-
Comcast's Roberts: "What used to be called 'reruns' on television is now called Netflix."
An interview with Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts in today's WSJ has an instantly classic quote that will no doubt be making the rounds. In response
to the interview question, "Do you feel pressure from the growing number of deals Netflix Inc. is striking with content owners, including, recently, CBS?" Roberts responded, "What used to be called 'reruns' on television is now called Netflix." Ouch!
Of course, Roberts, and other pay-TV executives, have taken great pains to assert that new over-the-top services aren't competing with their core video subscription services. Those assertions came under fire last year as the pay-TV industry lost subscribers for the 2nd and 3rd quarters, leading to wildly over-hyped predictions of cord-cutting, which have abated as 4th quarter subscriber losses improved. Still, there's no denying that Netflix, which added almost 8 million subscribers in 2010 to surpass 20 million, has a lot of momentum and eventually could be viewed as part of pay-TV substitute package. Come early April, when Q1 '11 results are released and Netflix almost certainly edges out Comcast to be the largest video subscription service in the U.S., the Netflix luster will only grow further.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Cable TV Operators
-
Irdeto Launches Active Cloak for Media With Dynamic Security Approach
Software security firm Irdeto is launching Active Cloak for Media this morning, a dynamic security service intended to protect premium content across the ever-growing universe of connected devices. I had breakfast with Daniel Thunberg, Irdeto's VP of Marketing, who was in from Beijing last week, to learn more.
Irdeto has had a strong position in DRM with its core Cloakware DRM
technology embedded in online video services and devices from Comcast, Netflix, Adobe, Sony, and Logitech among others. But Irdeto has recognized that DRM itself is often the subject of hackers' attacks and when they succeed piracy runs rampant. Worse, it's often not apparent to the content owner or distributor where the breach is. The result is a world where content owners often have little idea where their most valuable assets are being viewed.
With that problem in mind, Daniel explained that Active Cloak for Media takes a services-oriented approach, deploying a set of server modules and media agents on connected devices which constantly communicate with each other to watch for illicit activity. When detected, the agents renew their security credentials to keep content safe. Active Cloak for Media's "lifecycle" security model means that once content is digitally distributed, content owners and/or distributors have a far better view of where security issues exist and what proactive measures should be taken.
Categories: Devices, Technology
Topics: Irdeto
-
Quick Thoughts On Oscar Backstage App
During last night's Oscar broadcast, I was in full "second-screening" mode, flipping around the Oscar Backstage App from ABC, which I had downloaded for $.99 to my iPad. The big question for me was whether the 8 video feeds from various camera angles would hold up under heavy usage and also what the experience of switching back-and-forth among the feeds would be like. The good news is that the video all performed well, and newly chosen feeds came up quickly.
The bad news is that during most of the broadcast, there wasn't much actually happening in those 8 video feeds. The most active feed was from the Press Room cam, where winners would come to answer un-rehearsed questions from the Hollywood press. Some sessions, like with Christian Bale, seemed to go on and on, while other winners like Natalie Portman never appeared during the actual broadcast. In fact, this is the biggest area I think Oscar Backstage Pass app could improve - adding some simple schedule or navigation so users have an idea of what to expect next. I know the experience is supposed to be sort of impromptu, but the randomness and waiting started detracting after a while.
Categories: Broadcasters
-
5 Items of Interest for the Week of Feb. 25th
Happy Friday! Below is VideoNuze's end-of-week feature, analyzing 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Enjoy!Categories: Miscellaneous
-
Looking Forward to Going Backstage At the Oscars
This Sunday night's Oscars broadcast promises to be like no other, as the show gets the full online video treatment. The NY Times had a rundown this week of all the various apps that are available and will be streaming supplementary video. I've downloaded ABC's Oscar Backstage Pass app to my iPad and my wife and I will be in full "second-screening" mode (for my wife, as for many others, the Oscars is like Super Bowl Sunday).
Categories: Broadcasters, Devices
-
NBC Testing Super Bowl Ad Rates of $3.5M Per 30-Second Spot
A report this week in AdAge indicated that NBC, which has the broadcast rights to next year's Super Bowl XLVI, is testing advertiser reaction to a rates of up to $3.5 million per certain 30-second ads. This would be a bump from this past year's rates of $2.8-$3.0 million and would easily be the most expensive ad time in history. However, the potential increase was not only predictable, I think it's actually just the start of a significant run up yet to come.
Topics: NBC, Super Bowl, Visible Measures, Volkswagen
-
CBS Sees $3 Billion In New Distribution Revenue Ahead
CBS hosted an "Upfront for Investors" yesterday, and as The Hollywood Reporter noted, its executives envision potentially $3 billion in new,
high-margin revenue coming from retransmission consent payments, reverse compensation from TV affiliates, international TV syndication and emerging digital distributors. It was no coincidence that just this week CBS announced a 2-year distribution deal with Netflix for mainly library programs, that one analyst valued at $200 million.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters
-
Android Market to Roll Out Movies?
Engadget had an intriguing blurb this week regarding the availability of book downloads now being available in the Android Market. More interesting is the
existence of a new movie-related URL in Android Market, along with one for music. With the surging popularity of Android devices, including the new Xoom tablet from Motorola plus lots of others, some type of movie service would seem inevitable.
Categories: Devices, FIlms, Mobile Video
Topics: Android, Google, Motorola
VideoNuze Posts
Connect with VideoNuze
Exclusive News Roundup
- YouTube CEO Says Revenue From Its TikTok-Like Shorts Videos Is at Parity With Core YouTube in U.S., Other Countries Variety
- Netflix says its ad tier now has 94 million monthly active users CNBC
- Xumo Founder Launches Fairground, Startup Focused Exclusively on AI-Generated TV Series Variety
- YouTube introduces an interactive product feed for shoppable TV ads TechCrunch
- Warner’s Streaming Service Has New Name: Its Old One. Meet ‘HBO Max.’ WSJ
- YouTube Expands Deal With NFL, Scores Global Rights to Week One Brazil Game The Hollywood Reporter
