TDG Opinions

August 2011 - Posts

• John Sununu and Harold Ford Would Like You to Know Netflix is Unfair to All Americans.

  This week in the San Jose Mercury News, former U.S. Senator John Sununu and former U.S. Congressperson Harold Ford wrote (or at least bylined) an editorial titled "Subsidizing Netflix." Mr. Sununu and Mr. Ford are the honorary co-chairmen of "Broadband For America," an organization whose members include the eight largest cable and telco IPTV operators, who also provide the high-speed Internet for about 80% of U.S. broadband households. ... Posted Aug 26 2011, 10:34 AM by Bill Niemeyer with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Bill Niemeyer, Netflix unfair, Network neutrality, Harold Ford, John Sununu, Broadband for America

• Is Best Buy Finally Getting Serious about CinemaNow?

  CinemaNow could easily be considered the hot potato of OTT. Starting as a standalone company running a movie streaming service, then acquired by Sonic in 2008 who eventually separated the platform – renamed to RoxioNow – from the service - CinemaNow. That CinemaNow brand name was acquired by Best Buy in May 2010, while RoxioNow was picked up by Rovi as part of the Sonic acquisition. And if you are confused by that brief history, just give it a couple weeks - we’ll see if the name changes yet again. ... Posted Aug 19 2011, 02:23 PM by Andy Tarczon with no comments Filed under: OTT, Andy Tarczon, Best Buy, Vudu, CinemaNow, Rovi

• Google + Motorola Video Solutions: A Bridge Too Far

  Much of the discussion around the Google’s Monday purchase of Motorola Mobility for $12.5B has focused on intellectual property (patents) and mobile phone synergies. However, as Will Richmond pointed out on Monday, the Video Solutions group – part of Motorola Mobility and comprised set-top boxes and PayTV operator infrastructure – produces almost one third of the annual revenue of the company. While the synergies between mobile solutions and intellectual property rights (IPR) may be clear, this is hardly the case in regard to video solutions. I might go as far as to say there aren’t any synergies at all.... Posted Aug 16 2011, 09:52 AM by Colin Dixon with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Colin Dixon, set-top boxes, Google, Google TV, IPad delivery, Android Market, Video Solutions group, Motorola Mobility