Amazon may have plans to become the latest online player to produce original programming.
Netflix, Hulu and YouTube have already set the stage for original content to be distributed via online streaming.
Amazon exec Joe Lewis recently described his title on LinkedIn as “Vice-President of Original Television” before changing it to “Vice-President, Production at Amazon Studios.”
The company has also reportedly advertised for executive positions for overseeing comedy and children’s series.
“The company has charted an aggressive course with its Kindle tablet devices and media services, from books to movies and TV. Its Prime membership service is already a passport to the company’s many services and could grow in the coming years. It isn’t hard to see how beneficial compelling original programming could be to Amazon’s ecosystem,” reports CNNMoney.
As Netflix looks to compete with HBO by teaming up with a cable provider, it has already hit its first snag.
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable provider, said it has “no interest” in partnering with Netflix, reports The Verge. The company already has its own VOD service, Xfinity and recently launched Streampix, which enables access on the Web and mobile devices.
Netflix reportedly plans to seek competitive alternatives with Comcast’s rivals Time Warner, Cox or Bright House.
“Reuters first reported on Wednesday that Netflix had reached out to major cable companies to discuss joining forces. But without Comcast, the reach of those partnerships would be limited,” suggests The New York Times.
Additionally, streaming services are emerging from a number of companies. Comcast’s Streampix offers 75,000 television shows and movies to its its 22.3 million Xfinity subscribers. And according to The New York Times: “Dish Network and Blockbuster have a Web streaming service in the works. Verizon, the parent company of the Verizon FiOS fiberoptic network, has teamed up with Redbox on a Web streaming joint venture.”
At a media event in New York City this week, Samsung announced its new Smart Touch remote control, a universal Bluetooth keyboard for interaction with Smart TVs, and a new LED TV.
“Joe Stinziano, Senior VP of Samsung Electronics took the stage, to announce the ES8000 with Smart Interaction (a combination of voice control, facial recognition, and gesture controls). It has that thin bezel and a U-shaped stand, just as we heard it would back at CES,” reports TechCrunch.
“The camera on the ES8000 LED lets you swipe through apps with your hand, and all you have to do is close your hand to click,” adds the post.
“The camera also has a built-in microphone, so you can change the channel and perform other commands without even lifting a hand. That means you could be Skyping from the couch on a big screen. It’ll also come equipped with a Bluetooth IR Blaster.”
Mashable notes that “only about one-third of the world’s population is connected” to the Internet, but that “the amount of data we generate and consume is likely to blow your hair back.”
The post features a compelling infographic courtesy of MBAonline.com, which details one day of Internet use, to startling results.
“Would you believe that 294 billion emails are sent? That 2 million blog posts are written? That 864,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube alone? How am I supposed to watch all of that when I’m only on season one of Downton Abbey?” Mashable asks.
Additional stats of interest: 172 million people visit Facebook (while 4.7 billion minutes are spent on the social network), 22 million hours of video are viewed on Netflix, 18.7 million hours of music are streamed on Pandora — and iPhone sales exceed the number of babies born.
“Where once was a television landscape dominated by two clear competitors with leaders in broadcast and cable, there is now is a crowded field populated by numerous other players such as Netflix, YouTube and Hulu which have begun creating their own original content,” reports Broadcasting & Cable. “Added to that space — and complicating matters — is the increasing importance of a strong, branded digital presence.”
These topics and more were discussed by cable executives at the Hollywood Radio & Television Society’s Cable Programming Summit in Beverly Hills.
Multiscreen viewing has become an objective for cable programmers. “While the cable executives agree that great content is the catalyst for a great social presence, expanding the brand to multiple platforms has become a necessary step for all players,” notes the article.
Original content drives online social interaction both before the show launches and during the run of the show.
AMC’s “The Talking Dead,” for example, was the after-show online access to “The Walking Dead” cast and crew on Twitter. TNT is running a Facebook Timeline of “Dallas.”
“I don’t think there’s ever a point you can sit back and say…that the platforms have established themselves and we know what we’re doing. The constant theme that we’ve all learned [is that] we all need to evolve or die,” explained Carmi Zlotnik, Starz managing director. “It’s a fascinating period, where the creativity and what we do in shows is evolving at the same time as the platforms that they’re placed on changes as well.”
Consultant and columnist Tim Bajarin addresses the evolution of on-demand television distribution and the Internet as a disruptive business model.
In a world of digital media, Bajarin suggests the networks “are now realizing that while they ruled the roost in the world of broadcast television, they are just another channel among thousands of channels that consumers can choose from for viewing video content.”
“But what they don’t seem to get is that in this world of digital, they will need new distribution partners and that they will not have as much control over them as in the past,” he adds. “And I also don’t think they really understand the idea that people want to have access to that content anytime, anywhere and on any device they own.”
Bajarin also suggests that Apple may be on the cusp of causing additional disruption.
“Apple is going to become one of the most powerful video distribution networks by nature of their existing customer base and one that is added to continually,” he writes. “I know the networks would like to keep control of their distribution, but in the world of digital, those days are gone.”
“The sooner the networks understand this and see things like Apple’s new distribution vehicle as a critical way to get their content to the masses quickly, the sooner they can adapt to and fine tune a new business models to take advantage of this new era of on demand, anytime, anywhere and on any device video content world.”
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s former chief software architect, says we are in a post-PC world where the PC is no longer central, but co-exists with other devices.
According to Reuters: “The PC, which was Microsoft’s foundation and still determines the company’s financial performance, has been nudged aside by powerful phones and tablets running Apple Inc and Google Inc software, the former Microsoft executive said.”
Microsoft, which dominated the PC era, has developed Windows 8 that will operate on ARM-powered tablets and hopefully put the company back on the cutting edge — or the “doom and gloom” scenario for Microsoft will be if people switch to portable, non-Windows devices.
“It’s a world of phones and pads and devices of all kinds, and our interests in general purpose computing — or desktop computing — starts to wane and people start doing the same things and more in other scenarios,” said Ozzie.
American Express is partnering with Twitter on a program that syncs with credit cards for automatic merchant discounts and coupons.
“The service is similar to one that American Express has with Facebook, letting consumers use their favorite social network to take advantage of special offers,” reports GigaOM.
Amex customers who sync their cards to their Twitter accounts can use a special hashtag to redeem coupons. “Users don’t have to actually clip a coupon or print anything out to take advantage of the service. They just have to send a tweet and the discount is stored for them,” explains the article.
Best Buy, McDonald’s, H&M, Whole Foods and TicketMaster are among the early participants.
NBC has teamed up with YouTube as its “official on-demand partner” for the 2012 Olympics.
Some 11,000 athletes from 205 countries are scheduled to compete over 17 days at the Summer Olympic Games in London.
“All events will be streamed live on Google’s backbone (likely via NBC.com) with replays of web-exclusive events, all the TV broadcasts and ‘behind the scenes’ footage all available at your whim,” reports Engadget.
According to the press release: “We plan to deliver the most extensive 2012 Olympics content to viewers, including — for the first time ever — ALL events streamed live. That’s right, you’ll be able to watch up to 3,000 hours of live streaming covering all 302 Gold Medals and every event in between.”
“Live streams will be available across our mobile platforms, providing an extraordinary 360-degree coverage of The Games,” adds the release.
Music sales were up 14 percent for 2011 over the previous year, while the number of music buyers also increased 2 percent.
NPD reports 78 million Americans purchased music in 2011, marking the second consecutive year that the number has increased.
The report indicates that CD sales continue to decline, but some 45 million music fans opted for digital downloads via iTunes and Amazon, up 14 percent from 2010.
“Given that it’s easier than ever to listen to free music, legally, via streaming options like Pandora and Spotify, the fact that paid downloads are up is a little counterintuitive,” notes AllThingsD. “But that’s always been part of the streaming music service pitch to the big labels: Let us give away your stuff, and we’ll help increase demand — just like radio used to do.”
With Apple expected to announce its much-anticipated iPad 3 today, a survey of mobile users reports that 29 percent plan to purchase the new tablet.
According to independent mobile ad network inMobi, of that number, 54 percent have never purchased a tablet before.
Nearly two-thirds of those wanting an iPad 3 said they would also consider an older device at a cheaper price, and almost half of the entire group reported no interest in a non-iPad tablet.
Initial rumors indicate the iPad 3 “will be slightly thicker and will include a higher-resolution Retina Display, better cameras, and the inclusion of LTE 4G chips,” reports VentureBeat. “Other rumors suggest that the unit will offer a new quad-core A6 processor to replace the iPad 2′s dual-core A5 chip, which will make processing high-end games and apps much smoother.”
The three most sought after features specified by survey respondents: “faster processor speed, better battery life, and higher-quality screen.”
Canon announced the long-awaited EOS 5D Mk III DSLR, which takes its place between the EOS 5D Mark II and Canon’s professional EOS 1D X.
“This solid looking shooter packs a new 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor (increased from 21.1 on the Mk II), a high-performance DIGIC 5+ imaging processor and a 61-point High Density Reticular Autofocus (AF) system — the last two being lifted from the 1D X,” reports Digital Trends.
The new camera is being released on the 25th anniversary of Canon’s EOS camera system.
“The Mk III also features a 1,040,000-dot 3.2-inch rear LCD screen — again pulled from the top-of-the-range 1D X camera — and allows photographers to display two images side by side, which is a first for an EOS camera,” adds the post. “Its ISO capability stretches from 100 to 25,600 in the standard range; it can also be pulled down to 50 at the lower end and whacked up to two you’ll-probably-never-need settings of 51,200 and 102,400.”
The EOS 5D Mk III will ship at the end of this month for $3,499 (body only).
Following the successful use of iPads by commercial airlines, the U.S. Air Force announced it will replace its paper-based flight bags with the Apple tablet.
“Air Mobility Command, which provides transport and refueling services to the U.S. military using cargo planes and other military aircraft, announced on Friday that the U.S. Air Force will be buying as many as 18,000 iPads worth over $9 million to be used as electronic flight bags by its pilots,” reports Digital Trends.
In a related story from The Verge, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced it will be switching out its BlackBerrys for new smartphones with better “ease of use and adaptability,” the agency said.
“The iPhone is set to be the big winner here, with the ATF selecting Apple’s handset to replace 60 percent (or 2,400) of those units starting in March. The remaining 1,400 will be phased out and replaced with a mix of other smartphones, though the agency hasn’t specified which mobile OS it will employ for those devices. The entire switch is expected to be completed within one year,” The Verge reports.
Mobile payments startup Square plans to help merchants modernize point-of-sale devices with its new iPad app called Register.
The app, announced Monday morning and currently available, is designed to help merchants ditch traditional cash registers.
“The app accepts cash and all major credit cards, can track a customer’s purchase history, and even allows for analytics to see which times are the busiest and what days aren’t performing up to snuff,” reports VentureBeat. “The app also allows for employee permissions, tipping, and smart receipts.”
Additionally, Square announced it had reached $4 billion in annual mobile payments.
The post includes screenshots and a 1-minute video promo.
Digital Trends suggests location-based apps Foursquare and Gowalla are about to face some competition.
“There’s a new trend set to emerge at this year’s SXSW known as ‘ambient social networking.’ At the helm of this burgeoning trend is the budding two-person startup, Highlight, headed by founder and CEO, Paul Davison,” indicates the post.
Highlight’s goal is simply to connect users with similar interests by running silently behind-the-scenes.
“Rather than the check-ins feature that even Foursquare founder, Dennis Crowley, has admitted was losing steam, ambient social networking applications will only notify users with a pop-up notification when another user of the same application approaches your immediate vicinity,” adds Digital Trends.
Highlight decided to launch in time for SXSW. From the company blog: “We want Highlight to make Austin even more fun for you — by surprising you with hidden connections, surfacing information about the people you meet, and helping you remember these people when you bump into them at a random New York coffee shop a year later. You can expect to see some useful enhancements to search and discovery, new ways to interact with people, and continued improvements to performance and battery life.”
