Microsoft's plans to attack cable TV with its own online TV subscription service may be on hold, according to sources familiar with the situation. According to Reuters, Microsoft has been in intense discussions with media companies, seeking potential program partners for over a year and hoping to launch its subscription service within the next few months. However, those plans are now on hold due to high licensing costs.
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‘IPTV’ Stories
Microsoft’s online TV subscription plan on hold
Xbox TV puts Microsoft ahead of Apple and Google
Gaming has long been Microsoft’s wildcard: while the company struggles to find its feet with Windows Phone, and faces a difficult tablet market when its Windows 8 slates finally appear, the Xbox 360 continues to sell strongly. Now Xbox TV has arrived to not only reassure 360-owning gamers that they made the right console choice, but broaden the 360′s appeal to a whole new segment. It’s not entirely fashionable to praise Microsoft, especially when it’s over something that, buried in the company’s history books, they’ve tried and failed at before. Smart TV has suffered the usual ignominies and from the usual flaws: sluggish hardware, confusing interface, dawdling internet connections. Now, with Xbox LIVE TV, all the pieces seem finally to be coming together.
Xbox 360′s LIVE cable TV attack detailed
Microsoft has detailed its challenge to cable TV, with a roadmap of Xbox LIVE streaming content for the Xbox 360 including Hulu Plus, Netflix and the BBC, as well as the Kinect-powered voice control that will be used to bypass the traditional remote. Beginning as part of the Xbox LIVE Dashboard update for the 360 that rolls out tomorrow, the dozens of TV channels, streaming services and other content providers will join gaming and other internet services on the console. More details of content deals after the cut.
Sony web TV plans could undercut cable
Sony is reportedly scheming a web TV system intended to pull the rug out from under cable operators, delivering more affordable TV content via the internet to the PS3 and other Sony hardware. The company has opened talks with NBCUniversal, Discovery and News Corp, the WSJ‘s sources claim, though Sony’s apparent aim to license a smaller package of channels – to keep its own costs, and subsequent user fees, low – is said to not be going down well among content creators.
Sears’ Alphaline digital download store closes down
Another digital content provider has apparently gone quietly to the graveyard, with RoxioNow-powered Alphaline Entertainment no longer operational. The service - which launched back in December 2010 as a partnership between retailer Sears and platform provider Sonic Solutions - has been taken offline, with the company's site now suggesting that, as of September, Alphaline was no longer available.
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Roku 2 HD, XD and XS clear FCC with boosted SoC and new remote
Three new Roku media streamers have been spotted passing through the FCC, ahead of a retail launch as the Roku 2 HD, XD and XS. The new models - 3000X, 3050X and 3100X - shed some physical bulk and the blunt edges of their predecessors, using a new, curvy design language (but still keeping the cute fabric tag) and slotting in an updated Broadcom 2835 SoC.
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I Ditched Scheduled TV for On-Demand
Sometimes the big changes creep up on you, and it’s only much later that you realize you’ve had your own little digital lifestyle epiphany. Having read about “the death of scheduled television” and the migration to on-demand content for years now, it still all seemed like a distant – unfeasible – dream. Yet somehow, without really intending to, I’ve been weened off broadcast TV and liberated from the schedules, without really trying.
Microsoft Xbox LIVE Diamond subscription IPTV tipped for E3 2011
Details of Microsoft’s E3 2011 launch have leaked, and as expected it’s a new IPTV service baked into Xbox LIVE. The company is putting the finishing touches to Xbox LIVE Diamond, WinRumors‘ source claims, the official name for the much-rumored Project Orapa. The Diamond TV system will combine existing mediaroom IPTV services and Xbox LIVE, harnessing Kinect-based motion control along with various music and video offerings.
Microsoft Project Orapa IPTV on Xbox coming at E3 2011?
Microsoft is rumored to be readying its Project Orapa for an E3 2011 unveil next week, making official the new home entertainment system blending Mediaroom IPTV with Xbox LIVE. VP Frank Shaw has sewn the speculation seeds this week: "put simply," the exec suggests, "Xbox = entertainment and is core to our entertainment strategy" before going on to recap on the streaming content, Natural User Interface technology and multimedia baked into the Xbox platform as it stands. "We are turning up the heat on a whole new era of home entertainment" Shaw concludes.
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Why I Can’t Stand Hulu Plus
As someone who streams Netflix content through several different devices, including my HDTV, the iPad, and others, I recently decided to give some other streaming offerings a chance to win my affection. My first choice among the many out there was Hulu Plus.
Now, I should note that I’ve used Hulu quite often. While I’m having lunch, I’ve been known to surf to Hulu’s Web site and watch some episodes of shows I might have missed recently. I guess you could say that I’ve been a Hulu veteran for quite some time now.
Hybridcast “Dual Stream” promises broadcast Full HD 3D
While there are an increasing number of broadcast TV channels offering 3D HD content, so far the limitations of side-by-side transmission means that resolution tops out at 720p, rather than Full HD 1080p. The engineers at the Japanese NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories reckon they've got the solution, TechOn reports, with their Hybridcast "Dual Stream" 3D system, pairing broadcast with a sync'd IPTV feed.
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Why Do I Pay for Advertising Supported TV
Did you know that on average during an hour long television show you are subjected to 22-24 minutes of ads? Now of course many of us have DVRs and we rarely watch TV live, allowing us to skip the ads. Still TV used to be free and the ads supported the network costs. In 10 years we will look back and reflect on how archaic TV was.
REVIEWS
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