"Europe" articles

In advance of the IBC 2011 conference , Parks Associates released new research today revealing consumers in Western Europe value multidevice access to recorded TV programs over other new video services, including access to live TV. Given a choice of new TV features, including 3DTV, online video access, and multiscreen services, 47% of broadband households in Western Europe’s largest countries selected viewing recorded programs on any Internet-connected device as one of their...

Consumer attitudes toward video access are changing, moving away from ownership and rental models to streaming and subscription services, as connected CE and smart TVs proliferate in the U.S. and Western Europe. Online Video and Internet TV Services: Global Outlook reports that in a six-month period, U.S. online video subscribers spent almost $50 on average for video subscriptions while a la carte video typically garnered less than half that amount. From 2009 to 2010, the number...

More than 8 billion devices will be connected on the home network by year-end 2015. The multitude of components in the digital home forces Service Providers to undertake new roles in the digital home. This white paper details the steps broadband, television, communications, and wireless service providers can take to win the race to serve the digital home. Parks Associates will discuss service provider strategies in-depth in the upcoming conference CONNECTIONS™ Europe : Cloud...

Microsoft might expand the Avatar Kinect application beyond gaming. Microsoft isn't claiming to be game-centric, but instead it might use things like set-top boxes and business videoconferencing and add elements of Kinect within those. One possible use of the Avatar Kinect is within an entertainment experience, such as watching television. Microsoft has demonstrated Kinect with Sky in the UK and having the avatar represent the user within a chat room, where viewers can come...

Receiving live TV on a mobile phone, tablet, or computer is a popular feature throughout Western Europe, with 30% of broadband households highly interested in these TV Everywhere services. Connected Consumer in Europe surveyed 10,000 broadband households across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K., providing a detailed picture of the broadband home in each of these nations. The study examined services received and desired, digital product ownership and purchasing, demand for...

With Facebook Video Calling powered by Skype and Google+'s Hangouts feature, is video chat poised for huge growth? I got some questions from a reporter yesterday on this, so I thought I'd share the Q&A: We've had video chat for quite awhile, both at the high end (videoconferencing) and on mobile (the iPad). However, video chat currently seems to be mainly a niche service - it really played out well in 2010 when Europe was covered by a cloud of volcanic ash ....

In a ruling last week, France's CSA (the national regulator for broadcasting fairness) decided that broadcasters could no longer cite social networking sites Twitter and Facebook by name unless the reference was specifically associated with a news item about those sites. Instead, broadcasters must refer to all such sites equally as "social media". France is known for being strict regarding online issues, including copyright protection. This ruling is part of an effort...

According to Parks Associates’ new report TV Everywhere: Growth, Solutions, and Strategies ,  TV Everywhere services will be available to 81% of U.S. and Canadian pay-TV subscribers through their current service provider by mid-2011. U.S. TV service providers in particular have moved aggressively as consumer data show multiscreen services can help reduce churn and attract younger subscribers. Nearly 40% of U.S. broadband consumers ages 18-34 find TV Everywhere...