Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been waiting for cable companies to offer a la carte options, you’ll be waiting a pretty long time. Following comments made by three cable company executives during a panel at CES 2013 last week, it appears as though such subscriptions as a la carte options will remain a fantasy for at least five years, and likely even longer.

Verizon, DISH, and Starz Media are all well aware that many subscribers would love to cut their cable bills down and choose only the channels they watch most often, rather than paying one huge bill for hundreds of channels that will go unwatched. However, Dave Shull of DISH says that, because of various costs, he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon.

Shull said that two companies alone account for about 50% of the DISH’s cost for content, one of them being Disney. If DISH were to unbundle the channels, the cost of the priciest channels would be spread across fewer subscribers, which would mean much higher prices. Shull mentions that mini-packages of related shows, such as sports and family programming, that subscribers can pay for on top of basic cable are about as close to a la carte cable as the industry will get for now.

The panelists acknowledged that the high cost of cable is driving some customers to cancel their service in favor of streaming options. However, John Penney of Starz Media says that these kinds of streaming services will never give customers access to premium content, because an $8 monthly subscription isn’t enough to cover the expense of licensing top shows.

However, this doesn’t mean that other companies aren’t working on similar solutions. Intel was rumored to be introducing their own cable and web TV options at CES, and while we didn’t hear anything about that during the show, it’s possible that it’s still in the making. Of course, Apple could also have something in the works as well. We know they’re rumored to out some new TV hardware, but it’s possible they could have more cable options coming to Apple TV in the future.

[via Tech News Daily]

Cable subscription models unlikely to change in next five years is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 may face cable boxes edging in on their gaming turf if AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and others have their way, with the promise of cloud gaming delivered direct to TVs bypassing traditional consoles. Trials are set to begin later in 2012, insiders tell Bloomberg, with broad commercial launches in 2013 at the earliest; games would be more advanced than the simple casual titles currently offered by some smart TV platforms.

That would rely on the sort of cloud gaming technology already seen from startups like OnLive and Gaikai, where remote servers do the heavy lifting in terms of graphics crunching and powering environment-rich gameplay, and freeing up local devices to merely display the results of that processing. Rather than demanding that each subscriber have a $200-300 console, cable services could use internet-connected set-top boxes to display the streamed gameplay with minimal latency, navigated via simple controllers.

Unsurprisingly, none of the cable companies have been willing to admit they’re building up to an actual launch, though they’re making the right noises. AT&T says it is “exploring unique ways to offer cloud gaming services to our TV and broadband customers,” while Cox echoes that sentiment and claims it too is “exploring” cloud possibilities.

Although all are used to on-demand content delivery, they’re taking no chances getting cloud gaming right. Experts Playcast Media Systems, CiiNOW, and Agawi have all confirmed that they are in talks with US cable companies, though refuse to say which. Some of the cable firms are exploring using smartphones as controllers, further reducing the potential cost of entry to subscribers.

Meanwhile, console manufacturers aren’t standing still as smart TV solutions challenge their home turf. Microsoft already offers video content with Xbox LIVE, and will add SmartGlass to spread multimedia across multiple screens. More recently, Nintendo revealed Nintendo TVii, its new on-demand and TiVo-integrating home entertainment system based on the upcoming Wii U console, which will turn the GamePad tablet-styled controller into an advanced remote.

Cable cloud gaming to challenge Xbox, PS3 and Wii U in 2013 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

No matter what’s going on with Flash, Adobe is still pushing other technologies, and one of them is the one that powered NBC’s Olympics apps this summer, Adobe Pass. The company counted more than 88 million authenticated streams during the games, and its tech is behind apps for other networks like ESPN and Cartoon Network. Now it says it can make things better for cable companies and their customers to get viewing on mobiles with Adobe Pass 2.0, which includes technology like automatic authentication, which was tested on Comcast and Cablevision customers during he Olympics. We tried it then and it couldn’t have been easier, logging in while connected to your home network flips the switch based on IP address or MAC address, and then it worked at home or on the go, no password necessary.

Another feature rolling out is “Free Preview” which lets viewers watch before they’re finished logging in, while a Server Side API on the way should open up access to more apps on more devices. We’re not sure if that’s enough to stem the tide of cable cutting, but if it means more and easier to use viewing even when we’re not in front of the HDTV, then we’re for it. This is all a part of Adobe’s “Project Primetime” which it expects to roll out in full across iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS and other platforms later this year, check the blog post linked below and video after the break for more details.

Continue reading Adobe pushes TV Everywhere forward with Adobe Pass 2.0, promises easier logins on more devices

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

Adobe pushes TV Everywhere forward with Adobe Pass 2.0, promises easier logins on more devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For all the stuff that you’ve heard about Apple TV (the box) and the nearly mythical iTV, this is really the most important rumor. Never mind Siri on the TV, and other user interface chatter. Although very important, the user interface is only useful if there is actually something to watch on the big screen. And that’s exactly the first thing that Apple is trying to solve by negotiating with cable operators to let people use an Apple device as a cable set top box.

This is not unheard of: Tivo has done that for years, but Tivo’s problem is that it has much less option than Apple has to monetize its box. In short, there is no Tivo app store or eco-system that is comparable to what Apple has, or could have. On the surface, it doesn’t sound too bad for the cable folks, but things aren’t simple. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: GoPago equips local merchants with 4G tablets, for free, HTC Q2 profit down 60%,

Google and Rovi Corporation have announced a new patent licensing deal that will help Google offer a more complete fiber TV service. Google Fiber‘s TV service was announced last week as a part of its new fiber Internet offerings, and thanks to this new deal with Rovi, Google will have access to the company’s “interactive program guide patent portfolio” for set-top boxes. The announcement says that these patents apply to mobile and online platforms as well, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

The agreement signed today is a multi-year deal, and at this point, it’s unclear which exact patents Google has licensed from Rovi’s portfolio. What is clear is the fact that Rovi holds thousands of patents related to the world of digital entertainment in one way or another (the company itself counts “approximately 5,100″), so it wouldn’t surprise us to hear that Google didn’t have any choice but to sign this licensing agreement. Still, if it helps make Google Fiber’s TV service better, then we imagine paying licensing fees will be a minor detail to the Internet giant.

Google will be offering this new fiber TV service alongside its fiber Internet service, but it’s probably going to take some time for all of this to get off the ground. As of last week’s announcement, only Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS are confirmed to be getting the service, and neighborhoods – “fiberhoods” as Google calls them – will need to compete for the compnay’s attention. Google will be giving neighborhoods that post strong pre-registration numbers priority when it comes to installing service, and the initial roll out is set to last well into 2013.

Despite Google Fiber’s inevitable slow start, it’s good to see Google getting licensing agreements locked down so fast. Seeing as how this is a pretty big undertaking, this probably won’t be the last we hear of Google licensing technology from other companies. Keep an ear to SlashGear for more information, and be sure to check out our story timeline below for more information on Google Fiber!

Google Fiber signs multi-year patent deal with Rovi for TV service is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.