RCR Wireless News interviewed Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian and, as their audience is the wireless (as in mobile) industry, the focus was on SlingPlayer Mobile and the growth of mobile video use. The discussion might not be so interesting to the average consumer, but it is for those interested in the mobile industry and how Sling sees themselves in that market.

Picked up from Sling Community.

The latest addition to TiVoCast comes from Gourmet Magazine, The Gourmet Channel. With a new episode each Tuesday it will cover cooking, travel, and promotions. According to Stephen Mack the first five episodes are:

• Sara’s Weeknight Meals
• Partners in Exploration
• Exploring Galapagos
• The Ingredient: Sake Lees (aka sake kasu)
• The Ingredient: White Asparagus

As always, you can subscribe online, or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV, Movies & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> The Gourmet Channel

I don’t expect a lot of my readers are old enough to remember the early days of television. I’m not either - but I’m a history buff. If you know why soap operas are called soap operas, you probably know that television wasn’t always funded by the 30-second ad spot, or even product placement. In the early days programs would be sponsored by a specific vendor. We see that from time to time these days as special events, such as season premiers aired commercial free due to sponsorship. But Silicon Alley Insider reports NBC is taking it further. The Liberty Mutual Group is sponsoring two made-for-TV movies, which could become a series if successful. Furthermore, Liberty will be involved in developing the scripts, which will feature Liberty’s “Responsiblity. What’s your policy?” message. According to NBC Entertainment Co-chairman Ben Silverman:

Digital manipulation, whether it’s called TiVo or the ability to fast-forward through commercials, is one of the driving factors behind the need to rethink our relationships with advertisers. The 30-second spot is still very relevant, very valuable, but this deal with Liberty Mutual is the centerpiece of the kind of deals we want to make going forward.

I’m not that surprised. I’ve said in the past that the correct response by content providers to disruptive new technologies such as TiVo is not to dig in their heels and try to block adoption, but to find new business models that will work with the new technology. And perhaps some of the new business models may indeed be old models updated for the times. We’ve been seeing more product placement (FordKnight Rider anyone?) and we’ll see if this kind of sponsorship works out.

This is a market segment I never really think about, since I’ve never done the rent-to-own thing, but I know it is a fairly large industry with the likes of Rent-A-Center. Large enough to have their own magazine, and RTO Magazine has listed their Top 50 RTO CE products.

“We asked the leading U.S. distributors of electronics to predict, based on early 2008 sales data, the products that will most impact the rental industry in 2008,” said Roy Griffaw, founder and president of RTO Online Inc. and publisher of RTO Magazine.
The list was compiled by RTO Magazine editors with the help of five leading rental-purchase industry suppliers: D & H Distributing, DSI Systems, New Age Electronics, ALMO and Nationwide Warehouse Direct/SED International.

A number of HDTVs made the list, as well as the TiVo HD. Picked up from Fox Business.

Originally slated to end yesterday, April 2, TiVo has extended their offer of a factory renewed TiVo HD for $199.99, $100 off the MSRP of a new unit, through July 2, 2008. Service is $12.95/month or $129 for one-year pre-paid.

A brief announcement today via an SEC filing from TiVo:

On March 31, 2008, Comcast accepted the initial version of the TiVo Interactive Advertising Management System for future deployment on Comcast platforms. This acceptance occurred by the mutually agreed deadline of March 31, 2008.

While most of the focus has been on TiVo’s OCAP/Tru2Way software, another part of their partnership is advertising across Comcast’s step top boxes.

Sling Media’s latest newsletter…
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TiVo has started the official roll-out of software revision 9.3 for the Series2 - Series3 & TiVo HD units still have to wait a bit. If you want it first, then get over to the TiVo Software Priority Request page and sign up. Any units with TSNs starting with 110, 130, 140, 230, 240, 264, 275, 540, 542, 565, 590, 595, or 649 are eligible.

And why would you want this release? Well, TiVo emailed me a few benchmarks comparing 9.3 to the existing 9.1 release.
Live TV to TiVo Central - 1 second faster
Now Playing Scrolling - 1 second faster
Channel Change Up - 1 second faster
Confirm recording -> Confirm - 3-5 seconds faster
Create Season Pass - 5-10 seconds faster
Season Pass Manager Priority change - 30 seconds faster

Performance improvements are a big part of 9.3, as well as some new features such as Progressive Downloads, as previously reported.