Tweet roundup from today’s DTG Summit

Posted by andrew pascoe on March 5, 2010 · View Comments 

Here’s the Project Canvas-related new & info that came out of Digital TV Group’s (DTG) Summit, held today in London, told via the medium of interpretive dance twitter:

  • “Canvas bloke* says he’ll have all docs available by May.” @WillStrauss - that tweet here
  • “Ooh, got a bit tense there. Canvas bloke* accused of not sharing his spec wit the DTG.” @WillStrauss - that tweet here
  • “There are between 2m and 3m Freeview main-set homes that will be interested in Canvas offer: Freeview’s Ilse Howling” - @GLovelace - that tweet here
  • “Relationship between Project Canvas and DTG is ‘critical’ and we need to get it right, says Canvas’ Richard Halton “ - @GLovelace - that tweet here
  • “Richard Halton acknowledges the role of Humax in the support of the development of Canvas.” - @Bobdvb - that tweet here
  • “Project Canvas’ Richard Halton: Cisco, Humax, Technicolor, LG, Sagem, Amino, TVOnics and others keen to make canvas devices” - @CanvasInfo -  that tweet here
  • “‘Free-to-air catch-up TV is here and can be in every broadband home via Freeview HD and Freesat’“** - @WillStrauss - that tweet here
  • “Futuresource predicting 9.5bn on-demand video views in 2013, 8% of total TV viewing, up from 2.3bn and <2% in 2009″ @GLovelace - that tweet here

And speaking of Twitter, don’t forget you can follow us, and say hi, @ProjectCanvasUK.

* presumably referring to Richard Halton, programme director for Canvas at the BBC.

** we’re not sure who Will was quoting here - likely it was one of the MDs of Freeview (Isle Howling) or FreeSat (Emma Scott)

Filed under DTG, Freeview, Humax · Tagged with

Related news roundup - 12 Feb

Posted by andrew pascoe on February 12, 2010 · View Comments 

So, as the saying almost goes, it’s been a long time between IPTV/VoD drinks here at the blog.  Below are some news clips to do with all things VoD & IPTV from February so far. Over the weekend we’ll post a backlog of related news items (from the ‘not so fresh’ bookmarks, all the way back to Dec), and we’ll be back early next week with all the coverage of the DTG’s submission to the BBC Trust - where they claim Canvas is being developed as a ‘parallel standard’ to the DTG’s own work (if you’re not aware, this could have big implications - it is the DTG after all who is supposed to be helping the Project Canvas group develop the Canvas standards).

  • 9 Feb - Tubefilter has a look at the possible reasons why Hulu is getting involved in original web series (Simon Fullers’ ‘If I can dream’)
  • 10 Feb - Freeview’s upcoming ad campaign will focus on the HD part of Freeview HD, and not mention the internet connectivity of the Freeview HD boxes, nor any specific connected TV opps like Samsung’s iPlayer syndication -  Broadband TV News.   And a survey commissioned by Freeview suggests that 360,000 Sky+ HD households are “likely” to switch to Freeview HD - Guardian article. Lastly, Freeview is solidly entertaining the possibility of 3D channels being available on its platform in the future - possibly in 5 years. Broadband TV News.
  • 10 Feb - VAST is a new template for video adserving that aims to standardise video ads around on demand content online & boost advertiser adoption. It’s backed by the IAB, both in the US and here in the UK - and the IAB Video Council here has all the big adservers (except Atlas) and most of the big video content providers (4, ITV, Sky, et al). BrandRepublic blog.
    On a related note, the IAB UK Video Council also have a pretty active community over at their site here.
  • 10 Feb - On a related note, New Media Age reports that ITV & Channel 4 have cut their online video rates to boost uptake - perhaps by as much as half.
  • 5 Feb - Channel 4 is wanting to start selling pre-rolls alongside its contet on BT Vision, the IPTV offering from BT.  IPTVNews
  • 4 Feb - In the US, Hulu’s ‘ad selector’ ad placement - the one where the viewer gets to select which brand they’ll see ads from during the program - has been chosen as best online video ad unit, by Publicis unit VivaKi. MediaWeek article
  • 3 Feb - TellyLinks is a new consumer offering  that attempts to capitalise on second screen interest, by showing viewers, on the TellLinks site, links  that are relevant to the program being watched on the TV screen . It’s run by Jeff Henry a former ITV Consumer MD.  Guardian article here.  Its first public trial - an episode of Numbers on Five - didn’t go so well, with the site crashing (one blog post on that night here).
  • 1 Feb - Views of Virgin Media VoD service increase 50% year on year, to a total of 750m for 2009. VoD is used by 59% of Virgin’s 3.9mill TV customers. Media Guardian.

Filed under BT, Channel4, Freeview, Hulu, Uncategorized · Tagged with

Related news roundup - 05 July

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 5, 2009 · View Comments 

After a period of quiet from us, below is some news from the world of VOD, PVRs, and more:

  • BrandRepublic: Ofcom released the latest stage of its report into the subscription TV mrket, with its recommendation being a load of sports should be added to an anti-syphoning list. Understandably, this has upset BSkyB, who are entertaining legal challenges.
  • The Guardian: Freeview confirmed its goal of getting 50% of households onto Freeview HD by next summer (in time for the football World Cup. The first regions for Freeview HD broadcasts will come online by the end of this year.
  • PaidContentUK: Joost’s CEO Mike Volpi is leaving his post (but remaining chairman), as the company admits its portal ambitions are going nowhere. It will become a “white label video provider”.
  • The Telegraph & BroadcastNow: ITV is funding some of the Digital Britain research into viability and success of micro-payments for content, and is considering introducing them in the future, both as a part of its VOD offering and a part of its Canvas offering.
  • PaidContentUK has a summary of Hulu-related news / non-news, including the possibility of UK broadcasters getting an equity stake in the venture.
  • LATimes: Cablevision in the US has had the legal obstacles to its offering of a cloud-based PVR removed. Users wouldn’t be limited to just the physical storage space available on the set top box in their home.
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Filed under Freeview, Ofcom, Related news · Tagged with , , ,