Reuters has reported, and TechCrunch has now confirmed with an independent source close to the situation, that the European Union’s competition commission is approving the deal for Liberty Global to buy UK’s Virgin Media for $15.75 billion, first announced in February when it was calculated to be worth up to $23.3 billion with debt factored in. As we understand it, there will be no antitrust… → Read More
International cable company Liberty Global has struck a deal to acquire U.K. cable, broadband and mobile telephony company Virgin Media. Liberty’s approach was confirmed yesterday by Virgin Media but the pair have now put out a joint release confirming the acquisition and its terms. The stock and cash merger puts an approximate value of $23.3 billion on the deal. → Read More
How many iOS charger cables do you own? You know, the 30-pin connector that’s been packaged alongside every iPod, iPhone and iPad for as long as I can remember. Personally, I own seven. Each of my friends and colleagues has (at the very least) more than one of these wires. Essentially, if you’ve owned an iThing for more than a few months, especially an iPhone, you probably own more than one cable… → Read More
This is most probably the new iPhone cable posted by some folks at Shenzhen-based Veister, an iPhone accessories maker that is clearly trading Apple partner status for a brief uptick in visitors. → Read More
Microsoft just threw down at E3 2012. After exciting the crowd with Halo and Gears of War titles, the company unveiled new additions to the 360′s vast media offering. Don’t be distracted by the video game trailers: this is Redmond’s biggest news of the show. In fact the new offering could lead to a rival of the cord cutting movement.
The Xbox 360 has nearly always had an impressive suite of… → Read More
I remember when we first got cable, back in the late 80s I suppose, and even as a youngster one of my first thoughts was “man, do we really need all these channels?” That suspicion, that we were perhaps being sold the whole buffet when we knew exactly what we wanted already, only became stronger with time, and before long it was a running joke shared by many in the world. 500 channels and you end… → Read More
Seventeen years ago Wired published Neal Stephenson’s magisterial epic “Mother Earth Mother Board”, about the web of undersea fibre-optic cables being built to connect all of humanity. Well – almost all. Africa, again, was left behind. Until 2009, all of East Africa could only connect to the Internet over slow and hugely expensive satellite links.
Finally, two years ago, SEACOM laid a cable… → Read More
Nobody likes cable TV, although we all pay exorbitant sums for it to be piped into our homes. That is why the idea of being able to cut that cord (and related bill) and replace it with a variety of streaming video services from the Internet is so appealing. So far, however, you can’t quite yet replace what you watch on cable with Internet TV. But that day will one day come, and the gateway drug… → Read More
Today I got to see Time Warner’s Signature Home $200 a month service package offerings up close and personal at a loft they rented in fancy-pants Soho. The offering, which is comparable to their triple-play program except that you get 24/7 customer service including concierge-style phone service and installation techs who will spend up to three hours at your home setting up all your junk. They… → Read More
The Quirky Contort is basically a four port USB hub with a trick: it also acts as a cable organizer so after you plug in all your goodies you can keep them all wrapped up and neat. The device costs $29.99 for pre-order ($35 when it comes out). → Read More
In a post this weekend, I wrote about how the cable tv industry was finally stepping towards the cliff. And we’d learn more today when Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, reported earnings. Well, the numbers are out, and it’s not a surprise.
275,000 Comcast subscribers cut the cord last quarter. Its subscriber count is down 3.5% from the same quarter last year. To be fair, some of that… → Read More
Yes, you heard this before. The Death of Cable TV. Yet, it hasn’t happened. But now, so many disruptions are happening in the video space, cable tv is really stepping towards the cliff. Don’t expect the cable industry to just give up.
We’ll get some new insights next week when the largest U.S. cable operator (23 million cable customers), Comcast, reports its Q3 earnings and subscriber count. … → Read More
It’s not often that I need a cross-over Ethernet cable any more, since more networking gear has Auto-MDX on most ports, but every now and again I do need to dig out a cross-over cable. I usually can’t find one, and need to crimp a new one together, which I promptly lose when I’m done with it. If this happens to you, or if you happen to need an ATM cross-over cable or a T1 cable, you might be… → Read More
I’ve been living without cable since i got out of college. I have a decent television that is used solely for watching movies. Originally, those were DVDs. But last year I finally hooked up a Mac Mini to my TV, and now I enjoy Netflix Streaming and the occasional episode of something from Hulu. With Hulu Plus coming soon, and old favorites like Boxee, Amazon Video on Demand, and more does it even… → Read More
A young man rang Charter Cable to cancel his cable TV connection and maintain his Internet connection. Why? Because cable TV is an anathema to this generation’s vision of media consumption and/or it sucks. So he calls Charter and Charter informs him that he has to pay a $10 no-cable fee and he is told that soon Charter and the rest of the cable companies will control all streaming, thereby… → Read More
I’ve been angling to get rid of my TiVo and cable for some time now and I believe I’ve finally figured out a solution that works best for me. It involves a lots scripting, Sabnzbd, and HandbrakeCLI and I’ll tell you what I ultimately did next week once it’s stable but it seems to be working as well as can be expected for these sorts of hacks. I posit that the TV industry is… → Read More
Comcast is preparing to launch their new service, Homepoint, which will provide a VoIP handset with integration to email, news, weather, and other services. Wait, doesn’t my mobile already do that? → Read More
Last year, overall satisfaction with television providers was at the lowest level in 5 years. It seems however, that when J.D. Power tells the providers that they suck, they listen. And now, they seem to have actually turned it around. → Read More
Looks like Time Warner cable subscribers may someday get the option of the TiVo interface on their DVR boxes. According to Bloomberg, “TiVo is in talks to provide service through Time Warner Cable Inc.” although nothing specific has really been revealed yet. → Read More
You may recall that exactly one week ago, your old buddy Doug got all bonered up about NFL Network and Comcast finally reaching an amicable agreement. In particular, it was starting to sound like Comcast subscribers would not only get NFL network at no extra charge, but that we’d also get the very-excellent Red Zone Channel for free as well. I mentioned that it “seems way too good to be true” and… → Read More
It’s a sad fact that often the only face a content provider has to a customer is the lowly cable installer. It seems that more often than not, said installer is not the best representative to what could be a good company. Of course, I’m not saying all installers will set fire to a house, sleep on a customers couch, or perform a sloppy install, but when those infractions happen… → Read More
DISH announced today a net loss of 25,000 customers. The company blamed the loss of subscribers on a combination of economic factors and stiffening competition. Wall Street reacted unfavorably, sending the shares down in early trading. The stock price made up lost ground as the day went on. Craig Moffett, analyst at Bernstein Research, said: This is not pretty. It’s the first ever loss of… → Read More
Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable are all sniping at each other, emphasizing the minor advantages their overpriced service has over the competitor’s overpriced service. They’re trading whiny potshots over whether the fiber goes to the house, what “compression” means, and so on, when they should be doing that other stuff cable companies do, like throttling my bandwidth… → Read More
This is a little out of left field, but it could also be interesting. Time Warner Cable is planning on releasing a set-top box to its customers with a built-in cable modem to allow them to watch “Internt TV” on their televisions. The thing is, there’s no additional information on what this might be. Time Warner already has set-top cable boxes with full digital and HD… → Read More
Your friendly cable company may soon be carrying the SlingModem, a combination SlingBox and DOCSIS 2.0-certified cable modem. Basically, you’d only have to connect one coax cable to the box and you’d get your internet access, plus you’d be able to sling the cable signal right out of the gate. Sounds cool, I guess. SlingModem is one of Sling Media’s newest place-shifting… → Read More
In an earnings call today Time Warner reported that it was planning to spin off its Cable holdings, “under the right circumstances.” No specifics were noted but Time Warner Cable is obviously bolted on to the weak AOL and TW media holdings and not quite the best fit for a media company in the first place, synergy be damned. TWC had a $771 million in profit last quarter, which is pretty… → Read More
[photopress:fiostv_multi.jpg,full,center] Verizon’s petitioning the FCC to make it easier for customers locked into cable monopolies to leave in favor of similar services offered by ISPs, such as Verizon itself. Verizon, AT&T, and others offer TV via data, an alternative to cable, and Verizon feels that customers much jump through too many hoops to switch as it is. In essense, Verizon… → Read More
[photopress:hdcomcast.jpg,full,center]Rarely do I give Comcast praise, but today I feel I must. The cable company monopoly will be adding six new HD channels to its catalog in March, just in time for my birthday, and they’re good ones! Well, most of them. Those of you who are still using standard definition need to seriously think about your futures. You’re holding the rest of us back… → Read More
http://progressive.playstream.com/playstream/progressive/flashplayers/FLVPlayer.swf Here’s a quick first look at the Comcast + TiVo interface that’s recently become available in the Boston area. Pros: Way better than the alternative Comcast DVR interface from 1982, it’s TiVo, dual tuner + HD for about what you’d pay per month for TiVo except you don’t have to shell… → Read More
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