Today, a company called ConnecTV is launching an ambitious new service for socializing the TV viewing experience using mobile and web-based applications. The new app, available first on the iPad, with Android tablet support in the works, is similar to competitor IntoNow in that it also seems to “hear” what’s on TV in order to load the appropriate content. But the way it’s processing the data on the backend is completely different. There’s no “Shazam-like” experience here – everything ConnecTV does is in real-time.

ConnecTV was founded a couple of years ago by the former TV Guide President Ian Aaron, the former founding head of technology at TiVo, Alan Moskowitz, and the original Chief Programming Officer at TiVo, Stacy Jolna. The proprietary technology underlying the service was developed over the course of the past two years, with no venture funding. Instead, the startup was self-funded and took in money from a few, undisclosed “high net worth” people. Partner broadcasters also made a small minority investment as a part of a long-term agreement. The company plans to raise capital through strategic investments going forward, but does not plan to raise funding from the venture community.

At launch, the service supports over 250 channels (compared with IntoNow’s 130) and has partnerships with 10 leading broadcast groups, including Barrington Broadcasting Group, Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media. These broadcast groups represent 45 of the top 50 markets in the U.S., Aaron tells us, which provides the service with access to most of the regional channels. ConnecTV also supports premium cable channels (Discovery, TLC, etc.) and paid channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.).

In addition, the company is planning to soon add support for over 200 local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate channels as well as the top 26 regional sports networks. In fact, sports is a high priority for the service, which has plans to support all the major and college sports including baseball, basketball, football, Formula 1, NASCAR, tennis and more.

Another unique aspect to ConnecTV is its technology. Competitor IntoNow “hears” what’s on TV by listening to the show’s audio signal and matching it to the program using proprietary technology (Sound Print), then pulling relevant content from closed captioning systems. However, there’s a lag of 4 to 10 seconds involved as the signal is identified. Although ConnecTV also uses audio recognition technology, it’s tracking the audio in real time across all its supported channels.

“Most of the technologies built are not really designed for real-time use,” explains Aaron. With other technologies, “you have to hold [the device] up to something that was pre-processed, or was integrated through the production process, where you have to take the feed and process it before it airs on TV.”

“Everything we do is in real-time,” he says. What that means is that if you’re watching a game, two seconds after every play, you’re seeing all the stats on the play, you can share the play with your friends, you can chat about it and you can invite friends to watch with you. Using a combination of proprietary audio and video recognition technology, ConnecTV can also match up what it “hears” up to a day after airing. That window may expand in time.

In terms of the app’s social elements, ConnecTV isn’t all that different from other companion apps, not only IntoNow, but also the check-in based apps like GetGlue or Miso. You can see what your friends are watching, share your favorite TV moments with a touch or simply post what you’re viewing to Facebook and Twitter. As you change channels, you can also see the total number of your friends who “like” the show and invite those who are not watching to join you. Meanwhile, a “show chat” feature includes top fan Tweets and official Twitter feeds from players, leagues, cast members, producers and networks.

Its overall user interface, however, feels a little more spartan. Personal opinion: IntoNow is the more attractive app. Your mileage may vary, of course.

The new ConnecTV app (beta) is available as a native app for iPad or as a web-based app for desktop users with a modern browser. Android tablets will be supported in a later release.

Update: Edited to clarify IntoNow’s usage of Sound Print & captioning

The move to bring original programming to the web continues to heat up this week, with today’s announcement of Reuters TV, a new YouTube channel featuring ten new commentary and analysis shows from the news and media division of Thomson Reuters.

The new channel joins nearly 100 other media partners on YouTube who are delivering original content, including a few big names like eHow, Motor Trend, Pitchfork TV, TED, The Onion, WSJ, WWE and more.

Reuters, however, is arguably the biggest news provider among the 100 being featured on YouTube’s partner page. And plans for its newly arrived TV news channel are no small effort.

According to the company’s announcement, the YouTube channel won’t mimic traditional TV, but will use an editing style that’s “suited for Internet programming.” Reuters global exec producer Barclay Palmer developed the shows, which will be “high energy” (oh, so that’s what they mean by “Internet programming,” hmm?) and will include reports and commentary from the outlet’s nearly 3,000 journalists worldwide.

The 10 new shows include the following:

• Reuters Investigates, featuring investigative journalism and special reports from around the world, in coordination with Reuters award-winning Enterprise unit;
• The Trail, with Reuters political reporters covering the presidential candidates on the campaign trail;
• Felix TV, with Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon, named by Time magazine one of the Top 25 financial bloggers;
• Media Bite, featuring Peter Lauria, editor of technology, media & telecommunications, and his team of reporters covering a media world experiencing massive change;
• Tech Tonic, with Anthony De Rosa, Reuters Digital’s social media editor, dubbed by The New York Times “the undisputed king of Tumblr”;
• Freeland File, with Reuters Digital editor Chrystia Freeland interviewing top newsmakers;
• Fast Forward, hosted by Chrystia Freeland and featuring Reuters’ top commentators and journalists, including David Rohde, Reuters columnist, author and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Rob Cox, US editor of Breakingviews; Bethany McLean, Reuters columnist, Vanity Fair contributor and author; David Cay Johnston, tax expert, author and Pulitzer Prize winner; Geraldine Fabrikant, Reuters columnist, senior writer for The New York Times and winner of the Loeb Award; Steven Brill, Reuters columnist, author and founder of the Yale Journalism Initiative; Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group; James Ledbetter, Reuters Op-ed editor and author;
• Money Clip, with Lauren Young, personal finance editor and former editor at BusinessWeek and SmartMoney;
• Rough Cuts, with Jen Rogers, showcasing the remarkable news video that Reuters video journalists shoot around the world, allowing viewers to see and hear that video in greater depth than most television networks can offer;
• Decoder, explaining in succinct and surprising ways the key topics in the news, ranging from the debt ceiling to the Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters is kicking off the launch with an exclusive interview from Chrystia Freeland with Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire and sportsman who has made the controversial announcement that he is running for president in Russia, challenging Vladimir Putin.

YouTube is spending $100 million on original programming, and is attempting to line up big media partners, including distributors, studios and other content producers.

It’s only one of many companies competing in the newly hot Internet TV space in recent months. Just yesterday, for example, we covered Hulu’s move into original programming with its plans to launch Battleground, a new scripted show. Netflix also has plans for original shows including Lilyhammer, House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey, and it’s resurrecting Arrested Development. Tom Hanks is making a cartoon TV series for Yahoo. MTV Networks’ NextMovie site just snagged vlogger Sarah Austin today for scripted content. MTVN’s Comedy Central property also moved to bulk up web show production this past spring.

Looks like Pseduo’s dream is now, in 2012, finally coming true.

Smart TVs were everywhere at CES. I must have seen two hundred of them while I was there. I could report on specs, resolution or 3D screens, but really, I am more curious about that word “smart” than I am about the raw specs. Is it merely the sum of new features that defines what a Smart TV is or should be? Just what exactly is it that makes a Smart TV, well…smart?

It probably has something to do with apps right? Maybe. Internet connectivity? Likely. Gesture controls? Possibly. Rather than speculate, I decided to visit a few people at the CES booths of Samsung, Sony and LG in order to get their take on Smart TVs. Basically, I asked them all the same 2 questions: How do you define what a Smart TV is today and what is your company’s vision for Smart TVs in the future?

Here’s what they said:

Samsung defined Smart TVs as sets that can run apps, have web browsing capability, smart search (meaning easy ways to locate content), and social media connectivity.

Their future vision of Smart TV technology includes a convergent content model—content distributed across multiple device touch points. For example, what if you could start watching a movie on your smartphone during your cab ride home from work but then could easily and seamlessly pick up where you left off on your larger screen the minute you arrive home. (Wait, doesn’t Netflix do that already?)

Sony defined a Smart TV as one that is “connected” for content consumption (e.g apps, entertainment network, etc) but also for interaction with social networks. Additionally, internal or external integration with other content systems (like Google TV) is a must.

At Sony their vision for the future of Smart TVs also has to do with convergent content experiences. According to their spokesperson Sean Cassady, that vision is not limited to TVs alone but instead is more of a company-wide attitude.

LG defined a Smart TV as one that is interactive, connected to the internet and capable of running apps. No one was available to comment at the time about their future vision.

Overall, few of these responses surprised me. How about an external opinion though?

Smart TVs could be somewhat of a misnomer according to Dan Shust, Vice President of the RI Lab at Resource Interactive. “‘Smart’ would imply some kind of intelligence or predictive behavior. While we are starting to see bits of that functionality, these TVs still aren’t totally there yet. What if my TV is not only connected to my social graph, but is making show recommendations based on things I’ve ‘liked’ or commented on in my social network of choice? “

Mr. Shust continued by saying “To me, the perfect TV would be one that takes content from any source (TV, movie, podcast, whatever), then watches my consumption habits, and can make intelligent recommendations deeply within the content I consume. For example, if the TV recognizes that I watch Jimmy Fallon clips on Youtube a lot, it should just start recording the regular show for me in the background. It could connect the dots and even notify me that a band I ‘liked’ on Facebook is going to be performing on Jimmy Fallon. That would be truly Smart.”

I think I agree. This potential view of Television would have seemed scary or like science fiction a mere 15 years ago but when viewed within the lens of the current capability of social and content networks, it seems to me more like a question of “when” not “if” .

When we do reach a point where TVs are equipped to handle preference management, I’m sure those kind of intelligent features will be able to be disabled, for those with privacy concerns.

Where does that leave us though? It still leaves us with some pretty fabulous displays, that are more powerful than ever and increasingly laden with features that increase the viewing experience.

Showtime is today joining HBO GO as another premium cable channel that’s bringing its content to mobile devices. Through the new iPad app Showtime Anytime, customers can now watch Showtime’s original programming, including its TV series, movies, sports and documentaries anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

The content is only available for Showtime subscribers, of course, a list which includes just AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS for now. Comcast customers will be able to access Showtime’s content through the Xfinity TV service, but the Showtime Anytime app is “coming soon” for those customers, the company says.

The app provides mobile access to Showtime’s top shows, like Dexter, Weeds, Homeland, Californication, Shameless, Nurse Jackie, The Big C, Episodes, The Borglas and The Real L Word and will offer access to upcoming series like House of Lies and Inside Comedy.

The network’s movies will be available too, starting with The King’s Speech, Blue Valentine, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, I Am Number Four, The Twilight Saga: New Moon & Eclipse and others. Sports programming includes Showtime Championship Boxing, Inside NASCAR, Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts and more.

iPad users can navigate through the app using a “My list” option that lets them create a personalized list of favorite shows and can share their viewing habits by “liking” and “following” their favorite shows on Facebook and Twitter, or posting to either social network from the app’s interface.

The app supports play shifting, too – meaning that it lets you pick up where you left off when you change devices. That will have more impact when the app arrives on the iPhone and Android platforms in early 2012.

You can grab Showtime Anytime for the iPad here on iTunes.

You may remember Peel as the maker of the pear-shaped hardware device which sits in between your smartphone an TV, turning your phone into a universal remote control. Today, as promised, the company has updated its companion mobile application with more social features that allow you to share the shows you’re viewing, see what your friends and family are watching, post recommendations and comment on others’ posts.

Dubbed “Peel 2.0,” the newly refreshed app works as a standalone interface for social TV viewing or it can be paired with the Peel Smart Remote Device, sold separately. Upon first launch, the new Peel app asks you to help configure its recommendations, by telling it your zip code, TV provider, as well as your preferred genres of TV programming (e.g., sports, news, soaps, thrillers, comedy, drama, etc.), then ranking them in the proper order via drag-and-drop. You can also optionally include your age range and gender for more targeted recommendations.

Once set up, the app’s “Top Picks” section will feature Peel’s personalized suggestions. And the more you interact with the app, the better these recommendations will become. In addition to the Top Picks, buttons at the bottom let you switch between TV shows, movies and sports. The last button takes you to the Social section, where you can view the activity feed of your friends’ activity.

You can connect to Facebook to find your friends, and then view their favorite shows, within the app, too. Your activity is not shared out to social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, unless you explicitly tap the “Recommend” button for the show in question. That will make users a bit more careful about sharing outside of the app, as a “recommendation” holds more weight than something like “I’m watching….”, which is what competitor GetGlue does, for example.

Others in this increasing crowded social TV space include  IntoNow, yap.TV and Comcast’s Tunerfish, to name a few, which gives Peel a lot of competition. But Peel’s interface is pretty nice – you can flip through shows with a swipe and scroll through each section’s filters with a little wheel at the top – so the app is fun to use.

You can grab Peel 2.0 for free here on iTunes.

Samsung has maintained its lead as the number one TV maker, selling 5.7 million units in November or about 2 TVs per second. Samsung is also making a major push into the Smart TV space, creating an “Evolution Kit” that will update your TV every year, upgrading it from dual core to quad core, adding new features, and improving performance. It’s like buying a new TV every year (something Samsung likes) and ensures your TV won’t become obsolete (which consumers like).

Samsung also announced that it sold 12 million 3D TVs this year.

Their latest TV, called the ES8000, has a dual-core processor and offers “multi-tasking,” allowing you to toggle from TV to an app instantly. Their new Smart HUB interface is reminiscent of Google TV. This high-end TV has an integrated camera as well and comes in sizes up to 72 inches.

The expectation is that you’ll no longer be watching TV “by appointment” and instead will use the Smart TV to perform multiple tasks and look-ups while watching recorded content.

These TVs will work with Samsung’s new content partners to offer on-TV purchases and rental and some apps allow you to watch programs on the main TV and view extras and commentary on your (Samsung) handheld device.

Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung launched its advertising platform, Samsung AdHub, for Samsung Smart TVs. With the new service, publishers and brands will be able to deliver video, 3D, and interactive advertisements to the living room through the Samsung Smart TV interface.

The advertisements will allow users to click to view video content, access new apps or services and will be able to launch the TV’s web browser. In addition, the new “Explore 3D” application, Samsung’s branded 3D VOD service, will allow advertisers the unique ability to launch native 3D TV ads on its TV sets.

AdHub, already available for mobile applications (both phone and tablet), allows developers to monetize their content for the Android and Samsung bada (mobile only) platforms. Developers select the ad network they want to use and how they want those ads to appear within their application. On mobile, these ads are targeted “by matching the right ad with the right content,” Samsung explains on its AdHub website.

Now those ads will be available on the big screen too, when the Smart TV in-app advertising solution goes live sometime later this year. TV app developers will be able to then download the Samsung SDK 3.0 for use with the company’s Smart TVs.

Samsung has already launched Smart TV ads in the U.S. and Korea prior to today’s announcement, with Best Buy and State Farm as advertisers. The company also has sales partnerships in place with Rovi and YuMe.

Today, MetroPCS has announced a partnership with the Mobile Content Venture (MCV) on a new service that will bring live digital television to the carrier’s customers. The service, called Dyle Mobile TV, will be available on phones that are pre-loaded with the Dyle application, starting first with unnamed, Android-based Samsung devices.

MCV is a joint venture dedicated to facilitating, on behalf of 12 major broadcast groups, a national mobile content service that delivers live television to mobile devices.

Dyle Mobile TV is the consumer-facing brand launched by MCV earlier this year that will deliver live mobile television content from 15 major broadcast groups including Pearl LLC (Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media) as well as FOX, ION Television, Bahakel, Univision, Telemundo and NBC. At launch, MCV expects to offer the mobile video service on more than 72 stations in 32 markets covering more than 50% of the U.S. population.

The content will include live national and local sports, news and entertainment offerings.

The Dyle logo (pictured) is meant to indicate to consumers that the technology needed for live, mobile TV is available on the device in question.

The Dyle service works using ATSC technology, which is more commonly known as “a TV tuner.” This allows the phone to receive digital television (DTV) signals – the same signals that stations adopted during the digital TV transition.

Samsung smartphones with Dyle will be available later this year in MetroPCS markets and surrounding areas including: Atlanta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Detroit, Mich.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; New York, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; and Tampa, Fla.

Mobile TV services haven’t always fared so well. Qualcomm’s mobile TV unit FLO TV, which provided white label services to Verizon and AT&T announced it was closing up shop in 2010, and was officially discontinued in March 2011. AT&T ended up purchasing $1.93 billion worth of wireless spectrum from Qualcomm that had been used for the service.

Will value-conscious MetroPCS customers want mobile TV service, then, when it will almost certainly come at an increased monthly cost? That remains to be seen.

Verizon will be rolling out a new Media Server product for its FiOS customers later next year, which will be a single hardware device that will eventually eliminate the need for a set-top box altogether. The server will be capable of streaming HD TV to all devices in the home, including the TV, of course, but also gaming systems, mobile devices and tablets like the iPad. Although the company has not officially announced details, timeframe or pricing, we were recently given a sneak peek into the company’s plans.

You can see the Media Server in this promotional video discussing Verizon’s focus on the energy efficiency of its products. Here, Tushar Saxena, Director of Technology at Verizon, talks about the upgrades Verizon’s set-top boxes have seen in recent months. He shows a big box that’s an example of outdated tech (hey, that’s my box!) and a more compact, 30% more energy efficient model. Saxena then shows off new set-top boxes, yet to be released, which are even smaller, and will soon be small enough to “velcro behind your TV,” he says.

But what’s interesting is that these tiny set-top boxes are meant for the additional TVs in the house – your main TV will be attached a larger Media Server, also shown in the video, underneath the stack of set-top boxes. The server will stream media to other Internet-connected devices, including laptops, Xboxes, PlayStations, tablets and mobile devices like the iPhone, the video explains. Saxena says that the plan is to eventually eliminate the set-top box altogether by providing applications to all the IP-connected devices, including TVs, that can directly communicate with the server over Wi-Fi. This transition should occur in a “few year’s time,” he notes.

Getting rid of set-top boxes means increased energy efficiency of course, which was the point of the video. But a Verizon spokesperson tells us that the Media Server itself will be released in late 2012.

Verizon is also running tests involving streaming 3D HD TV over Wi-Fi, using the same media server technology. Routers in Verizon’s test labs have successfully transmitted a 3D HD FiOS signals (40 Mbps) over 200 feet, through sheetrock and steel walls, without the loss of video quality. There’s a demo of that in action here using routers with multiple antenna arrays streaming over the 802.11n standard in conjunction with the media server hardware.

During a time when everyone is thinking of cutting the cable, so to speak, it’s interesting to watch developments like this which are more correctly envisioning TV as a service that should be available on any screen in the home.

Now here’s hoping Verizon’s pricing hits the mark, too.

Update: Motorola wants you all to know that the Media Server is actually, an “advanced set-top gateway — a nextgen, smarter set-top that can now communicate to multiple devices in the home,” according to a company spokesperson, “…when people read the set-top is going away, they automatically (and mistakenly) assume our business is doomed.”

Is there an emoticon for an eyeroll?

Startup founders are the new reality TV stars. No, really! Today, the exec producer of the TechStars TV show on Bloomberg TV, Cameron Casey, is announcing his plans to film a second startup-focused reality show. This time, the show will follow a group of entrepreneurs out in L.A., courtesy of a partnership with the Start Engine accelerator.

But here’s the big news: this time, the show is planned as a multi-season series for a network.

The TechStars reality show was apparently successful enough for Casey to give the format another shot. The producer is still shopping the show around to networks, however – there’s no distribution deal in place as of yet. But based on the success of TechStars, word is they’re very confident that a deal will be signed soon. And it will be for a five-year run to start, they say.

The documentary-style program will follow the entrepreneurs enrolled in Start Engine, the L.A.-based incubator founded by Howard Marks, co-founder of Activision, and investor Paul Kessler, founder of the Los Angeles Film School. Start Engine is a rapid accelerator, offering four 90-day cycles per year, each culminating in the nerve-wracking Demo Day events, where the founders pitch a roomful of top angel investors and VCs.

At Start Engine, the goal is to launch over 100 companies per year, with sessions that include around 30 companies each. According to Kessler, this incubator is different because of its focus on the entrepreneurs. “This is the first effort on a really large scale that’s not driven by VC’s, but by the entrepreneurial spirit,” he says. He points to the program’s large line-up of mentors, as an example of that. Around fifty are on the Start Engine website, but many more are not. As for the companies themselves, teams (not individuals) are preferred and one on the team should be the technical co-founder. The founders are bright, well-educated and the experience of watching them go through the program should be inspiring to other entrepreneurs, says Kessler.

Casey approached Start Engine around 30 days ago about the idea, and Kessler  immediately recognized the opportunity to showcase L.A.’s entrepreneurial talent via this show.

“We were big fans of TechStars on Bloomberg TV,” he says, “so we’re excited to be partnering with Cameron to shine a spotlight on how innovation is created here in the City of Angels where the media, technology and entertainment industries converge.”

For those of you who watched TechStars, you’ll be familiar with the formula employed by the new show. It will document how entrepreneurs apply, get chosen, the mentoring process and finally, the big pitch. There have been complaints, however, that the “reality-tv-ification” of the startup process led to some inaccuracies which painted some founders in a bad light.

According to Casey, the accuracy problem is related to the genre itself. “This is a very challenging TV format to tackle,” he says. “Considering the series was documented in real-time following multiple teams, dozens of characters, and multiple story lines over nearly nine months of filming in total. Some stories may be out of sequence, but we try to tell each story as accurately as possible.”

In other words, it may be inaccurate, but it might not be wrong. Hmm?

Kessler adds, ”there’s always a risk [of a negative portrayal, but I’ll do everything in my power to do things accurately, and protect the companies and the folks associated with those companies.” He also notes that the applicants won’t be required to be on TV – if for some reason a company says they cannot, Start Engine will accommodate that. But that’s a bridge they’ll cross when they come to it.

Says Casey, “considering that Start Engine is both a TV series and a exercise in media training and marketing, I would hope that founders would appreciate the value, and jump at the chance of having the birth of their new business documented.”

The series will reportedly appear on a network first, then online afterwards, starting sometime in early 2012.

Update: Credit where credit is due. We’re hearing that Casey’s involvement was minimal, and that if anyone should get credit for TechStars’ production it should be Bloomberg’s Elizabeth Gould, the show’s producer. Casey reports he was in charge of hiring the crew and payroll, however. With regards to “executive producer” and “producer,” the bigger title isn’t always the bigger job. 

TV is moving to the cloud. It is inevitable, just as other kinds of media from books to music are increasingly delivered over the Internet. Netflix, Hulu, and even Apple TV are making inroads when it comes to distributing traditional TV shows and movies to Internet-connected screens. YouTube keeps grabbing more of our attention, accounting for 7 percent of total time spent on the Internet in the U.S., according to comScore.

And yet the TV (and movie) industry are proving more resistant to change than any other form of media. Change will come, but it won’t happen as quickly as it is with music, news, or books.

The TV industry is digging in. Starz is walking away from its content deal with Netflix. Hulu seems to be treading water while it tries to sell itself. Even Apple is having a hard time changing the model. It recently stepped back from its attempts to offer TV show rentals (a move we saw coming a month ago) because the TV networks ever only participated half-heartedly.

But does anyone really doubt that eventually the Internet will triumph here to smash the rigid program guide that cable and satellite companies shove down our throats? Most of us only watch a few dozen channels regularly, yet we pay for 500. If we could subscribe on a per channel or per show basis, many of us would. It’s just so obvious that the better experience starts with letting people watch what they want, when they want, on whatever device they want—whether that’s their TV, laptop, iPad, or mobile phone. But that is not enough. TV in the cloud isn’t just about shifting distribution. It is about making it easier to find and share new shows, and change the way we consume them. It is about making TV smarter (did I really just say that?) In a recent post on this topic, Asymco’s Horace Dediu recently wrote:

Unlike the Smartphone which could only have emerged to leverage the Internet, TV has no “smart content” to leverage. The “smartness” has to be not in the box but in the programming.

Of course, I don’t mean there’s a lack of good programming. What I mean is that there is no innovation in what a program is–the job it’s hired to do. The way it and its distribution fits into a person’s life. TV programs have not changed for half a century. They feature the same genres, the same duration, the same business model, the same series, format and scheduling and the same value chains as when “I Love Lucy” premiered in 1951. They assume people watch TV during the same time each day (while doing nothing else.) They also assume people are equally influenced by brand advertising and that audiences are largely homogeneous.

TiVo tried to make the TV smarter, but it too was outfoxed by the cable and satellite companies, who co-opted its DVR technology and stuck it in their own set-top boxes. Although TiVo is now forcing them to pay patent licensing fees, TiVo itself is in decline as a consumer brand. All you have to do is look at the chart below Ed Bott at ZDNet put together comparing searches for the term “Netflix” versus “TiVo” and “Media Center.”

Bott concludes:

You could not ask for a clearer trend line: The streaming media era began in 2008, and the DVR is an endangered species.

But bolting a computer onto a TV was never really the answer. Once video content can be indexed and streamed at will, the whole experience could potentially change. You don’t wade through a program guide on YouTube, even though it does have channels. You find videos the same way you discover anything else on the Internet—either through search or social sharing. Traditional TV is still locked up in your set-top box because it remains the most lucrative place for content owners to show it. TV advertising still dwarfs all online advertising, not to mention what you pay for your monthly cable bill.

Google wants to bring these two worlds of content together not just through YouTube, but also its Google TV project. The networks who control traditional TV content, however, don’t want to play along. Apple keeps trying to build bridges via its Apple TV and iTunes, but that too has been a long, hard slog. There are plenty of rumors that Apple wants to redouble its efforts in this arena, perhaps with its own actual TV with a screen and everything.

Some observers think that Apple will never get into the commodity TV business because the margins are too low. But that misses the bigger picture. Apple doesn’t want to sell TVs. It wants to reimagine the whole TV watching experience, and if it has to build TVs to do so then so be it. The other thing they forget is that the TV is just a screen. All the value is in the cloud, because that is where the content is going to be stored, searched, streamed, and shared.

The current Apple TV box is really just a media streamer with hardly any storage to speak of. Once iCloud launches, movies and TV shows will likely be a part of it. Apple’s current model is a la carte pricing. You pay for each show. While that is not ideal, if Apple can get the best shows and movies, it could still end up being cheaper than a monthly cable bill. And just like Netflix recommends shows and movies based on what you’ve already watched, Apple could do something similar to make it easier to find something good to watch. That would be a first step towards a smarter TV.

The next step would be to create a social TV guide based on what your friends or people you admire are watching and recommending. The beginnings of this type of discovery is part and parcel of an increasing number of TV companion apps on the iPhone and iPad (BuddyTV, Dijit, Yap.TV), but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be part of the core TV watching experience itself.

Eventually TV won’t be the same unless it is online and connected to everything else. A show that can’t be shared or linked to will command less and less of our attention. Scheduled TV will go away for everything except live events like breaking news, sports, and award shows. The Internet will become our DVR, but one freed from the awful user interface of the current program guide. There is no grid large enough to contain all the video content you might want to watch, and why should your program grid be the same as mine? Trust me, it will be much better once it’s all in the cloud.

Photo credit: Flickr/zizzybaloobah

Sharp in Japan updated their line of AQUOS LCD TVs with the so-called Freestyle AQUOS F5 series [JP]. The four TVs in that series, sized at 20/32/40 and 60 inches have a few common selling points: they are extremely thin, light (one of them is “portable”), and networked.

The 60-inch flagship model (pictured above and below) comes with a UV²A panel with full HD resolution, LED backlight, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 176-degre viewing angle, 2x10W speakers, an HDMI interface, two USB ports (connecting external HDDs is possible), and Ethernet. It weighs 21kg and is 2.1cm at its thinnest part (3.5cm at the thickest).

The 32- and 40-inch models share the main specs but are much lighter (8.5kg and 5.5kg, respectively), prompting Sharp to choose the term “freestyle” for the series (the company says they can be moved and installed anywhere).

Like the 32-inch AQUOS, the 20-inch model only offers 1,366×780 resolution. The smallest TV in the series is based on a model Sharp showed earlier this year and weighs just 2.5kg . For an extra $80, users can attach a hook to it to make it really portable (see below).

What all the models have in common is IEEE802.11n/IEEE802.11a Wi-Fi and wireless connectivity to Sharp devices, for example AQUOS Blu-ray players or smartphones, and to various video-on-demand services and YouTube.

Sharp plans to start selling their new TVs in Japan from next month (prices: $4,930 for the biggest model, $1,950 for the 40-incher, $1,430 for the 32-inch model and $1,040 for the smallest one).

Just last week, Hitachi decided to pull the plug on their domestic TV production business by year-end, but that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t go out with a bang. A total of six Hitachi Wooo TVs were announced [JP] in Japan today, with the 50-inch 3D model P50-GP08 stealing the show.

The plasma TV might very well be Hitachi’s last self-produced flagship model, and a look at the spec list reveals this is actually regrettable:

• 50-inch 3D plasma screen with full HD resolution
• Pixel Manager EX engine for clearer 3D images
• contrast ratio: 5,000,000:1
• 5 TV tuners
• 500GB HDD integrated (removable)
• DLNA support
• 4 HDMI slots
• motion sensor that automatically turns the TV off after the user leaves the room (after 5-60 minutes)
• web connectivity (i.e. for video on demand, access to Yahoo Japan etc.)
• “Wooo Remote for iPhone/iPad” app to be released later this month (for accessing the TV’s functions, checking the TV program, playing back recorded material, etc./see below)

Hitachi plans to start selling this beauty in Japan for $4,200 on August 27. The company hasn’t said yet whether the TV will be sold abroad, too.

Via AV Watch [JP]

After Pioneer decided to shut down its TV business in 2009, Hitachi yesterday announced they are ready to stop producing and outsourcing all production of TVs to makers in Taiwan and other Asian countries. And even though Hitachi said they will continue selling TVs in the future, this sounds very much like a long goodbye.

The move isn’t a big surprise, as it’s notoriously difficult to make money with TVs. Many of the big electronics makers have been struggling to bring their TV business into the black recently, i.e. Sony or market leader Samsung (Hitachi expects to lose money on that segment in the current fiscal year, too).

The company has just one flat panel production plant left in Japan, which it plans to close by year-end, according to reports in Japanese media.

It’s good timing to drop out of the TV business, five months after the March 11 earthquake in Japan (which hurt Hitachi’s sales), the switch in Japan from analog to digital TV broadcasting two weeks ago (which triggered a massive demand for new TVs that’s now ending), and five days after the company announced a 97% year-on-year drop in net profit for the quarter through June.

Here are the main features:

• 20-inch LCD with 1,366×768 resolution
• 400,000:1 contrast ratio
• LED backlight
• IEEE 802.11a/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet
• DLNA support
• web connectivity (i.e. Yahoo! for AQUOS)
• 2W×2ch speakers
• HDMI, USB ports
• digital TV tuner
• built-in battery (2 hours battery life)
• newly designed remote control (see below)
• size: 486×24～33×295mm, weight: 3.3kg

Here’s Sharp’s Japanese promo video:

Sharp will start selling the Freestyle AQUOS in Japan on June 1 (price: $1,220).

The new 24/7 3D network, 3net, goes live today on DirecTV (and only on DirecTV, at least for now), and we now have a full schedule. A cursory glance of the schedule shows a pretty varied line-up: nature documentaries, sporty shows, crime shows, etc. A little bit of something for everyone—provided you have a 3DTV, of course.

New programs air every night at 9pm ET/6pm PT (no staggered feed, in other words).

Viewers can look forward to “Oceana Airshow” (“thrilling tactical demonstrations by the Navy’s best aviators”), “Puppy Bowl VII” (“nearly 50
cuddly rescue puppies of all breeds brought together on a 19-foot long
field to battle it out”), “Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure,” and “3D Sun,” which is as much about the Sun’s influence on our planet as it is the star itself.

The network has the feel of early HD programming: nature heavy and documentaries as far as the eye can see.

But at least now you’ll always have something in 3D to check out at any given moment.

The very first 24/7 3D television network will launch on February 13. It’s called 3net, and it’ll debut on DirecTV channel 107. It’s a joint venture between Sony, Discovery Communications, and IMAX. Very, very exciting news for the 15 people in the audience who bought a 3DTV.

The channel launches with two “one-hour, native 3D original programs.” They are China Revealed and Forgotten Planet. Another bit of programming, Into The Deep 3D, makes its television debut that same night.

DirecTV makes in seem that everything is great:

Quality 3D programming is vital to the success and increased adoption of the technology, and with industry leaders like Discovery, Sony and IMAX making a commitment to this category, it is clear that 3D is here to stay and is only going to get better.

Sure it will. Well, actually, it’s hard for 3DTV to get any worse.

Hey, cord cutters: you’re all talk. A new study, put together by the UK’s Informa Telecoms & Media, which “delivers strategic insight founded on global market data and primary research,” says that today’s cord cutters only account for 0.18 percent, or 1.2 million, of worldwide television subscribers. In other words, the number of cord cutters in the world amounts to a rounding error. But will it always be that way?

Perhaps not. Even if cord cutting is impossible for the average family in 2011, the reports says that the percentage of cord cutters will increase to 2 percent, or 16.1 million, of worldwide television subscribers by 2015.

Anyone who thinks that cord cutters represent the vanguard of some sort of down-with-cable movement, well, slow down.

The report says that while it expects cord cutting to increase as mentioned, traditional television distributors shouldn’t be too concerned, as plain ol’ traditional distribution isn’t going anywhere anytime soon; you’re just going to have to keep dealing with Comcast and the like.

Need evidence of why cord cutting won’t violently overthrow the current television distribution regime? Just look to Canada, which is going through a bit of a crisis trying to figure out how to handle Internet traffic. It’s sorta hard to “cut the cord” if you’re paying through the nose for a few wayward gigabytes.

3D TVs may be nice and all, but they are totally useless without content. Now Sony and two Japanese broadcasters, major TV network Fuji and satellite channel SkyPerfecTV, are set to launch what’s being described as the world’s first 3D TV series.

Dubbed Tokyo Control [JP], the drama series centers on a number of protagonists working at the Tokyo Air Traffic Control Center. Sony was responsible for providing the 3D equipment and know-how, while Fuji actually created the program whose first episode will be aired on SkyPerfecTV on Wednesday next week (SkyPerfecTV has about 400,000 subscribers)

There are 10 episodes in total, with each one lasting around 60 minutes. The series will be simultaneously shown (in 2D) on Fuji TV.

According to the makers, Fuji TV employees went to Hollywood to ask the producers of Avatar for advice on how to effectively shoot pictures in 3D before writing the script.

Via ASCII [JP]

This is a Test Pattern TV cozy made of felt. It has a pocket for your things. You can enjoy yourself by placing it over your TV. It is a one of a kind. You can make your own if you want one.

via Make