Is Tim Cook Right? Are Apps the Future of TV?
Yesterday, to the fanfare of cord cutters and yes, even cord lovers, Apple announced its first update to the Apple TV in three years. The new Apple TV looks similar to the old device, a slim black box, but the new one boasts better guts, a faster processor, a sleek new remote, voice command capabilities, and perhaps most importantly, access the new tvOS App Store filled with specialized Apple TV apps. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook may have delivered a bit of puffery and salesmanship for the sake of the press event (after all, Xfinity’s X1 already offers voice command), the new Apple TV through its
U.S. Open Tennis Kicks Off Under ESPN
In the opening week of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, audiences will start to get a glimpse of what ESPN has to offer as the tournament’s exclusive live TV network carrying the event. This year marks the first of the next 11 years in which ESPN has exclusive live coverage of the U.S. Open, according to a deal made between the network and the U.S. Tennis Association, with the Tennis Channel given rights to re-air outside of the live window. ESPN also has rights to the complete coverage of Wimbledon and the Australian Open. “We found that this is an absolute winning formula, to be able to
The Real Cost of Amazing Television
When evaluating the value of a product or service, one common measurement is the amount of the purchase weighed against the time spent using the service. When it comes to cable’s video service, this metric is called price per viewing hour. And at just 25 cents per hour, cable offers among the lowest cost-per-hour form of entertainment available. And the 25 cent price-point doesn’t even account for second-screen or on-demand viewing. Consumers are watching more TV every year. Nielsen reports Americans average more than five hours of live TV each day. We’ve talked often on this blog about the
Software Apps Are Changing How We Watch TV
If competition is the stamp of a healthy marketplace, than premium television competition is more than healthy – it’s downright fierce. Cable, satellite, telco and web streaming services are all fighting for subscribers. We have options for watching TV via linear programming, on demand and DVR viewing, TV Everywhere services and software apps for all of our devices. We can choose robust channel bundles, lighter bundles, channels a la carte and even individual programs. And thanks to the flexibility of IP based services, these devices and services will be able to quickly change to offer yet
Comcast Changing the Customer Experience with New Live Streaming App
In May, Comcast launched to a limited number of it’s X1 users Xfinity Share, an iOS and Android app that allowed customers to live stream video and send photos and recorded videos directly to their TVs and to each other. Now, all X1 customers have access to the app. As Comcast VP of Communications Patti Loyack said upon the launch in May, “[Xfinity Share] gives the power to share special moments in their lives as they happen…[letting] users broadcast whatever they see in real time to the biggest screen in the home.” The app was met with wide enthusiasm, allowing an all-new way to take
Univision and Common Sense Media Team Up to Connect Hispanic Families
This past summer at the International Society for Technology in Education conference, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel spoke about how 70 percent of teachers today assign homework that requires kids to go online. A statistic like this poses a challenge for many families who don’t have access at home, and widens the homework gap for those kids who are not connected. Seeing these challenges, particularly among its targeted Hispanic audience, Univision Contigo and Common Sense Media have partnered to launch the campaign, “¡Avanzamos Conectados! (Connected, We Advance).” Maria O Alveraz, the
Cable Continues to Make Diversity a Priority
As an industry that reaches all ethnicities, cultures, and economic classes across the country through a wide array of cable programming, Internet and technology services, one of the hallmarks of the cable industry has been its longstanding commitment to diversity. This may sound like an oft-used corporate talking point but when you take a closer look at how the industry has become such a staunch supporter of diversity organizations, programs and initiatives, it rings true. Cable’s annual Diversity Week will be held next month in New York City where organizations, business leaders and
What Last Week’s Political Debate Says About TV Viewership and Digital Coverage
While last week’s Republican prime-time debate on Fox is now old news, the fact that it was the most-watched nonsports event in cable-television history says something about politics and TV-viewership – namely that political debates still hold a very important place on television and in the political process. According to Nielsen, 24 million viewers watched the debate, which is more than double the average crowd that tunes into AMC Networks’ The Walking Dead (10 million viewers per episode), also known as the most watched series in cable television history. “The way we view television and
How to Launch and Grow a New Cable Network
New cable networks don’t pop into existence at random. There’s a process. Cable gives birth to new networks in a variety of interesting ways. There’s the buyout technique, in which one network purchases an existing channel and launches in its place. That’s what happened when Al Jazeera America assumed Current TV’s spot on the channel lineup in 2013. There are networks that spin off from existing channels, such as TeenNick, and FXX, sibling of the FX Network. Then there’s perhaps the most challenging method – starting a new network from scratch. Channels like Revolt TV, the music channel from
Adobe Offers a Peek into the Future of TV Everywhere
I recently talked with Horia Galatanu, senior product manager for Adobe, to learn more about Adobe’s role in TV Everywhere, how the TV Everywhere model is evolving, and where the future of the business is going. Read on for a few highlights from the interview. FD: What do you do for Adobe in regards to your contribution towards TV Everywhere? HG: I manage the product formerly known as Adobe Pass TV Everywhere, now known as Primetime[customers include Turner, ESPN, NBCU, Fox, Disney, Viacom, and Comcast]. I manage the authentication part for Primetime, which connects the programmers to a system