Yearly Archives: 2013

The year is quickly coming to a close, and analysts are revealing their predictions for 2014. What does the year ahead hold for technology? Let’s take a look at the exciting predictions from Forbes magazine: More

Whereas in the past, over-the-top (OTT) and pay-TV were considered arch enemies, there’s been a shift within the industry in recent months. Now there’s a belief that the TV industry is moving toward a model that combines linear TV and OTT video. Just recently, during TiVo’s earnings conference call, CEO Tom Rogers said that the company has always believed that the merger of linear TV and OTT is where the future of TV will inevitably end up. More

Television, broadband and phone communications lost 687,000 subscribers during Q3, posting its worst 12-month stretch ever, according to Wall Street media analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson. Pay-TV troubles are likely due to the increase in over-the-top (OTT) video consumption. In fact, OTT experienced a growth in excess of 50 percent last year alone with companies such as NetFlix, Hulu, Apple, and Amazon driving the market past $8 billion in 2012, according to research from ABI Research. But rather than being threatened by OTT, operators can actually benefit from extending their reach to multi screen devices. More

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is crafting a bill that aims to level the playing field between tradition multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) like Verizon and AT&T and startup online video companies.  With his bill, Rockefeller, who has announced that he won’t seek a sixth term in 2014, wants  to grant those smaller companies the right to content from classic cable networks as well as that from broadcast networks. If it becomes law, the bill would benefit well-known over-the-top (OTT) providers like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, as well as more obscure startups like Aereo. At its core, the bill aims to reduce the stranglehold on exclusive content MVPDs have enjoyed for so long, opening that content up to online providers. More

Thanks to platform inconsistencies and challenges with deploying new technologies, TV Everywhere struggles to find a wide audience. But new functionality offered by the country’s biggest cable provider is hoping to break down some of the remaining walls. More

Cord cutters are a growing clan. In fact, it’s estimated that U.S. cord cutter households will reach 4.7 million by the end of this year. However, don’t be fooled by the lure of lower monthly costs, as streaming services have their many downfalls. Before you cut the cord, consider the following four reasons why you shouldn’t: More

Any consumer who frequently uses over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or YouTube can attest to the fact that at certain points in time, buffering can  put a serious damper on your viewing experience.

While the rise of the Internet has certainly opened up a world of possibilities, it has also perhaps brought along with it the rise of the impatience of the average OTT user. Whereas 10 years ago, no one would imagine it would be possible to stream a movie over the Internet in HD, today if that movie buffers for even five seconds, a watcher could become extremely frustrated. More

The line between traditional broadcast television and online multi-media content is increasingly blurring as consumers are fully embracing multi-screen viewing. In fact, today’s customers are demanding a more flexible viewing experiencing in which they can watch their favorite content from any digital device whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or laptop (also known as TV Everywhere). Because of this, the home networking industry has had a strong focus on multi-screen video. More

Will traditional pay-TV operators soon dominate the online subscription TV market as opposed to dedicated online services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime? The answer: yes. While over-the-top (OTT) content currently supplements pay-TV, the growth of online subscription TV will end the first phase of online viewing. In fact, although online subscription TV is still in its infancy, it will be the driver for OTT spending growth in the next five years, with global spending set to accelerate to $4.7 billion (€3.53 billion) in 2018, according to market research firm, Strategy Analytics. More

There’s a new set-top box entering the homes of pay-TV subscribers, also known as the home media gateway. While it’s currently just a small portion of the worldwide set-top box market, home media gateways are estimated to exceed 24 million units by 2017. More