The Change Mariner: Category: Area - Tech

March 19, 2004

Three Reasons TiVo Will Die

Yahoo! News: #1: Moore's Law The first one, ironically, derives from the same technology that enabled TiVo to live in the first place: Moore's Law. As chips got powerful enough and hard drives cheap enough, the PVR was inevitable. But...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:05 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 15, 2004

Comcast, Disney & The Video On Demand Future

Denver Post: It's too early to guess the outcome of the hostile takeover bid for the House of Mouse. Comcast, a company feared and loathed in this market and others as the industry Bigfoot, wants to merge with Disney, the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:58 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 9, 2004

How Home Theaters Are Transforming Entertainment

New York Times: The VCR and the DVD player have changed where and how Americans watch movies, and now home theaters are further transforming the experience. As setups like the Slotkys' become commonplace, TV watching is becoming more of a...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 6, 2004

Nielsen Media, TiVo Sign Agreement

USATODAY.com: Nielsen Media Research, the company that measures television viewership, signed an agreement Thursday with TiVo to provide information on digital video recorder usage. Television networks, concerned about declining ratings, have complained that Nielsen's measurements don't reflect the growing use...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:15 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 5, 2004

Corning To Invest $600 Million In LCDs

Techweb: Corning Inc. is making a $600 million investment in its liquid crystal display glass substrate manufacturing process to take advantage of the boom in flat-panel computer monitors and television sets. The company said the investment will be in stages...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:31 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 4, 2004

Janet Jackson's Bare Breast Tops Internet Searches

Reuters: A flash of singer Janet Jackson's right breast during a halftime Super Bowl performance has become the most-searched image in Internet history, online companies said on Wednesday. Jackson's unscripted flash of flesh during Sunday's Super Bowl halftime send Internet...

Posted by Jennifer King at 2:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 17, 2003

Intel Expected to Make Chips for Digital TVs

Yahoo! News: Intel wants to get inside your television. The world's largest microchip maker will soon unveil plans to make chips for digital televisions, opening a fast-growing market to a company that dominates the computer chip business, an industry...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:27 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Intel Digital TV

New York Times: The Intel Corporation is planning to do to digital television what it has already done to computing. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens on Jan. 8, Intel is expected to disclose the development...

Posted by Bob King at 8:34 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 13, 2003

Subscription Video On Demand

CBS Marketwatch: If you've wondered what the video-on-demand television universe might look like once it's fully integrated, Glenn Britt is in one of the best positions to tell you. Britt, the chairman of Time Warner's cable unit -- the nation's...

Posted by Bob King at 2:24 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 1, 2003

Digital broadcasts mark fledgling debut in Japan

JapanTimes: With signs that say "Digital is coming!" hanging in stores packed with new TV models promising dazzling imagery, Tokyo's bustling electronics shopping district in Akihabara is one place in Japan that's gung-ho about digital television broadcasting that began Monday....

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 8:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 30, 2003

Changing Face of TV Sets: More Options, More Compact

NYT: ... While the average TV set lasts about 11 years, families typically buy a new set every three or four years, industry officials say. Over all, Americans are expected to buy 30 million televisions this year, at a rough...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 2:17 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 28, 2003

SBC calls action for Movielink rentals over broadband

ZDNet: SBC Internet Services is promoting an online video-on-demand service from Movielink, in the hope of luring new customers to its broadband access with film rentals. The high-speed Internet access provider, a unit of SBC Communications, has teamed with Movielink...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 26, 2003

Arabic TV Networks Co-operating with Insurgents in Iraq?

BBC: United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he has seen evidence that two Arabic TV networks have been co-operating with insurgents in Iraq. He said both al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera had been in "close proximity" to attacks against coalition forces,...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:07 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Muslim Politics: The impact of cable TV

UPI: Open societies are emerging in the Islamic world. This is mainly due to cable television, the Internet, and mass education, according to Dartmouth College anthropologist Dale F. Eickelman, who has observed new ways of thinking as a result of...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:46 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 24, 2003

WGBH-TV Rolls Out Digital Asset System to Position for Convergence

TVWeek: PBS flagship station WGBH-TV in Boston unveiled a digital asset management center earlier this month that is designed to serve as a test lab for the television industry. The multimillion-dollar facility is also critical to the future of WGBH...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:00 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 23, 2003

Little Outcry From Viewers as Rates Rise for Cable

NYT: ...A recent report by the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, shows that the average monthly rate for what the industry calls expanded basic cable service is $36.47. That is up 40 percent since 1997, when the...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Chinese TV firm poised to bypass Sony

Rutland Herald: Only two decades ago, it was a small electronics workshop in a warehouse. Now, it�s an industry powerhouse poised to displace Sony Corp. as the world�s No. 1 television maker. The growth of TCL is a homegrown success...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 3:58 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 21, 2003

Device Could Enable Massive Bandwidth for CableCos

DetroitNews.com: ...Pace Micro Technology unveiled at cable's annual convention here what it calls the "world's first" inexpensive digital-to-analog signal converter. These devices, about the size of two cigarette packs, could enable cable systems to transmit lots of high-definition TV (HDTV),...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 6:58 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Ad biz fears Nielsen is playing monopoly

Variety: The broadcast networks aren't the only ones complaining bitterly about Nielsen Media Research these days. In an unprecedented move, Madison Avenue has asked federal regulators to examine whether the ratings company engages in monopolistic practices.......

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 6:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 19, 2003

New Asian-American TV Targets Youth and Rapidly Growing Minority Youth

Miami.com: ... Stir, a 30-minute magazine-style show, is scheduled for broadcast nationally by the International Channel early next year. Shot in a bright, zippy style, the aim is to provide entertaining, Asian-American spins on topics like sports, the gender divide...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

75 Percent Kids Watch TV, Play Games Everyday in Canada

CBC: A new study reports that many watch R-rated movies and play video games filled with violence, theft and prostitution. The kids told the people doing the study that 75 per cent of them watch TV every day. The study,...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:08 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 17, 2003

ITV's Future Could Hinge on DirecTV

TVWeek: Cable operators aren't convinced that interactive TV has got the goods, even though competing satellite service DirecTV will aggressively launch ITV in the not-too-distant future. That's the finding of a Yankee Group study released last week outlining expectations for...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

DirecTV Drops OpenTV's Wink Interactive Service

TheStreet.com: OpenTV said Thursday morning that one of its interactive television services would be dropped from DirecTV next month. DirecTV's decision to drop OpenTV's Wink service -- a move that will affect 10.4 million of the satellite operator's set-top boxes...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:25 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

FCC OKs 'broadcast flag' for digital TV

SiliconValley.com: The government Tuesday approved an anti-piracy mechanism that will make it harder for computer users to illegally distribute digital TV programs on the Internet. The goal is to speed the transition to higher quality digital broadcasts and ensure such...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:09 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 16, 2003

DVD Recorder and TiVO in One Unit - Here Comes the Portable Library

AlwaysOn: Ever wish you could save a TV show with your digital video recorder and take that recording with you to watch elsewhere? Now you can with Pioneer Electronics' new DVD recorders. Besides playing and recording DVDs, they also incorporate...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 1:09 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 15, 2003

TV Comes to Cell Phones

PCWorld: Sprint PCS Vision customers can now see live news, catch up with the latest sports scores, or watch new music videos on their mobile phones through a new service called MobiTV, created by Idetic. MobiTV costs $9.99 a month...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:10 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 13, 2003

comScore Locates Young Men: 'They're Online'

MediaDailyNews.com: After reported sightings of 18- to 34-year-old men just about everywhere but network television, comScore Media Metrix finds about 75 percent of the men in the demographic are on the Internet - and they're spending more time there. Nearly...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:05 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 12, 2003

Broadcasters Pressed to Address PVR Growth

InternetNews.com: Broadcasters are beginning to feel pressure to reassess their business models as market and investment analysts note increased penetration of ad-skipping personal video recorders (PVR). Two reports this week, one from an analyst at SG Cowen and another from...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:52 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

DVRs threat to TV station owners?

AlwaysOn: TiVo and other digital video recorders have rapidly caught on with consumers, so much so that they pose a significant threat to television station groups not owned by one of the major broadcast networks. That assessment by James Marsh,...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:37 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Baby Media Booming

TwinCities: Meanwhile, the baby media market is booming. Baby Einstein, the most popular line of baby videos, which was bought by Disney in 2001, will release its 13th title this month. According to the Kaiser study, one in four children...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

PluggedIn: TV viewers find TiVo addictive

San Diego Union-Tribune: TiVo television recorders that allow viewers to replay programs and skip commercials have turned casual TV watchers into prisoners shackled to sofas, unable to keep up with the flood of their favorite shows. "For something that is...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:57 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

News Corp said to seek Russian satellite TV

FT.com: NTV, one of Russia's biggest national television networks, has been in discussions with Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation regarding the sale of NTV's satellite business, said two people close to the negotiations. Such a sale would come as...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:53 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 3, 2003

Internet, Video Game, DVD Use May Be Fueling Exodus of Young Male TV Viewer

TVWeek: ... Network executives witnessed as much as a 12 percent decline in persons using television levels for the men 18 to 34 demographic in the first few weeks, and as much as a 20 percent decline for men 18...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:55 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 2, 2003

Explosion in Electronic Media for Babies

NYT ... In the last five years, there has been an explosion in electronic media for babies and toddlers: "Teletubbies," the first television show for preverbal children; computer "lapware" for babies to play with while sitting in a parent's lap;...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:59 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 29, 2003

Flat-Panel Display Demand Surges

New York Times: Looking to the fastest-growing segment of the world television market, Sony announced Tuesday a $2 billion joint venture with Samsung, to produce liquid crystal displays, commonly known as flat-panel screens. With production to start in South Korea...

Posted by Bob King at 10:47 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 28, 2003

TVs to Be Able to Receive Digital Signals

Guardian Unlimited All but the smallest new televisions will have to be able to receive digital TV signals by July 2007 under a government rule upheld by a federal appeals court on Tuesday. The makers of TVs, VCRs and DVD...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 23, 2003

LCD Television Sales to Boom, Affordable from 2005

Yahoo! News: Sales of LCD televisions look set to double next year, but the explosive growth expected to propel the industry in the coming decade is still more than a year off, industry executives and analysts said. The new generation...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:28 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 19, 2003

World Series on TV for Russia

Moscow Times: When State Sports Committee head Vyacheslav Fetisov announced last month during President Vladimir Putin's visit to the United States that the World Series would be shown in Russia for the first time ever this year, the U.S. sports...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

September 21, 2003

A Torrent of TV Show Downloads

Yahoo! News: First music, then movies -- now Internet file traders have tuned in to television, going online to download their favorite shows. Web sites like Suprnova.org are doing for TV downloads what Napster did for digital music files. You...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 1:37 AM | See the full story

September 12, 2003

Interactive TV Enhances Ads

BBC NEWS: The last five years of digital TV in the UK have transformed viewing from a passive experience to one where viewers have far greater control over what they watch and when. A lot of this is due to...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:40 AM | See the full story

September 9, 2003

Comcast to Double Net Speed by End of Year

Yahoo! News: Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, on Monday said it planned to double the downloading capability of its high-speed Internet service by the end of this year to distinguish its product from competitors. "Our job No....

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 3:42 PM | See the full story

September 5, 2003

Internet to screen first premiere

CNN.com: The writer of Oscar-nominated movie "The Full Monty" is premiering his latest film on the Internet, in a world first. Simon Beaufoy's latest film "This is not a love song" is being streamed online as it debuts simultaneously in...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:29 PM | See the full story

August 31, 2003

Virtual academy is California's first for elementary students

San Francisco Chronicle: Nathan Dueck of Pacifica studied Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse in public school last year. This year in first grade, he'll explore the great religions. He'll read music in second grade, study astronomy in third and manipulate millions...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:51 PM | See the full story

August 28, 2003

Satellite cheaper than cable

WQAD: A new study from J-D Power and Associates says the average price of a satellite T-V subscription this year fell below that of cable T-V for the first time ever. The report shows that the difference between average prices...

Posted by Bob King at 9:12 AM | See the full story

The Change Mariner Area - Tech - Television