Younger people have adopted the DVR a lot faster than the baby boomers. A perfect example is the CW network, which has 44% less live viewing during primetime than CBS. CBS skews toward an older viewer (with programs like 60 Minutes), who tends to watch more shows live – all because of habit. My father records PGA Tour golf events and when he plays them from his recorded list he sits through the commercials without fast-forwarding. Is he lazy? Charles Duhigg might argue his behavior is related to habit. In contrast, the younger viewer watching Gossip Girl on the CW is in the habit of recording his/her favorite TV show and speeding through the commercials.

It made me think about the implications over time, as newer generations grow up with the DVR, streaming video, etc. What habits and expectations will they have? Will they even be willing to tolerate advertising in their content? Or will they be habitualized to skip over ads or avoid ad-driven content entirely? What new business models will work with the new audiences coming up? Check out the full post.

Also at MediaBizBloggers, Alex Petrilli, senior manager of audience research at TiVo, talks about a potentially surprising finding from TiVo viewing data. TiVo data relating to viewing of movie ads seems to be a fairly strong predictor of future box office performance. In other words, if users stop and watch the ad, the movie will do well in the box office. But the more users who skip through the ad without watching it, the worse the film will perform.

During the past year TiVo has been studying box office performances in relation to the fast-forward rates of movie spots – and the correlation between the two is undeniable. Fast-forward rate is simply the percent a spot is skipped during live plus seven days of time-shifted viewing. On average the fast-forward rates for movie spots, which are traditionally some of the most popular commercials on television, range from 12-17%.

We first took notice of this correlation in September of 2011 when the latest “can’t miss” Sarah Jessica Parker film I Don’t Know How She Does It was set to open. The fast-forward rate almost jumped out of our TiVo Stop||Watch portal with a 20.4% rate. This was unusually high for a theatrical release. Not surprisingly, the box office followed suit opening at #6 for the weekend of September 17, 2011, scrounging up $4.4 million. The Avengers amassed a total of $4.4 million on a Tuesday afternoon… in Des Moines.
…
Fast-forward rate can also work the other way too and reveal a hit. A successful fast-forward rate will drop below 12%. Two recent examples are The Hunger Games which scored an 11.8% fast-forward rate in its initial broadcast campaign and The Avengers delivering a 10.3% fast-forward rate. Although expectations were high for these films there are no guarantees.

Of course, no system is perfect. It seems that children’s films and horror films don’t follow the same patterns, for example. Children’s film’s ads tend to run during children’s programming, and they don’t fast-forward ads. I’m not sure about horror films – perhaps people skip the ads because they’re scary? Or do more people watch the ads but then not see the film because it is scary? Either way, these’s more info in the full post, so check it out.

In January, during CES, they put out a press release about OTT content and recorded TV overtaking Live TV viewing. They reported that, on web-connected units, live viewing was only 38%. And among users who use OTT services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video it is only 27%. The source for this data? Stop||Watch. That’s a bit of indirect marketing – “Look at what we can do with this data. Imagine what you could do with it.”

Last month they made a direct pitch when they announced the launch of ‘Next Day’ data services in Stop||Watch. Of course, they used the Academy Awards as a ‘hook’ for the announcement, as they released it the next morning and included viewing data from the previous night’s broadcast. Which is a clever marketing move as the popular press doesn’t care about the next day data service, but it got a lot of press because of the Academy Award data that was included.

Last month also saw the announcement of the deal with AT&T AdWorks to incorporate their data into Stop||Watch. Last week we had CEO Tom Rogers’ letter to the editor in The New York Times. And while he never mentioned Stop||Watch by name, it was obviously a stealth pitch for the service.

But that’s not all, over the past few weeks TiVo bloggers at MediaBizBloggers.com have really been beating the drum. MediaBizBloggers’ target audience is made up of industry members, not the general public, so the posts are tailored accordingly. Back on March 5, Jonathan Steuer, TiVo’s Vice President, Audience Research & Measurement, blogged in response to the same NYTimes article on the Modern Family ratings that Tom Rogers’ letter was in response to. It basically says the same thing Rogers said, only in much more detail with the data and graphs to back it up. All of it pulled from Stop||Watch, of course.

Then on Monday Greg DePalma, TiVo’s Vice President of Audience Insights, blogged about marketing executives basing their ad buys on gut feeling and historic behavior patterns instead of hard data. He never mentions Stop||Watch by name, but he does call out“TiVo and other STB data” in making the argument that buying based on the data produces better results for advertisers.

On Wednesday Alex Petrilli, senior manager of audience research at TiVo, blogged a very tongue in cheek post entitled“All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Nielsen“. The whole post is a little bit snarky in a fun way, relating stories about lessons he’s learned via the examples set by others. As in, what not to do so you don’t end up like them after they screw the pooch, as it were.

For example, he snarkily points out how ridiculous Nielsen’s rating system is, in areas such as sample size:

I discovered that 1,200 diaries can accurately represent the viewing of almost seven million people in the San Francisco DMA. Nielsen taught me that 500 household meters will equate to the two million plus households for the same DMA. And when people meters arrived, 800 was the magic number to capture both household and demographic viewership. As far as Nielsen’s NTI sample goes, 21,000 will be sufficient to represent the 114 million U.S. households thank you very much.

He later goes on to, of course, extol the virtues of Stop||Watch:

Thanks Nielsen, lessons learned. Here at TiVo our anonymous daily Stop||Watch sample consists of 350,000 set-top boxes. We also recently signed a licensing deal to incorporate the more than 8 million AT&T U-verse set-top boxes into our system which will significantly increase our sample size. In terms of DVR playback, based on TiVo’s 4th Quarter Stop||Watch data, 44% of all programs viewed were time-shifted. 54.6% on broadcast television and 37.8% on cable. In prime those figures jump to 63.4% for broadcast and 46.5% for cable equating to 56.1% overall. Based on other information I have seen regarding DVR usage, these figures appear more realistic than Nielsen’s 16.7%. But in the end, it is all about sample size, and Nielsen will be the first to tell you they have it covered.

It is nice to see a non-dry tone from a corporate blogger, honestly.

I know there have been other direct and indirect Stop||Watch pitches I’ve encountered, but I think these will suffice. Maybe it is just my unusual travels on the net; I do cover TiVo as a blogger (obviously), so I have various agents scouring the net for TiVo news and I monitor many different sources of TiVo info. But it definitely feels like activity surrounding Stop||Watch has picked up as of late.

End users may wonder what this means for them and really – not much. But services like Stop||Watch are part of TiVo’s diversified business model and success in selling these services is good for TiVo’s overall health. In the longer run, data-based advertising can lead to more meaningful ads. And evidence of problems reaching audiences who time shift can steer advertisers toward TiVo’s related offerings in interactive advertising and on-box promotions.

Lately it feels like TiVo is making a more concerted effort to raise awareness of Stop||Watch among industry decision makers. It has the feeling of an organized marketing push. It is nice to see TiVo being more aggressive in marketing these services. Of course, maybe it is just my skewed perspective.

• LG – We’re thrilled to welcome global consumer electronics leader LG to the Google TV family. LG will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their own L9 chipset at CES.
• Marvell – Also new to the Google TV family this year is Marvell, an innovative worldwide leader in chipsets. Marvell will be showcasing a new generation of Google TV solutions which will help bring more products across more price points to consumers.
• MediaTek – We’re also excited to partner with MediaTek, the leading Taiwanese chipset designer. MediaTek chipsets will power yet another wave of Google TV devices.
• Samsung – We’re excited to work closely with Samsung to bring Google-TV powered Samsung devices to market in 2012.
• Sony – We’re happy to build on our partnership with Sony. At CES, Sony will unveil new devices for the US and plans to offer Google TV powered products in several countries around the world in 2012.
• Vizio – Last year we announced our partnership with Vizio at CES. This year we’re excited to join Vizio as they hold private demos at CES showcasing their new line of Google TV-powered products.

The shift to ARM based processors has been widely anticipated, though the specific partnerships with Marvell and MediaTek is new info. It is a little surprising as you might expect well known chip vendors from the mobile industry, such as NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung, to be involved but perhaps Google feels the requirements for Google TV are different enough from mobile Android systems that alternate chip designs are better.

Sony is the only vendor who brought first generation products to market to return to this list. Samsung and Vizio both talked about Google TV at the last CES, but held off on shipping products. Which was probably for the best, given the multitude of issues with Google TV 1.0. Now that Google TV 2.0 is out, and is vastly improved over its predecessor, it is much more viable as a connected TV platform. With the addition of LG, if all four vendors really execute on Google TV in their new models, we may well see Google make good on their bold claims of Google TV being in the majority of new TVs this year.

Via the Google TV Blog.

Edit: I see in my YouTube feeds that they’ve also posted a video preview of what’s to come:

Right now only a few HDTV models from Toshiba and Samsung have MHL-enabled inputs, but it is expected that many vendors will be announcing 2012 models at CES with MHL support as usage is exploding on mobile devices. Since it uses the physical microUSB port already on the device for data and charging it eliminates the need for a separate microHDMI port, and this makes it easier to shrink the size of the device while also reducing parts count and therefore cost. As part of the announcement Roku states that they already have a deal with Best Buy to bundle the Streaming Stick with a new Insignia HDTV model later this year.

So what is the stick? It’s a Roku box, only smaller. It is Roku’s entry into the Connected TV, or Smart TV, market. The stick contains the main SoC (System on a Chip) – which is the CPU, video decoder, etc. As well as RAM, Flash, and 802.11n WiFi. It has all of the channels and software features of today’s Roku boxes – on a stick. Everything – power, video and audio output, and control is handled through the single MHL connection.

Part of the MHL standard is that the TV’s remote control is used to control the attached MHL device using CEC (also used on HDMI). With phones this is so you can connect the phone and then sit back on the couch to watch – without a twenty foot MHL cable allowing you to control things from the phone. This works nicely for the Streaming Stick, though it implies the gaming features introduced on the Roku 2 family will be absent as there is no Bluetooth motion controller for the stick and TVs will generally lack such controls.

I have to say, this seems like a very clever solution. Roku rightfully points out that people don’t replace their TVs every two years, yet technology advances rapidly. With mobile devices we have a constant increase in storage, memory, and CPU power, and connected TVs suffer from lock in. What you buy today is what you’re stuck with for however long you keep the TV – and that connected experience will probably seem pretty dated in five years, let alone ten. Software upgrades will only go so far before they run into technological limits. Just as the Series2 TiVo couldn’t support Netflix, YouTube, etc., because it can’t decode H.264, today’s connected TVs may be left out in the cold by the next evolution in video codecs. And even if the hardware is capable, companies won’t update the software for old devices forever.

The Roku Streaming Stick offers the advantages of a decoupled STB, which can be readily (and relatively cheaply) upgraded as technology advances, plus the advantages of a tiny form factor and integration into the TV. Since control is through the TV and it offers a full Roku experience, it should be much like owning a ‘Roku Powered’ connected TV. Perhaps the only slight difference will be having to select the MHL input instead of a dedicated ‘Apps’ button. But if they’re successful in partnering with vendors, such as Insignia, there may well be a ‘Roku’ button on the remotes.

The combination of the form factor and use of MHL is what makes this work. I wonder if we’ll see this imitated by other vendors as well. Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee – all on a stick?

There aren’t any images of an actual Roku Streaming Stick yet, but Roku did post these renders:

There’s also a video of a demo of the TiVo Premiere Elite being given at the CEDIA show a week ago, shot by Digital Trends.

Via InvestorVillage.

There’s no date given in the video or the description, but at the end they mention Gene Shallot is going to review “the new movie Guinevere”, which released on September 26, 1999. So it sounds like this is from late September, maybe early October, 1999.

This video from Chumby illustrates some of the features (there is no sound, FYI):

The NeTV is a very simple little Linux computer with HDMI in, HDMI out, and IR receiver for the remote, power via a microUSB connection (like most phones these days), a setup button, and 802.11g WiFi for connectivity. It looks like it is using microSD for storage, but the slot is not accessible from the outside. There is no Ethernet port, but according to the developer information the microUSB port configures itself as an Ethernet device. Perhaps some kind of Ethernet dongle will be released for those who don’t want to use WiFi. The limitation of 802.11g is disappointing. I’m sure it is a cost-cutting measure, but I’m in the process of trying to eliminate all 11g devices from my home as I’m upgrading to 11n and if I can drop 11g compatibility it will improve performance.

Interestingly the NeTV does not use Flash, as all other Chumby devices have. It is an HTML5 device using a Webkit-based browser. That means that it will not run existing Chumby apps, as they’re all Flash-based. There are some other interesting tidbits in the NeTV forum.

Via Zatz Not Funny.

Of course, the Netflix App is currently really only good in the US and Canada, but they are expanding into other countries.

Via Mobiputing.

MoCA is a standard for networking over coaxial cables in the home, set by the Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance. The standard takes its name from the group, like ATSC. For purposes of this post, MoCA is a standard.

DECA is DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coaxial Adapter. It is a piece of hardware. Not a standard.

So what is it hardware for? Simple – MoCA. Yes, DirecTV uses MoCA. The DECA is just the adapter needed to connect an DirecTV receivers Cat5 Ethernet port to the MoCA coaxial network.

Great, so if DirecTV uses MoCA and cable uses MoCA, it’s all good, right? Not quite. The MoCA Blog explained things well a year ago:

MoCA has specified 2 frequency bands at which the network can be operated: High-RF MoCA for Cable MSOs and Verizon FiOS from 850-1500 MHz, and Mid-RF MoCA for DirecTV from 500-850 MHz. Our more advanced readers may recognize that cable TV broadcasts below 850 MHz on the coax and satellite TV broadcasts above 950 MHz, hence the need for MoCA to avoid interfering with current signals on the line and 2 separate RF bands. Both versions of MoCA are being deployed primarily to enable the Multi-Room DVR feature available from all the major Pay TV providers.

So yes, it is all MoCA, but it is MoCA using two different frequency bands. So a DirecTV MoCA network will not interoperate with a a cable MoCA network. And you can run them over the same coax – cable MoCA would conflict with DirecTV’s video signal, and DirecTV MoCA would conflict with cable’s video signal. So if you’re running DirecTV over your home coax and you want to connect other devices to your MoCA network, such as a gaming console, you’ll need a DECA for that as well as you need mid-range MoCA.

Clear? Good.

One of the hardest things about restarting the blog after such a long hiatus is rebuilding the audience. It’s not quite as hard as launching a blog from scratch, but it isn’t like you can jump back in and just pick up and everyone comes running back. I’m hopeful that syndication deals like these will help expose a new audience to Gizmo Lovers, and maybe some of them will come over and stick around for more.

Yes Android, smartphones, and patents are all key factors – but they’re not the only ones.

Google is acquiring all of Motorola Mobility, Inc. (MMI), pending regulatory approval of course. When most people think of Motorola they think of cell phones. And ‘Mobility’ certainly plays into that. But when Motorola split into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, mobile phones weren’t the only products Mobility got. The other major product line they have are cable products – set-top boxes, DVRs, CableCARDs, Tuning Adapters, and cable modems. Plus head-end systems for the MVPDs. Motorola Mobility is the top cable STB vendor in the US, and a leader in cable/IPTV hybrid systems as the sole hardware provider to both Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse.

While Android is a focus for phones, remember that Google has a little Android-based product called Google TV. And just two months ago they acquired DVR software maker SageTV. SageTV’s products covered DVR and placeshifting, with cross-platform support and excellent UI design. While no plans have been announced, most speculation (my own included) has been that Google is looking to add recording and/or placeshifting to the Google TV platform. Google TV has failed to really catch on to date, with hardware partners Logitech and Sony slashing their prices on Google TV products.

Keep in mind that Android phones struggled for their first two years of life, until the Motorola Droid launched in late 2009 with Android 2.0 and really jump started growth. Later this year Google TV has it’s first big upgrade coming out, based on Android 3.1 Honeycomb, which will add apps, a new UI, and other features. Additional hardware partners are also expected to enter the market with the new version.

Now Google owns the largest set top box maker in the US. Motorola has hardware design and production expertise, not to mention all of their existing MVPD relationships. The one area they really get dinged on is their software. Rarely does anyone have anything good to say about cable STB software. But what if the Google TV OS is ported to Motorola STBs? MVPDs could offer their customers a glossy, polished UI with numerous over-the-top features. Roll in the SageTV capabilities and you have something that can power DVRs and placeshifting hardware.

Motorola doesn’t sell video STBs at retail, but they do sell cable modems. How about an STB which combines Google TV and a cable modem in one box? It might sound odd, but remember EchoStar/Sling Media was pitching a Slingbox/cable modem at MSOs a few years back. Since Google TV is all about OTT content, being the home gateway gives it the most direct access to the pipe, and therefore the best performance. It would also allow MSOs to offer a leased version with dedicated access to MSO-provided content that wouldn’t count against a data cap, etc. Just as Virgin Media does with their TiVo in the UK. Of course, there really isn’t much to stop Motorola from taking one of the cable boxes to retail as a CableCARD device if they wanted to, just as the TiVo Premiere Q/Elite is slated for both MSOs and retail.

With Motorola and SageTV Google has the ability to truly build a ‘God box’ which could serve as cable modem, DVR, placeshifter, and OTT STB. Again, very similar to VM’s TiVo play in the UK. All powered by Android in the guise of Google TV. If Google does go down this road, putting a Google TV-powered DVR on Motorola HW and marketing to MSOs, TiVo would face the biggest competition to date, IMHO.

Note that, aside from Android & smartphones, this is the one area Google CEO Larry Page explicitly called out in his announcement of the deal:

Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices and video solutions business. With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space.

But that’s not all MMI makes – just look at their consumer products and commercial products. They not only make mobile phones, they also still make home phones. Google has been pushing the growth of Google Voice hard, adding calling features into Google Talk, Gmail, etc. What about a Google Voice phone for the home? They could compete with the likes of Vonage & Magic Jack, offering cheap – or, knowing Google, even free – VOIP phone service run through Google Voice. They could even make fancy units with touchscreens, powered by Android. And video calls through your Google TV, of course.

Let’s step away from hardware just for a moment, and look at software. In particular, remote control software. I don’t mean your TV remote, but software like LogMeIn or Citrix for remotely connecting to a PC or Mac. Or, to be more specific, I mean the Timbuktu Remote Control Software from Netopia. But who is Netopia owned by? Right, MMI – and now, therefore, Google.

Google recently added Citrix support to Chrome OS, but what if they could bake Timbuktu into Chrome OS and Android, and sell, or give away, the server piece that you install on your PC or Mac? Maybe give away single-user versions for end users, and sell multi-user corporate versions.

Suddenly all of those Chome OS netbooks and Android phones & tablets take on a new capability. Being able to connect to a PC, or central corporate server, to access software not (yet) available on Chrome OS or Android. Or simple to do heavy lifting tasks better suited to a beefier platform. Or just for remote control – operate the conference room PC from your tablet. It opens things up. Sure, you can do this today with third party apps, but if they bake the client in and make the server piece free, or cheap, it makes it ubiquitous and I’d bet usage would increase – along with sales of the client devices.

From software over to services, remember Google is starting their broadband experiment with a fiber network in Kansas City. And they’ve talked about, or tried to launch, WiFi and broadband services in other locations. Now they’ll own a top vendor of cable and DSL modems, as well as home networking gear. That certainly seems like a leg up for a company looking to get into broadband.

Getting back to hardware, Motorola also makes the Motonav line of GPS devices. There’s another opportunity for Android I suspect. And even without going that far, they can be closely integrated into Google Maps. Plot your map on Google Maps and send it to your device. Record your trip and upload it to Google Maps, etc. There seems to be a natural link there.

I’m not sure where Motorola might fit in with Google’s announced plans for Android@Home, but I have a feeling there is a connection there. MMI acquired home automation company 4Home last year. MMI makes various consumer devices as I listed above, and they have a retail presence and name recognition. I could see Google capitalizing on that to launch Motorola branded Android@Home devices and bring the 4Home features into an Android@Home suite.

Of course, there is also their accessory business to go with all of their other products. And a few product lines that might not be a direct fit for Google, like Bluetooth headsets, two-way radios, and even baby monitors. Still, they’re further evidence that this is about more than Android smartphones and patents.

Of course, that’s not to downplay the smartphones and patents, I believe they were the largest single factor in this acquisition. But I think Google could’ve licensed, or purchased, the mobile patents for much less than $12.5B. Or they could’ve bid for just the smartphone group and not the whole company. Yes, it is possible that they’ll spin off other pieces once they close the deal, but I think they grabbed the whole enchilada because they can exploit a number of different groups.

If I had to single out just one key issue in this deal it would have to be patents. MMI holds approximately 17,000 patents in the mobile space alone, with another 7,500 pending. Remember last month when Apple, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Sony, Ericsson and EMC teamed up to buy 6,000 Nortel patents for $4.5B? Google just grabbed four times as many patents & patents pending for less than three times the price – and acquired a few thriving business lines in the process as a bonus. I don’t expect Google to go off suing other vendors as an offensive measure, but you can be damn sure they’ll be using their patents defensively if anyone comes after Android. And now they have a pretty big stick.

As far as Android smartphones go, it isn’t as clear cut as it may seem. Google cannot afford to show favoritism to Motorola and upset their other Android partners. As I covered last month, in the US HTC sells more Android phones than Motorola, with Samsung gaining from third place. And worldwide Samsung is the leader in Android phones. Asus has the top selling Android tablet with the Eee Pad Transformer, while Motorola’s Xoom has seen tepid sales at best, overshadowed by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The point is, Google can ill afford to upset their other partners and have them leave the Android fold. HTC & Samsung both produce Windows Phones as well, and Samsung has their own, in-house OS: Bada. Samsung has done a lot to bring custom apps to their Android devices to enhance them, but they could turn those resources toward Bada if they felt they weren’t getting a fair deal with Android. While Windows Phone is an option, it may not be more appealing than Android now that Microsoft has all but acquired Nokia and has already committed to giving them more freedom with Windows Phone than the vendors using it today. They’re already playing favorites, while Google is promising not to:

This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.

But there are other options. HP has floated the idea of licensing WebOS to other vendors. Or someone could pick up an existing project like MeeGo and move it forward. So Google has to tread carefully. They can’t turn Motorola into their private skunk works, giving them access to insider knowledge not given to other partners. Nor could they prioritize changes to Android that benefit Motorola unfairly compared to changes requested by other vendors. And, worst of all, they don’t want to risk a massive schism with someone like Samsung taking Android and forking it completely away from the Google trunk.

Of all the divisions Google just acquired, I think they can least integrate smartphones. It is the one piece they really need to keep at arms length to avoid upsetting other partners. They may need to show some caution with Google TV, as they have partners for retail devices, but they could easily do that by keeping any Motorola Google TV products out of retail and marketing them solely to MVPDs. That would leave retail to their other partners.

Google’s position isn’t an easy one. Frankly, the historic record isn’t a good one. They’re facing many of the same issues as Palm did back in the day, or Nokia with Symbian. Trying to produce hardware using an operating system that you are also licensing to other vendors whom your hardware competes with. Palm had a period of success with licensees like Sony, Handspring, Handera, Symbol, Lenovo, Samsung, Qualcomm/Kyocera, Tapwave, etc. But over time, as Palm expanded their product lines, friction developed with their licensees.

Once Palm acquired Handspring, bringing the Treo line in house, that really drove away their remaining licensees. Many of whom turned to Windows Mobile as the only real alternative at the time. Palm tried the disastrous split into PalmOne and Palm Source, but that really didn’t do much to satisfy their partners.

Nokia had a similar history with Symbian, which was technically not entirely owned by them but de facto they really controlled it. Sony Ericsson and Motorola were the two big licensees, but they also had Samsung, Lenovo, Fujitsu, etc. Nokia finally acquired full ownership of Symbian so they could spin it out as its own open source group, in an attempt to make it more appealing to other partners. But it was too little, too late – and rather than attract more vendors, they lost those they already had. (Mainly to Android.) Nokia eventually gave up and pulled Symbian back in house – before finally giving it up entirely for Windows Phone.

Google needs to avoid a similar fate with their partners. Hopefully they can find the right balance to pull it off.

The press release cites 750,000 customers for Insight, the discrepancy is probably explained by different counting methods – the NCTA is concerned only with video, while data and voice customers are counted in the higher figure. The PR states Insight is“serving approximately 537,000 high-speed data subscribers, 679,000 video subscribers and 297,000 voice subscribers”.

I think we’ll see continuing consolidation in the MVPD space given the gulf between the top four MVPDs and fifth place Cox at 4,899,000 with numbers dropping by roughly a million for every two spots on the list, until it is under a million after twelfth place Mediacom at 1,175,000. With broadband content access, OTT content, mobile apps, etc., all becoming important competitive offerings the larger providers, with economy of scale on their side, will have an easier time of it. I think this will put pressure on the mid-sized MSOs to merge with peers or acquire smaller MSOs to boost their userbase, and for the smaller MSOs to look for a buyout.

Time will tell.

(#6 Charter, #11 Suddenlink, and #16 RCN are the three MSOs who’ve committed to using TiVo hardware.)

Via CNET News.

Second is a look at the accessories Samsung is releasing for the tablet. To make the Galaxy Tab 10.1 thin and light Samsung had to sacrifice some things – like ports and expansion capabilities. So now they’re releasing a slew of accessories to compensate, not unlike the iPad. There are accessories to add a USB host port, an HDMI output, or SD card reader, docks, keyboards, cases, etc. Liliputing has a full run down.

Netflix relies on Microsoft Silverlight for the Windows and MacOS clients. While there are Netflix clients for a number of Linux-based devices, such as TiVo, Android, and ChromeOS, as well as other platforms, like iOS, the PS3, and Blu-ray players, that isn’t the same as running on a Linux PC. Netflix relies on DRM to secure the streams, which they must do to satisfy the content owners who grant them the licenses to stream. Silverlight provides the DRM on Windows and MacOS, but on other platforms the DRM is generally provided by the hardware itself. That’s not an option on a generic PC, so the client would have to provide it.

Via Liliputing.

Phandroid has all of the details:

• Copy the update.zip to a Fat32 formatted USB drive, place it in its root (ie /mnt/usb/update.zip or E:\update.zip)
• Plug USB drive into Revue. Fully unplug revue. Plug it back in, count to One (a long one, say one mississippi), then hold down the connect button (keep it held). The Revue logo will come up, and the box will reboot, your tv will lose signal, and come back to the Revue logo. At this point, let go of the button.
• The GTV logo will then show up, with an arrow and a horizontal “barbershop scroll”. At this point, on your Revue’s keyboard, press the FN key (in yellow) and the left arrow (to the left of the OK button). It will then come up to a recovery menu.
• Hit “Apply update from sdcard:/update.zip”
• The box will verify the update, and reboot. This is normal. It is installing an updated bootloader and recovery image (both, heavily encrypted).
• Then, the box will come back on, and flash the latest kernel and system files. Once this is done, the box will reboot again.
• This bootup may take a few minutes, at first you will see the Revue logo, then the Google TV logo, then the “new” logo (a grey tv over a ball glowing red). Just wait it out.
• You can then begin setup, as normal. You may notice some crashes – this software is still beta, you should be able to force close and continue.

If the above update.zip download link doesn’t work try this one.

So, if you want to live life on the wild side, go for it.

Via Akihabara News, from Phandroid, which got it from GTVHacker.

In it they “urge the Commission to intensify its oversight of the market for competitive navigation devices and its enforcement of its CableCARD rules”, and cite the blog entry – which is included with the filing.

Specifically, in light of a recent article by a New York Times writer (copy attached), TiVo urges the Commission to investigate whether the discriminatory conduct by cable operators that led to the reform of the Commission’s CableCARD rules continues today.

They go on to say:

The story recounts that the writer was first discouraged by Time Warner Cable’s employees from using a TiVo box and was instead encouraged to use the cable operator’s leased box. Next, the writer was not given the option to self-install a CableCARD, even though TiVo provides customers with clear and easy-to-follow instructions on self-installation. The writer was also told that he would be charged $14 a month more for using a CableCARD because he would lose his bundled service discount, effectively penalizing the consumer — instead of offering him a discount — for bringing his own retail navigation device. Based on the writer’s account, Time Warner Cable apparently is actively impeding the development of retail competition for cable set-top boxes contrary to the Commission’s policies.

And:

TiVo therefore urges the Commission to engage in careful oversight of its CableCARD rules and investigate whether Time Warner Cable and other cable operators’ practices are consistent with the rules. While cable operators continue to attack the CableCARD rules as unnecessary, the reality is that retail navigation devices such as the TiVo Premier will continue to face an uphill battle as long as discriminatory cable operator practices continue. Indeed, the writer’s experience was that he felt very positive about the TiVo device itself and its enhanced functionality; it was the set-up difficulties and discriminatory CableCARD charges that left him ambivalent about endorsing using the TiVo Premier.

It is worth reading the whole filing, if you’re interested in such things as it is only a couple of pages, but I think those are the highlights. You’d almost think someone at TiVo read my blog, but it is more likely a case of great minds thinking alike.

I’ve seen other sites reporting that this means MSO’s will not need to allow CableCARD self-installs until November 1st – but that’s not accurate. The original rule making was that MSOs which allow any form of self-install, such as a cable box or cable modem, must allow CableCARD self-installs as of August 1st – that date is now August 8th. It also required MSOs which did not allow self-installs to begin allowing CableCARD self-installs as of November 1st – and that date remains. Since nearly all MSOs allow some self-installs the August 8th date applies to them. Here’s the details right out of the FCC rule making – with emphasis added by me:

The rules adopted in the Order are effective on August 8, 2011, with two exceptions. First, Section 76.640(b)(4)(iii), which requires cable operators to include a home networking output on high-definition set-top boxes (except for unidirectional, non-recording settop boxes), has an effective date of December 1, 2012. Second, and only with respect to operators that did not previously offer self install for leased boxes or cable modems and needed time to establish the necessary customer support infrastructure, Section 76.1205(b)(1)’s requirement that cable operators provide the means to allow subscribers to self-install CableCARDs becomes effective on November 1, 2011.

So August 8th is the new date for when most cable customers should be able to self-install their own CableCARDs and not pay for a truck roll.

Via Light Reading.

The Slider was originally shown at CES in January, but the release date for the US has been pushed back a few times, and it is currently slated for fall. It did recently get the thumbs up from the FCC, so the launch is probably fairly close now. I think Asus has been a bit overwhelmed by their success in the Android tablet market. We know they’ve had supply issues with the Transformer, which appear to be ironed out now, perhaps this contributed to the delays with the Slider. They may have decided to work out the issues before launching another model.

US pricing on the Slider is unknown at this time, but the Transformer’s MSRP is $399.99 for the 16GB model, and the keyboard’s MSRP is $149.99. I’d hope the 16GB slider comes in under the $550 mark – maybe $499.99? It’d be a $100 premium over the Transformer to have a built-in keyboard, and a $50 savings over the Transformer + keyboard. Obviously the lower the price the more competitive it will be.

Via Liliputing.

Liliputing uncovered some info that indicates note everyone may be getting it at the same time. It seems that German users may not receive 3.2 until August 2nd, but that’s not a long wait.

In addition to the standard enhancements brought by Android 3.2, Asus is also adding support for multitouch gestures on the touchpad of the optional keyboard dock.

Via Liliputing.

Apple is the HW vendor with the largest single share, as they’re the sole maker of iPhones an thus claim 28% of the market in HW. HTC and RIM are tied for the second spot with 20% apiece. HTC’s 20% is split – 14% from Android and 6% from Windows phones. If the trends continue HTC will probably push RIM into the 3rd slot in HW very soon, if they haven’t already. Motorola claimed 11% of the HW market, and Samsung 10% – split 8% Android, 2% Windows.

As RIM continues to decline this is really turning into a two horse race between Android and iOS, with Android continuing to grow at a faster pace. It may be a while before any single Android HW maker overtakes Apple though, if it happens.

Nielsen via Engadget Mobile.

It is quite a piece of work, very extensive. I think anyone comparing the DVR options in the UK would be well served by checking it out. I recommend the ‘live’ copy, since it will be the most current, but I’ve also captured a snapshot for posterity – and just in case.

On Monday, Virgin Media posted an apology on their support page:

Good Afternoon,

We’d like to sincerely apologise for any issues you may have encountered over the last few days with your Series Links failings on our TiVo service.

The issue was caused by a bug in a scheduled update to our TiVo service overnight on Friday, which became apparent to customers during Saturday. We worked across the weekend to resolve the issue and deployed a remedy on Sunday evening. Customers with TiVo should have already started to see their boxes automatically update and we expect all boxes to have the fix in place by Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, customers can force a manual update before then by forcing a service connection. To do this press Home > Help & Settings > Settings > Network > Connect to the Virgin Media TV Service now. It can take up to a couple of hours for the box to complete indexing the new database and for Series Links to re-schedule.

Once remedied, your TiVo box will try and find an alternate showing of the episode you have missed and set it to record. To check this is the case:

• Go to Home > My Shows & Recordings > Manage my Series Links.
• Then select any series where you think you missed an episode over the weekend.
• For that series choose “View upcoming episodes”.
• Make sure that the alternative showing of the episode you missed is set to record.
• If it is not set to record automatically then select “Record this episode also”.

Alternatively, if the programme was on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5, you may find the programme already within Catch Up TV service. Find the programme by scrolling back in the TV Guide, via Search, or within the Catch Up & On Demand menus.

Right now, we’re in the process of ensuring that we’ve completely resolved the issue and that we learn the right lessons to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We’ll also make sure in future we do a better job of keeping our teams and customers updated on issue status.

Once again, many apologies.

Stephen Featham
Director of TV Technical Operations, Digital Entertainment, Virgin Media

I think they handled the situation well and while it would’ve been preferable to avoid it happening in the first place, well, to put it bluntly, shit happens. No one, no company, and no system is perfect. The real measure is in how they cope with things when they go pear shaped, and I think Virgin Media did a respectable job with this incident. While this is going to smart in the short term, in the long run I think this will be but a minor blip in what has otherwise been a stellar product introduction. And better it happened now, in the early days while the subscriber base is still relatively small, than later on when orders of magnitude more users would be impacted. (Presuming the product does well, of course, though all signs point in that direction.)

I can think of some possible further steps Virgin Media could take to make things right by their customers, such as covering the costs of any paid on demand episodes to replace missed Series Link recordings and/or perhaps issuing a partial credit toward the monthly fee for the lapse in service.

I was watching this unfold via The Virgin Media TiVo Blog, but I’m travelling for work (I’m in Seattle for training) so I didn’t have a good opportunity to blog about it earlier.

Dave Zatz has been having a field day with his Roku 2 coverage: playing Angry Birds, looking at the upcoming channels, the new Netflix app (with 1080p, 5.1 sound, and subtitles), and, of course, his full review.