Category Archives: Television

With smartphones and gadgets like Google Glass grabbing all the headlines, what some of us realize is the vast wasteland of bad reality shows, over-hyped sports events, and sensational specials we call TV is about to undergo a transformation that will forever end the viewing experience as you know it. And although tech companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft have been fiddling around with their idea of how to change TV for a few years now, it’s the big networks and pay television providers that are finally making some decisions to move TV land forward. What’s driving this change? Three biggies:

1. Viewers’ increasing multi-screen behavior — now their TV is just one screen in a world of many. People often watch TV while multi-tasking with their tablet or smartphone. More and more, people want to carry their TV shows with them, and continue watching from different locations.

2. TV execs have realized that you will actually pay for digital content. Paywalls on some online news sites such as the New York Times and revenue on iTunes and other digital marketplaces have shown the money guys that you will actually hand over your hard-earned dough for content. So, they will soon end free broadcast TV. You can start the death countdown now. Viewership on broadcast TV is at its lowest ever, down from 69% in 1993 to 42% this year, according to Nielsen.

3. Small startups like Aereo have begun to offer free access to broadcast TV over the Internet, and are winning court cases to stay alive.

After Aereo got a reprieve from a federal judge, News Corp is now considering going to cable only. And now, Intel is trying to design a new online TV service that will let you control more of your viewing experience.

The coming transformation of TV promises to offer you:

–De-bundling so you don’t have to pay huge monthly fees for just the few channels you actually watch.

–Easier discoverability through better interfaces

–Smarter content relevant to your viewing history

–Easier and more affordable subscription options

Of course, everyone is waiting for what Apple will do with its rumored TV. Will they just make hardware, or are they going full-on with hardware and content?

What all this says is there is no business model for TV right now. Programmers are unwilling to hand-over rights for online TV because they don’t know what to charge for it. But they know they don’t want to end up like the music industry when Napster came along, so they’re scrambling. Either way, you win. TV will transform based on the way you want to consume it. Stay tuned!

Big news this week in the area of watching TV on your mobile device.

The first announcement is that HBOGo, the app that streams HBO programming to your iPhone and iPad, is finally compatible with AirPlay. This means you can take that HBO show with you to a friend’s house and, from your iDevice, watch it on your large TV screen via an Apple TV. Boardwalk Empire just got a lot more accessible to those without HBO. Support for Airplay is also now available for Cinemax’s MAX Go app.

According to All Things D, HBO’s Eric Kessler said they also intend to “get on Apple TV” directly, although a timeline for that is unknown.

Lifetime, A&E and History Channel have updated apps.

Additionally, A&E, History Channel, and Lifetime have all updated their iOS apps (iPhone and iPad) to stream their top programming to iDevices for free. The apps include syncing with iCloud, allowing you to pick up where you left off as you move from device to device.

The apps and content are free, although if you sign in using a Comcast Xfinity account, you’ll receive more behind-the-scenes footage.

The new apps do not yet support AirPlay, but 9TO5 Mac reports that feature is in the works.

A year ago I killed off my Netflix subscription in favor of on-demand through cable, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It’s worked pretty well for me, but now I may have to reconsider.

Netflix just inked a deal with Warner Bros for exclusive online rights to several shows, including Revolution, Political Animals, Longmire, 666 Park Avenue, the new Kevin Bacon thriller The Following, and older shows Chuck, Fringe, and The West Wing, and “potential future shows”.

Netflix also announced in December a deal with Disney that includes Disney classics and new Disney live-action and animated features, covering Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Disneynature.

During the recent election, I marathon-watched all the seasons of The West Wing on Amazon Prime, so this deal may hit Amazon in some key spots.  When Netflix lost their Starz deal last February, then followed that with some inane business moves, I pretty much wrote them off. These two new deals are definitely making me pay attention again.

While Netflix is once again becoming a player, the online content area is now becoming a battlefield. Yesterday HBO secured a 10-year deal with Universal to exclusively carry their content for TV, online and mobile platforms. The deal is actually a renewal, but the expiration date wasn’t until 2016. Basically this keeps the content off of Netflix and scores a win for a pay-cable station.

Additionally, Amazon has recently signed a deal with A&E to up their Amazon Prime content.

Are you watching online content? Is it in addition to cable or supplementing? I admit I don’t have a fancy cable package because Comcast’s Xfinity online service gives me access to shows, such as those on TNT, for which I don’t have a cable subscription. Additionally, Hulu lets me watch most (not CBS) of my favorite shows whenever and wherever I want, although there does seem to be a certain selection only accessible from my computer and not a mobile or other device. Finally, I’m using Amazon Prime to catch up, commercial free, on shows like Downton Abbey, The West Wing, Stargate SG-1, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Each online service provides something different for me but all of them can be accessed from my networked Blu-Ray player, my Tivo, or my Apple TV.