TDG Opinions

Cloudee with a Chance for Boxee

Colin Dixon — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:50:00 GMT

This morning Boxee stepped into the world of Cloud media with the announcement of its new Cloudee media service. The company is taking aim at the complexities involved in sharing personal video shot with a mobile phone with friends and family. Starting today the invite-only beta will let users shoot a video with an iPhone, upload it to Cloudee, organize it and others into collections and easily share them with friends and family. The beta is free for participants but the final version will require a fee, although Boxee has not revealed any pricing at this time....(read more)

The Schism Between Free-to-Air and Free-to-Online Deepens

Colin Dixon — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:42:00 GMT

In the last few weeks, the line between broadcast and online video has become much more sharply drawn. Free-to-air broadcasters continue to step back from the opportunity of free-to-online distribution, while some of the largest online video companies are stepping up to the opportunities of advertising-supported, broadcast-quality online video. Both camps are betting they can capture or retain a significant audience for their shows; at stake are the billions of ad dollars wrapped up in the television market. ...(read more)

Like It or Not, The Future of PayTV is Broadband

Colin Dixon — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:41:00 GMT

In the last few months, there has been a flurry of announcements from multi-channel operators regarding the fact that they had (finally) brought their PayTV services to Xbox 360. Only last week, Comcast announced Xfinity on-demand video on the Xbox. Verizon announced a similar client late last year that included live broadcast channels as well as on-demand video. In the U.K., operators Sky and BT have had clients on Xbox more than a year. ...(read more)

How Blockbuster Store Closures Could Benefit Netflix

The Diffusion Group — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:52:00 GMT

I admit it. I’ve become a Blu-ray snob. If I’m going to rent or buy a movie and enjoy a theater experience at home, it has to be in high definition (HD). Though streaming quality from Netflix, Hulu, et al. is fine for everyday viewing, it just doesn’t cut it at the Dixon Movie Theater. For example, I recently rented an HD version of Thor from Amazon OnDemand and streamed it to my 1080p Panasonic plasma TV. Sadly, the experience was far short of anything I’ve seen on Blu-ray. When Netflix bifurcated its service last year, I went shopping for a new disc rental service (with Blu-ray at the top of my must-have list). That was around the time that Dish Network announced the Blockbuster Movie Pass. On paper it sounded like a great deal: streaming movies from EPIX, Starz, and others; one disc at a time that I could swap at my local Blockbuster store; and no up-charge for Blu-ray disc, all for $10 a month for Dish Network subscribers. Since I am a Dish subscriber, this was a no-brainer. And for the most part I’ve been pretty happy with the service. ...(read more)

Cableco Seeks to be “Totally Open” to OTT

Colin Dixon — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:06:00 GMT

Virgin Media, the British cable company, announced last week that it intends on opening up the company’s TiVo-branded DVR to over-the-top (OTT) video providers. That’s right: a cable operator is welcoming OTT providers such Netflix and Amazon’s LoveFilm onto a company-provided DVR. Talks are at an early stage but Virgin’s intentions are clear. In the words of CEO Neil Berkett, “We want TiVo to be completely open. We’re talking to everyone.”...(read more)

4 Predictions for 2012

Colin Dixon — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:36:00 GMT

Four Predictions for 2012 Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory (Adapted from OTT Monitor published 12/22/11) Prediction #1: Netflix will return to growth in Q1 2012. Reason: Consumers will be unwrapping a lot of connected devices with super screens this...(read more)

For Andy, It Is a Good News/Bad News Kinda’ Day

Laura Allen Phillips — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:51:00 GMT

We have all had them, to one degree or another; those days when we ponder, seriously, whether the pendulum has swung for, or against us. For Andy Rendich, today was one of “those days”. According to Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, Andy, who has been working on the DVD by mail service for 12 years and leading it for the last 4 , was the soon-to-be CEO of Qwikster....(read more)