Bloomberg reported a rumor this week that Time Warner Cable (TWC) is contemplating an investment in Hulu. If this comes to pass, TWC would join Disney, News Corp, and Comcast as owners of Hulu, and make an already-complicated ownership picture even more so. So what would attract TWC to make this investment, and what might [...]

Last week I stumbled across an interesting article in GigaOm that spoke to the real-world possibilities of what is today termed “The Internet of Things.” The title was sufficiently compelling (“What to Expect When Elevators and Toys Start Phoning Home”) so I took the time to see what Stacey Higginbotham had to say about a [...]

A new codec war is looming! The peaceful reign of H.264 is over, the end is nigh, and HEVC is ready to battle to prove its worth, steal the crown and prove itself the one true king (guess who just got caught up on Game of Thrones?). Except of course, none of this is true. [...]

Bloomberg recently repeated a rumor that Amazon is going to ship an OTT set-top box (aka iSTB) later this year.i This reminds me of those stories out of Washington D.C. that quote “White House sources” for some juicy tidbit that the administration will neither confirm nor deny. Well, Amazon is located in the other Washington [...]

As those who have been following my work with TDG over the past few months already know, I am like Archilochus’ famous hedgehog.i I may not be sure of many little things, but I am sure of one big thing – the future of TV is an app.ii Back on January 16, I published a [...]

An important event just occurred in the evolution of OTT. Last week, Netflix released its first quarter 2013 earnings and reported 29.2 million US streaming subscribers, passing HBO (with 28.7 million US subs as of the end of 2012, estimated by SNL Kagan as reported by Variety). It’s a big moment for digital media, video [...]

The future of TV is an app, but it’s certainly taking its own sweet time to get here. The new Roku 3 shipped recently, providing an interesting microcosm of both the promise and the challenges that apps face as they enter the living room. First, some quick background on Roku. Founded in 2002, California-based Roku started [...]

Among the notable news to come out of the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show, include statements by lead executives of FOX and Univision broadcast networks that, should Aereo win in the courts and continue to stream broadcast TV for free in its OTT service, the networks may pull their channels off broadcast and go [...]

Multi-screen video is center stage at NAB, as broadcasters have come to realize that (a) consumers have embraced net-connected portable/mobile video platforms, and (b) watching video on these smaller screens is becoming more popular, and quickly so. This is part of the case for offering “TV Everywhere” or “TVE” services that MVPDs are now rolling [...]

Last week saw the public launch of Warner Archive Instant, a new subscription OTT service from TV/movie industry heavyweight Warner Bros. Considering that Warner Bros. has an almost 100 year history of being a leader in filmed and televised entertainment, its OTT service could be a significant new entrant. Unfortunately for both consumers and Warner [...]

Contrary to popular opinion (thanks, Wired), the Nielsen Family is not dead. The Nielsens are morphing, and in ways that have important ramifications for OTT and the future of TV. First, a quick primer: The Nielsen ratings system for TV dates back to 1950 (earlier for radio) and has always been based on the principle [...]

Alex Zambelli (an old friend who recently left Microsoft for iStreamPlanet) recently wrote a piece for the Guardian that nicely outlines the evolution of IP-based video during the past 20 years. It serves as a great reminder of where we came from, where we are today, and some of the hurdles on the near horizon. [...]