Twitter is nearing an agreement with Viacom to host TV clips and sell advertising on the site, reports Bloomberg. It is also reportedly discussing a content partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and one or more of the deals could be reached by mid-May. → Read More
Adobe has changed the way it sells technology used to enabled high-quality streaming services from TV networks and other video providers. With the launch of Adobe Primetime — previously know as Project Primetime — the technology company is providing a suite of tools for video delivery. And it’s signed up a couple of big new clients for the suite of products. → Read More
Comcast is already the country’s largest cable television provider, but its entertainment ambitions don’t end there — the company has just announced that it will spend $16.7 billion to purchase General Electric’s stake in NBCUniversal. To top it off, Comcast will also shell out an additional $1.4 billion to purchase CNBC’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. and the NBCUniversal… → Read More
As you might be aware, Google Fiber has set out to make all the world, or at least Kansas City, have fast and accessible Internet access. Today, the company announced that it is now wiring homes in the area with its high-speed internet.
As we noted previously, 180 out of 202 areas that were eligible for the service hit their pre-registration goals. Now the service is being put in, and I’m… → Read More
For the first time in years, I’ve made the decision to pay for cable. I’m not the first to try this experiment recently, but the experience has already reminded me, why I didn’t want to pay for cable TV to begin with. After offering me the opportunity to upgrade, I’m met with all the same poor service and confusing contract terms that I’ve come to expect. → Read More
Editor’s note: Michael Weinberg is a staff attorney at Public Knowledge, an organization that preserves the openness of the Internet and the public’s access to knowledge; promotes creativity through balanced copyright; and upholds and protects the rights of consumers to use innovative technology lawfully. Michael focuses primarily on copyright, issues before the FCC and emerging technologies… → Read More
Uk-based social TV startup Zeebox is preparing for a U.S. launch, and when it does, it will be doing so with a big local partner. According to sources, the company is on the verge of announcing a partnership with cable stalwart Comcast, through which it will get a bit of help with a launch here. As with previous Zeebox partnerships, that will include a strategic investment in the company. → Read More
Not long after Clearwire announced their intent to begin lighting up a 4G LTE network, Sprint and a cabal of cable companies have begun to discuss the idea of a possible Clearwire acquisition.
Last we heard, Clearwire was waiting on $600 million in additional funding before any work on their LTE rollout could begin. Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House are currently in talks with the nation’s… → Read More
Comcast just rolled out a major update to its seven month old Xfinity iOS app that brings streaming access to the Xfinity on-demand library just like iPad users have had for several weeks. This opens up a massive database of streaming content for iPhone and iPod touch. But there’s a catch here. Only users that pay for Comcast’s digital TV service for their home will have access to the… → Read More
Comcast donated $18,000 to a non-profit filmmaker’s group, the ReelGrrls, dedicated to giving young girls a voice and more confidence through film-making. One of the members expressed concern over the upcoming NBC/Comcast merger on Twitter, stating her disbelief that the FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker just quit to move to Comcast after approving the merger.
Almost immediately one of Comcast’s… → Read More
Talk about sinking to a new low. It seems that Comcast and perhaps other ISPs are blocking access to the notorious torrent site, ThePirateBay.org. The word comes from TorrentFreak who also reached out to the TPB team who indicated that they can’t confirm if an ISP is blocking the site but “there’s a significant drop in visitors from the U.S.” All I know is I, a Comcast subscriber, cannot access… → Read More
Now, let’s be charitable here and admit that it’s natural for people to perform similar duties in business as they might have in government, and vice versa. It’s called job experience. But honestly now. Voting in favor of the Comcast-NBC Universal merger and then leaving to join that company five months later? You’re joking, right? Other, more important people than me will… → Read More
The end times must be upon us because I never thought I would see Comcast allowing 3rd party set-top boxes to access On Demand. But that’s exactly what’s happening. TiVo and Comcast just announced Xfinity On Demand will soon be available on TiVo Premiere DVRs. The San Francisco Bay Area expected to be the first market with access, but others will follow as the service rolls through Comcast’s… → Read More
The news from NBC/Universal/Comcast is that the cable giant has finally made deals with both ABC and Fox to carry selected shows on their on-demand service. This is big news for the iPad set, because all four major broadcast networks are now available in a single service, on the iPad, without Flash.
Across town we hear talk of hardware acceleration linking up with Android to make Flash finally… → Read More
As Gigaom notes Netflix’s (global) subscriber base is now bigger than Comcast’s national one, a happenstance that should send fear into the hearts of cable providers everywhere. The numbers came from an earnings call today. → Read More
Comcast is about to nationally roll out its 105Mbps (!) Internet service. The ISP hopes to have the service in several of its top markets, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, and Miami, bringing the total number of potential subscribers up to 40 million. Considering so much of legitimate media consumption these days is based on streaming, having a super fast Internet connection will only help to a… → Read More
So, Apple does a lot of things right. The Apple TV and iTunes combo offers an “it just works” environment that many people seem to like. So why are they having trouble getting out their video content? Recent market research from the NPD group, shows that Apple’s iTunes video delivery is in a three-way tie for third place at only 4% market share, while Netflix is way ahead at 61% and Comcast is… → Read More
Comcast is a massive force in the TV industry. I mean, they’re everywhere including owning a controlling stack in NBCUniversal. What’s more is that they’re in an absurd amount of homes and business across the US. As Comcast goes, so goes home entertainment. As many large companies though, they’re a massive lumber beast and slow to react to market shifts and trends. That’s why their main cable… → Read More
UFC has joined the growing list of sports organizations that have gone 3D. This Thursday’s event, broadcast live on the Versus network from Louisville, will be the company’s first 3D broadcast. It’s headlined by Diego Sanchez (seen here looking menacing) and Martin Kampmann. → Read More
Launched just yesterday, Comcast’s Xfinity 3D will be a new full-time 3D TV channel offering up a big mix of content from music and sports to movies and original programming. Xfinity 3D joins ESPN 3D, n3D and 3net as full-time 24/7 3D content providers and they kicked off their premiere with an NHL hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calagary Flames. After the game, Kings of Leon… → Read More
Not only does LittleBigPlanet 2 come out today, but the FCC pproved the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal. Will the two companies use their combined powers for good and not evil? A healthy skepticism may be in order. → Read More
We’ve covered Tunerfish, Comcast’s attempt at social video discovery, several times. Incubated by the Plaxo team, Tunerfish made its real world debut in June; featuring a deal with HBO. And in August, Tunerfish released its first iPhone app, allowing users to interact with TV shows on the go. Today, the Tunerfish is extending its mobile platform to Android phones with the launch of a new free… → Read More
Comcast this morning announced that it has doubled the amount of movies available on demand that were released the same day as the DVD in 2010, offering customers more than 200 “same-date movies” this year alone.
The company also revealed that its On Demand service reached a total of 18 billion views, this year (that is: the total number of views since the service was launched with a few hundred… → Read More
This certainly changes things. You’ll recall that the Internet flipped out the other day when it emerged that Netflix‘s traffic carrier, Level 3, said that Comcast was taking advantage of its position as one of the nation’s largest ISPs by demanding more coin to pass on Netflix traffic to its customers. It is, in fact, largely boring tosh, but it speaks to something we’ve been talking about for… → Read More
The headlines are pretty rough: Comcast hates Netflix! Net neutrality is dying! Communist forces from Russia and Cuba are attack a small town in Colorado and a ragtag band of high school students band together to fight them (although, arguably, this may have nothing to do with Comcast/Level 3)! But what’s really going on here?
First, let’s understand how data gets from the cloud to you. This… → Read More
A few months ago, we got a glimpse of Tunerfish, Comcast’s attempt at social video discovery, at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York. Incubated by the Plaxo team, Tunerfish made its real world debut in June; featuring a deal with HBO. And in August, Tunerfish released its first iPhone app, allowing users to interact with TV shows on the go. Today, the service is adding a number of new features, and… → 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
Among companies I loathe, Comcast is right up there. Alongside Expedia and AT&T, they share the common thread of having typically poor service, and even worse customer service. But I’m a forgiving guy. I’m willing to give Comcast a second chance. Well, for 6 months at least.
I’ve been a Comcast customer a few different times at various points of my life. Each time I’ve had an awful… → Read More
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