Comcast and Disney/ABC Television Group have announced that Xfinity TV subscribers will have access to the WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney XD and WATCH Disney Junior collection of websites and iOS apps.
According to the press release: “The three new WATCH products are the first-ever to provide authenticated users with both access to live, linear network streams as well as an extensive offering of advantaged window ‘on demand’ episodes.”
Comcast and Disney announced a distribution deal earlier this year in which the companies agreed to deliver Disney sports, news and entertainment content to Xfinity TV subscribers on multiple devices.
“Xfinity TV customers, who subscribe to Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior networks as part of their monthly video service can now stream these channels live online and via the convenience of their iOS devices,” explains the press release.
“This launch is the latest in a series of TV Everywhere initiatives we’re delivering that offer customers more choices and new ways to watch the best entertainment anytime, anywhere,” adds Matthew Strauss, senior VP, Digital and Emerging Platforms, Comcast Cable.
According to a study conducted in late March by Frank N. Magid Associates, the number of U.S. consumers accessing the Internet via their TV sets continues to rise.
The study found that 21 percent of consumers connect their TVs to the Internet, up from 16 percent a year ago. More than half of the current adopters are between 18-44 years of age.
The research, part of the Magid Media Futures 2012 study, expects the percentage to increase dramatically in the next year since 30 percent of respondents expressed interest in connecting their TVs to the Internet.
Connected TVs are commonly being used to surf the Web, play online games, view videos through subscription services, and visit online social networks.
“Game consoles (e.g. Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) are the primary means of connecting to the Internet via TV, followed by smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and over the top devices (e.g. Roku, Apple TV, Google TV),” notes Advanced Television.
DVR-maker TiVo has struck a deal with PayPal to integrate the payment service into television advertisements for a new instant purchase system.
“TiVo is going to make it super simple to buy from adverts instantly by requiring a one-time account setup in order to use PayPal,” reports Geek.com. “After that, it looks like you can just tap a button or two on your remote and the product is paid for — no entering your login details each time you buy.”
“PayPal is happy to be on board with this as they will get a cut of every payment made,” adds the post. “TiVo should also benefit by negotiating a similar cut of the profits, but also by offering advertisers another way to get consumers to part with their cash (instantly).”
Participating advertisers will need to produce commercials that highlight the ability to make instant purchases. Geek.com notes that it will be interesting to see what type of products may benefit from such a model. It also warns that safeguards will need to be put in place to prevent children from purchasing every toy they see on TV.
Facebook has expanded its WordPress connectivity by introducing one-click auto-publishing to share blog posts as links on Facebook. Users can also configure settings to auto-share everything they read.
The connectivity is significant because it allows Web authors to connect to Facebook without writing any code. According to TechCrunch, WordPress “powers 16.6 percent of the Web.”
New features also include integration with Facebook Timeline, Comments, Open Graph Protocol and more.
“Facebook’s Like button was a huge success from both a branding standpoint, and for getting people sharing more, but it still required webmasters to configure and insert code,” notes the post. “Considering Facebook said over a year ago that 2.5 million sites had integrated with it, making it even easier to build in social options could definitely boost its footprint”
Earlier this week, ETCentric reported that cord cutters might find Netgear’s new $70 NeoTV Pro of interest — the first media streamer to feature Intel’s WiDi technology.
In related news, D-Link has announced the next version of its MovieNite streaming media player, expected to ship in July for $80.
“MovieNite Plus will source content from up to 130 different channels and play it back in 1080p resolution (when available),” reports Digital Trends.
The new player will offer streaming content from the likes of Vudu, Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Crackle, Facebook and Twitter.
Hulu Plus is expected to be included at a later date, while the post suggests “Amazon Instant Video does not appear to be on the roster for the moment.”
“It remains to be seen if the MovieNite Plus has enough going for it to lure away would-be Roku customers,” notes Digital Trends. “The Roku, for now, still offers access to more desirable content and it can play games, to boot.”
Second screen social network ConnecTV has officially launched nationwide with backing from leading U.S. broadcast companies.
“The platform synchronizes social engagement, complementary content and program promotions with television programming from any source, in any market across national cable networks, regional sports networks and local stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV,” explains the press release.
Among its features, ConnecTV puts high priority on social media, allowing users to easily connect with friends on Facebook and Twitter while watching television.
“ConnecTV says the app also syncs with content from Apple TV, Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and Roku from the past seven days,” reports Engadget.
The ConnecTV app is currently free for PC browsers and the iPad. According to the company, iPhone and Android smartphone and tablet versions will be available within 45 days.
“Local engagement is at the heart of all social media, from Twitter to Facebook to Groupon,” says ConnecTV co-founder Ian Aaron. “ConnecTV is the only social TV network with a true investment in the local viewing experience and an unparalleled strategic partnership with the leading media companies in America.”
On Wednesday, Twitter announced Expanded Tweets, which will allows users to “check out content directly from certain partners, without having to leave its website,” explains TechCrunch.
News partners such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME and others will allow users to see more content directly within a tweet, rather than being redirected to a website.
“When you expand a news-based Tweet, for example, Twitter’s Expanded Tweets will provide a preview of the headline and introduction, as well as the Twitter accounts of the publisher and writer,” notes the post. “They can then click through to read the article, follow news accounts, reply or retweet within the Twitter page itself.”
Additionally, Expanded Tweets will enable viewing of images and video. The post cites WWE, BuzzFeed, and TMZ as partners that will feature images — and BET, Lifetime, and Dailymotion as video partners.
At last week’s E3, the highlight of the show was the first public showing of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4, the game development platform that will power the industry’s next generation.
The previous version, Unreal 3, has been used by a variety of developers in more than 150 games since 2006 including “Borderlands,” “Mass Effect” and “Gears of War.”
Unreal 4 will not only be used for game development, but for film storyboarding, architectural visualization and medical/real world simulations.
“There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of our engine team and our studio to drag this industry into the next generation,” says Cliff Bleszinski, Epic’s design director. “It is up to Epic, and [founder] Tim Sweeney in particular, to motivate Sony and Microsoft not to phone in what these next consoles are going to be. It needs to be a quantum leap. They need to damn near render ‘Avatar’ in real time, because I want it and gamers want it — even if they don’t know they want it.”
In the past, a single floating ember could slow a scene down. Unreal 4 can portray millions of particles when given sufficient hardware. Moreover, it can display photo-realistic lens flare, bokeh distortion, lava flow, environmental destruction, fire, and detail in landscapes. (See samples in the Wired article.)
Kismet 2, Epic’s new visual scripting tool, allows non-programmers to create and script game elements. And unlike current engines, Unreal 4 allows one to see changes instantly. The engine is filled with a variety of tools that will shorten production schedules and costs.
Mobli — an emerging platform for recording and uploading short form videos online — has announced a partnership with the Tropfest Film Festival to launch the TropfestMicro channel, which will feature “micro” films with a maximum length of 70 seconds.
“The bubble has burst for camera and video apps, motivating photo-sharing apps like Hipstimatic into rethinking their strategies,” reports Digital Trends. “Mobli, an underdog competitor to SocialCam and Viddy, is looking to establish itself as the YouTube of short-form social video by partnering with Tropfest for the Tropfest Micro Film Festival.”
Mobli’s financial backers include Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. Tropfest is an international traveling short film festival which will make its U.S. debut this year with support from ambassadors including Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
TropfestMicro — which Mobli refers to as a “film festival in your pocket” — will be Mobli’s first channel. “It will showcase submissions for Tropfest’s first Micro Film Festival, headed by Tobey Maguire,” notes the post.
“We’re all storytellers — and with a visual platform like Mobli, we’re not just being given access to watch films at a festival, but to be active participants, no matter who we are or where we are in the world,” Maguire said.
Mobli’s early adopters come from opposite ends of the spectrum. “At one end are the celebrity ambassadors who have made Mobli their video app of choice,” explains Digital Trends. “At the other end of the spectrum is its core target demographic, the unknown filmmakers that Mobli hopes will usher in the next generation of Web stars.”
Paramount Pictures and Microsoft launched an app this week that enables Xbox Live Gold members to stream movies through their gaming console.
The app acts as a “go between” according to CNET, as it requires users to purchase or rent movies through Paramount’s website before it can be streamed to the Xbox 360. Users must also have Paramount and UltraViolet accounts in order to stream the content.
Earlier this year, Paramount began offering digital movies from its website via UltraViolet. The new joint app will provide a simple means of getting those movies onto TV sets.
“Last month, Amazon Prime service made a deal with Paramount for access to its movies. And just a week later, Amazon Instant Video partnered with Xbox introducing another app that lets subscribers play movies from Amazon’s Instant Video service,” notes the post. “This comes as Xbox 360 already has apps for HBO Go, Comcast, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and ESPN.”
A new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that movie ticket sales will experience a 20 percent increase over a five-year period ending in 2016.
However, the study also anticipates that continuing revenue decreases in the home entertainment sector will impact the North American film business.
According to the Los Angeles Times, PwC “predicts an acceleration over the next five years of trends with which Hollywood has recently been grappling. Those include growing digital revenue that can’t keep pace with falling DVD sales and rentals, and faster growth of movie-related revenue in Latin America and Asia than in the rest of the world.”
The study expects an average annual increase in box office of 3.7 percent, while the home video market will likely see a drop from $22 billion in revenue last year to $21.1 billion in 2016.
“Revenue from discs is expected to plunge from $15.8 billion last year to $10.2 billion in 2016, and a 77 percent jump in digital sales and rentals over the same span won’t be enough to make up the difference,” notes the article.
Blu-ray disc growth has not been as robust as originally anticipated, and in terms of the digital economy consumer interest is trending toward rentals rather than purchases. “Consumers are indicating they like the rental model, and the [profit] margins are very different under that scenario,” said Matt Lieberman, director of entertainment media and communications practice for PwC.
Netgear is “supercharging” its NeoTV 200 device that originally arrived late last year by adding Intel’s WiDi technology, “enabling you to wirelessly span your laptop’s display onto the biggest screen in your house,” reports Engadget.
According to the company’s press release, the NeoTV Pro is the world’s first streaming player to use Intel’s WiDi tech.
The player offers Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube and Pandora, and is controllable with a remote or through a smartphone app. It enables users to instantly stream full 1080p and surround sound to their TVs.
“The hardware remains otherwise unchanged, packing the same 300Mbps Wi-Fi, Ethernet, optical out and HDMI,” explains the post.
The NeoTV Pro streaming player (NTV200S) is currently available for $69.99.
Yahoo and CNBC have partnered to jointly create and distribute business oriented content across networks. Yahoo Finance and CNBC will co-brand original content on both Yahoo Finance and CNBC.com.
“Partnering with CNBC will allow Yahoo Finance to expand its offerings instantly and enhance its position as the most viewed and utilized finance site in the world,” explains Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.
“With CNBC taking a central role on the biggest business news site in the world, we now have the ability to provide real-time news, analysis and information to a larger audience and offer unmatched advertising solutions for marketers looking for access across multiple platforms,” adds CNBC CEO Mark Hoffman.
Financial details of the multi-year deal have not been revealed.
“Together, the companies aim to reach an unduplicated online audience of more than 40 million U.S. viewers each month,” reports CNET.
On June 28, Verizon will release its new Share Everything plans which allow families to share minutes, messages, and data as a unit. Minutes and messages are unlimited, whereas families pick from tiers of data packages ranging from 1GB to 10GB.
The 1GB plan costs $50 and the 2GB plan is $60. From there the plans increase to 10GB in 2GB intervals. Each interval brings a price increase of $10.
Families will be required to pay activation fees: $40 for smartphones; $30 for basic phones; $20 for jetpacks, USBs, notebooks and netbooks; and $10 for tablets.
The plans support up to ten devices on one network and offer a free mobile hotspot feature.
“They feel a bit expensive, but the truth is these plans work out rather well with completely unlimited voice and texts for what will likely be lots of teenagers. Any parent knows this can be a life saver,” reports TechCrunch. “The bill goes up quickly, but that’s sometimes the price you pay for unlimited phone usage, big buckets of data and a free mobile hotspot feature.”
The Justice Department is examining whether cable companies are hampering competition from online video providers. Specifically, it is looking into Comcast’s data caps which limit the amount of data subscribers can download.
Comcast has set caps which impact how users view online video from services such as Netflix and Hulu. Moreover, it has favored its own Xfinity online video service by excluding its use from the caps.
This may violate a provision not to “unreasonably discriminate” against competitors agreed to in Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal. Comcast has said Xfinity is treated differently because it uses a private network instead of the public Internet.
The investigation is additionally looking into whether requiring a cable subscription to view online video may be considered anticompetitive.
“The Justice Department also is investigating the contracts that programmers sign in order to be distributed on cable systems,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Some contracts include so-called most-favored nation clauses, which make programmers give the biggest cable companies the best price they are offering anywhere, among other conditions. The Justice Department is questioning whether there are legitimate business reasons for such terms or whether they are intended to stop programmers from experimenting with other forms of online distribution.”
Comcast and Disney/ABC Television Group have announced that Xfinity TV subscribers will have access to the WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney XD and WATCH Disney Junior collection of websites and iOS apps.
