iPad. I know some networks are very upset with this but I'm not sure why. (Ted Rogers created an media empire this way.) It can't be because I might watch their network more than I do now. Is it because Aereo charges a fee for me to watch online? I guess. I bet the networks want a cut of that fee. That makes sense but I expect that situaton has been made overly complex. What doesn't make sense is threatening to pull your networks broadcast signal just to keep Aereo from carrying it on their service.

Xstream chosen as a Red Herring Top 100

Xstream the premium provider of OTT and TV Everywhere services and vendor of the award winning video management system, MediaMaker, today announced that they won the prestigious Red Herring Top 100 Europe Awards and thereby also listed among the World’s most promising Technology companies.

 At last year’s Upfronts, the big five networks saw an increase in spend of 2%, up from $8.8 billion to 9.3 billion, while cable networks where the ringers, seeing a 5% increase year over year. Yet, the drop in TV ratings, across all major networks, left programmers in a tight bind following the 2011/2012 Upfronts.

 Programmers must make good on their underdelivery of audiences, says Ashley Swartz, by getting creative with less ad dollars and turning out a greater profit for the coming year. Swartz says programmers in 2013 are now using the 2nd screen, OTT, and social TV space as currency; developing their own 2nd screen experiences, in a proliferation of TV everywhere apps., and independent check-in applications.

Did you ever notice that all EPGs look pretty much the same? Besides the logo that appears in the corner, all on screen programming guides are basically clones. Over and over again we see the same basic grid layout; time and channel axes populated with program titles or images. It’s basically a glorified spreadsheet. As much as I love Excel, it’s not the experience I’m in the mood for when I watch TV. Excel is for work. Finding something good to watch shouldn’t feel like work.

For decades, Rovi made a good living by licensing their patented grid layout to TV providers, but evidence is growing that very few subscribers ever even look at the grid EPG.

As you might know I am a confirmed Interactive TV enthusiast, having been in this industry sector since its very early days.   The main dificulty in Interactive TV has always been the ROI.  How do you make money at it?   For the Broadcaster and Operator it is fast becoming more and more clear, but they have to change their thinking with respect to this area of Television and embrace a change in direction.  Why?  Cost Saving without cutting head-count, service reduction can be achieved and an actual revenue generating service can be implemented.  This makes sense for the long term financial health of teh Broadcasters & Operators.   Companion Screen Interactivity (SaaS based) is a natural CAPEX/OPEX ‘cost-saving’ exercise.

A Lesson from the Super Bowl 

Fredio, a new free service for Smart TVs, has launched at CES.

The free app was demonstrated on various platforms, including LG and Samsung Smart TVs.

More at www.fredio.com

Press coverage at http://www.fredio.com/press_coverage.html

This is the first episode from my new interactive channel: 

Book Review TV

http://tmblr.co/Zdo0Ktbrsjkj 

 Do you remember taking two rolls of pennies to school to be like Fonzie's cousin Angie who stacked 40 quarters on his elbow and in one fell swoop caught them all in his hand? He was trying to set a world record and the boys in school were trying to impress the girls.

Back in the day, this was one of the ways people discussed their favorite televisions shows from the night before. "Internet" wasn't even a word in the mid-1970s, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wasn't even a gleam in his parent's eyes, and wireless phones, computers, and tablets were relegated to annals of science fiction.

In this session, we will discuss the evolving social trends and the effects they have on our decision-making process when it comes to content selection. Who should we trust when it comes to recommendations? Who are the most reliable "social" connections we can turn to for relevant opinions? Perhaps the popular concept of having everything "social" is not the answer for every aspect of our lives – does the future of everything truly lie in "social"?