“The future of Microsoft’s Xbox appears to be moving briskly toward interactive TV, based on a high-profile hire of CBS Entertainment’s former television chief and the launch of two interactive TV ‘programs’ that tap into Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral,” reports ReadWriteWeb.
Former CBS executive Nancy Tellem will run a dedicated Xbox content studio under her new position as president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Digital Media.
“According to analyst Richard Doherty, Tellem will be responsible for luring new content to the Microsoft Xbox platform, competing with Google’s YouTube and Netflix in what he characterized as a bidding war,” notes the article. “She also will be tasked with working with content providers to help develop content like the two new Kinect programs, ‘Kinect Sesame Street TV’ and ‘Kinect Nat Geo TV.'”
Tellem knows content. According to the article, she greenlit CBS hits such as “CSI,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The King of Queens” — and helped create “Friends” and “ER.”
The Xbox has evolved from a gaming console to an all-inclusive entertainment hub. “Tellem’s role appears to be designed to make sense of this combination of original programming, interactive television and interactivity,” suggests ReadWriteWeb.
Shazam announced it is expanding its second-screen service in the U.S. to support nearly all channels with a new focus on Facebook and Twitter integration. The company also announced that it has exceeded a quarter of a billion users globally.
“In addition to expanding Shazam for TV, Shazam is also enhancing its social features for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android devices,” notes the press release. “When Shazamers activate the Shazam Friends feature in the app, they can see what their Facebook friends are tagging, and now they will be able to make comments about their friends’ tags in the app.”
“With the activation, people’s tags will appear on their Facebook profile in their timeline, enabling people to discuss with their friends in Facebook what they are watching or listening to,” explains the release.
As a second-screen tool, Shazam users can access information related to featured music, cast members, related trivia, celebrity buzz and more. It can be also be used during sports broadcasts to access scores, stats and schedules.
“According to industry studies, 86 percent of smartphone owners use their mobile device while watching TV and, with our expansion into television, we’ve seen a surge of activity due to recent Shazam-enabled events such as the NBC Olympic broadcast, where more than one million people tagged the closing ceremony,” explains Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher.
“We think that broadening our television service and offering more comprehensive social features will continue to drive activity and engagement,” he adds.
Aereo provides broadcast TV over the Web to consumers in New York City via the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Roku box. With plans to move into other cities, the company says it will also offer programming that doesn’t just come from local TV stations and will soon start streaming to PCs and laptops.
CEO Chet Kanojia explained that deals have been made with content owners to provide additional programming to Aereo users for an additional fee. But who exactly?
“There’s no way Kanojia is working with any network affiliated with any of the four major broadcasters,” reports Peter Kafka for AllThingsD. “They are suing his company for copyright violation, because it distributes their over-the-air programming without paying for it. So that rules out anything from News Corp., Disney, Comcast or CBS.”
It also seems unlikely that Aereo would want to sell all-or-nothing bundles from cable programming giants like Viacom or Discovery, the article suggests.
“More likely would be deals with programmers that don’t have full cable distribution in the U.S. I could imagine a theoretical deal with someone like Bloomberg TV, for instance, or Al Jazeera English,” writes Kafka. “Asked to provide additional clarification, Aereo PR head Virginia Lam writes: ‘We have had conversations with a variety of content providers, including some cable networks.'”
CBS will launch a major social media campaign this week to garner buzz for its fall line-up of returning and new programs.
“Fans will gain access to stars and producers of shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ ‘Person of Interest’ and ‘Vegas’ during the East Coast premieres,” notes The Hollywood Reporter.
“Hosted by CBS Connect Lounge, viewers can communicate with talent through Facebook and Twitter during specific times during the week,” explains the article.
Additionally, a Web series called “Fall Premiere Show” will preview the fall schedule, recap earlier seasons, include behind-the-scenes features and offer interviews with actors.
“The combination of this network and Twitter can either be looked at as a case of CBS trying to get in touch with a younger demographic — or, alternatively, a sign that Twitter and Facebook are now firmly mainstream enough that their own demographics are shifting upwards in age,” suggests Digital Trends in a related post.
THR has the full schedule for CBS Tweet Week, including the people who will be participating.
Fox is turning to Twitter’s “expanded tweet” feature to help launch its TV programming.
“The social media platform will be one of the digital hubs for a full-episode preview 11 days ahead of the third-season premiere of the Fox comedy ‘Raising Hope,'” reports Variety.
“While the episode will be available on other platforms, only Twitter users who retweet will be rewarded with a video message from the series’ cast thanking them for spreading the word,” explains the article.
The premiere can be viewed within a tweet without having to access an outside link. “That feature can be accessed either on Twitter.com, its mobile website or apps for Twitter access via wireless devices like the iPad app, which was reintroduced earlier this week as part of a broader redesign of the service,” notes Variety.
Fred Graver, head of TV at Twitter, is looking to make the service more than just a referral source and second-screen companion, but does not suggest any type of fundamental repositioning. “It’s not like we’re getting into the distribution business,” says Graver. “That’s not what this is about.”
Enhancing Twitter with new exhibition features could deliver advertising revenue beyond the text-only “Promoted Tweets.”
The “Raising Hope” premiere will also be available via Fox.com, the show’s Facebook page, Hulu, on-demand and authenticated websites for pay TV distributors.
Apple announced it will shutter its social music tool Ping by the end of the month.
In its place, Apple will integrate Facebook features into iTunes, providing users the opportunity to “like” or “share” items in the store.
“You don’t need hindsight to figure out why Ping didn’t work — the most obvious problem with the service was that it didn’t sync up with the world’s most popular social network,” reports AllThingsD.
“But now Facebook and Apple have worked out their differences, and there’s no need to keep Ping on life support anymore,” notes the post.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook: “We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said ‘This isn’t something that I want to put a lot of energy into.'”
YouTube has unveiled an iPhone app that allows users to stream content optimized for their devices, while providing YouTube parent Google the opportunity to generate revenue through ads.
The third-party app, which replaces Apple’s own YouTube platform, will also offer YouTube the ability to expand content options by adding major labels and other publishers that had opted out of the ad-free version.
“One of the app’s most notable new features, if you can call it that, are ads,” reports GigaOM. “Launching its own app means that YouTube can now monetize its videos on the iPhone. For YouTube, this means making more money with mobile: The site also announced Tuesday that it now clocks 1 billion mobile views every single day.”
“Other features include easier sharing through Twitter, Facebook and Google+, as well as the ability to leave comments on a video while you’re still watching it,” notes the post. “YouTube’s iOS app also supports AirPlay mirroring.”
The iOS app is optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch; an iPad version is in development.
Top Internet companies have come together to form The Internet Association, a lobbying group and trade association created to provide a unified voice in Washington, DC.
The group has three primary goals: protecting Internet freedom, fostering innovation and economic growth, and empowering users.
The 14 members of the association include Amazon, AOL, eBay, Expedia, Facebook, Google, IAC, LinkedIn, Monster Worldwide, Rackspace, Salesforce.com, TripAdvisor, Yahoo and Zynga.
“The Internet is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, with an unparalleled record of job creation and innovation across all sectors,” says Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of The Internet Association.
“It is the Internet’s decentralized and open model that has unleashed unprecedented entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation,” he adds. “Policymakers must understand that the preservation of that freedom is essential to the vitality of the Internet itself and the resulting economic prosperity.”
Apple’s new iPhone 5 could potentially cause challenges for carriers as millions of new customers jump onto the faster 4G LTE networks.
“The question now is whether the networks can handle the demand,” writes Technology Review.
Carriers are preparing. “Stung by the 3G congestion debacles consumers faced in recent years, they’ve spent billions of dollars to expand networks. At the same time, they instituted tiered pricing based on how much data consumers use, which has the effect of tamping down runaway demand,” notes the article.
As of today, there are 12.7 million LTE users in the U.S. Millions more will come with the iPhone 5 and problems could come with that rush, according to Bill Moore, the CEO of Rootmetrics.
“Whatever happens in the short term, demand is expected to explode in the next few years. Bell Labs has estimated that mobile data traffic will grow by a factor of 25 by 2016; Cisco says it will grow 18-fold over that time period,” writes Technology Review.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced a new specification for wireless multimedia streaming called Miracast that allows devices to transmit content without a wireless router.
Miracast uses the Alliance’s Wi-Fi Direct standard for enabling peer-to-peer ad-hoc wireless connections. This allows devices to communicate directly without access to Wi-Fi or much, if any configuration.
“Speed-wise, Miracast is based on 802.11, so connections will be limited to the slowest device in the network,” ExtremeTech reports. “Good news for content owners too: Miracast has built in content protection, using wireless versions of the same security measures used in HDMI and DisplayPort.”
Intel and Apple already have their own technology — Wireless Display (WiDi) and Airplay — for wireless multimedia streaming.
“Miracast may have the advantage here where others have failed: it is not a proprietary solution unlike AirPlay, and that it seems to be targeted towards portable devices as it is far more power efficient — one of WiDi’s biggest downfalls,” the article suggests.
Intel has already updated its WiDi pages to include support for Miracast, which “likely indicates that the industry is ready to settle on a single specification,” notes the article.
Many consumer products are already compatible with the standard. By 2016, an estimated 1.5+ billion devices will be Miracast-enabled, according to an iSuppli analyst.
Roku will release its anticipated flash drive-sized Streaming Stick for $99 next month.
“Priced the same as as the Roku 2 XS set-top box, it brings the same feature set but in a smaller package designed to work directly with your HDTV, thanks to power, remote control and data signals fed through an MHL-compatible HDMI port,” explains Engadget.
“If you pick up an otherwise dumb flat-panel with the stick bundled along with it the price is set by that manufacturer, but the standalone plan means buyers’ savings are focused on the two cables they won’t be needing, and simplified remote capability since their TV remote can talk to the Stick directly. Like the Roku 2 XS, the Streaming Stick also includes the motion control capable game remote.”
In more good news for Roku customers, the Walmart-owned Vudu service launched on the platform yesterday.
“You will need a Roku HD (2500), LT or Roku 2 box (or the Streaming Stick, once it launches) to take advantage of the Vudu app and its streams that bring quality of up to 1080p and 7.1 surround sound,” notes the post.
“Can a media platform really survive without flooding its audience with advertising?” asks The Atlantic.
Vimeo has long attempted to take this route, even while its competition at Facebook and YouTube have relied heavily on advertising.
But Vimeo has marketed itself differently. “With its clean interface and cuddly community vibe, Vimeo has carved out a niche as the videomaker’s video platform,” explains the article.
On Thursday, the video sharing site announced two new tools that will further enhance its ad-less business model. The tools will allow videomakers to generate their own revenue.
Videomakers can utilize the new “tip jar” and keep 85 percent of profits earned. “The second and more exciting feature is a ‘pay-to-view’ setup, which will allow users to charge viewers for access to content, customizing the parameters to suit their needs,” details The Atlantic.
Vimeo will roll out its pay-to-view this fall, with a full launch in early 2013.
“It goes back to the core of Vimeo as a platform,” says Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor of the new tools. “Vimeo has been quite successful in terms of distinguishing itself as the quality platform for creative people. Enabling those people to start to build businesses and generate revenue around their work really feels like the next logical step.”
“Olive” has already made history as the first feature-length film shot exclusively on a smartphone. Now co-directors Hooman Khalili and Pat Gilles hope to “democratize distribution” as they aim to rethink methods for distributing independent films.
“The movie probably has the connections to make that happen — after all, one of its executive producers, Chris Kelly, is also involved in the ‘indie Netflix’ site Fandor and movie distribution start-up GoDigital,” reports TechCrunch. “Kelly was formerly Facebook’s chief privacy officer, and he isn’t [the film’s] only link to Facebook — Randi Zuckerberg also has a small part.”
The movie — shot on a Nokia N8 fitted with a special 35mm lens, and featuring Gena Rowlands — has completed production, but is being recut with four new Dolly Parton songs.
Although the directors are considering a limited theatrical release, their focus is elsewhere. “Khalili suggests that a a low budget, independently-produced movie with a sincere message just isn’t a good fit for Hollywood executives, but it does play well with the elderly, soccer moms, children, and people of faith,” explains the post.
The new version will debut this month at Stream, “the annual ‘unconference’ organized by advertising conglomerate WPP and hosted by WPP CEO Martin Sorrell and investor Yossi Vardi,” reports TechCrunch.
Khalili hopes to screen the film at the Dubai Film Festival, and then target video/digital distribution — bypassing theatrical, the importance of which he argues is overstated. “Khalili’s more excited about figuring out the right way to release ‘Olive’ with a big push through video on demand — hopefully before the holiday season, which is really the perfect time to watch the film.”
The post includes a one-minute trailer of the film.
In a taped interview recorded for the 3D Entertainment Summit this week in Hollywood, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said producers need to offset consumers’ doubt in 3D by creating “exceptional” 3D movies that are worth the more expensive ticket.
Katzenberg described 2012 as a “spectacular year” for worldwide box office, “after a phase in which auds seemed to doubt 3D’s legitimacy and consistency,” reports Variety.
“Some people tried to capitalize on the gimmick of 3D rather than giving a quality experience and trying to deliver something exceptional to audiences, and the audience really snapped back on us,” he said. “But I think the trend is growing and we’re starting to earn back trust and respect from the audience.”
Katzenberg said the rate of ticket sales strongly reflects how critical responses to a 3D film influence moviegoer’s choices.
As for 3D in the home: “There still isn’t much to watch,” he said. “Making that incremental investment, people want to know that there’s use and value in that. Sports has been pretty good, but it’s still pretty limited in 3D product you can get on a TV set.”
“International markets are fueling the growth of theatrical 3D, while consumers and programmers seem to be awaiting the arrival of glasses-free TV to fully embrace the format at home,” reports Variety.
During a presentation at this week’s 3D Entertainment Summit, IHS Screen Digest senior analyst Richard Cooper explained that approximately 60 percent of screens worldwide have made the digital conversion, largely driven by 3D.
“In North America, 3D exhibition is maturing,” notes the article. “About 44 percent of digital screens in North America are 3D-capable, below the world average, but that’s because much of the world is still converting and will install 2D-only screens after its 3D capacity is in place.”
Outside the U.S. the number of 3D screens increased 51 percent year-on-year to reach 27,000. China remains a strong driver of 3D expansion and while international adoption remains high, content remains low.
“Cooper said that while 3D feature production is down from its 2011 peak, films in an expanding number of genres are being produced in 3D, and the mix of 3D films is coming to resemble the mix of the entire market — an indication that the format is maturing,” Variety writes.
In terms of home entertainment, 3D TV is slightly ahead of HDTV over time, but more content is needed. “3D will remain a niche market in all markets in which it touches,” Cooper said. “One of the biggest barriers to 3D adoption is it remains very event-based viewing. Consumers and programmers are waiting for that revolution: autostereo 3D.”
Networks are reluctant to pay for 3D, but electronics makers such as Samsung and LG are paying for 3D content for their VOD promotional channels.
