"digital media" articles

Just as we put the finishing touches on our Internet Video: Direct-to-Consumer Services (Second Edition) report this week, word came that a couple more Internet video pioneers were closing their doors, or at least seriously revamping their game plan. Vongo (the subscription movies-on-demand service from Starz) will end its service on September 20, 2008. As you'll recall, Starz recently announced a collaboration with Verizon, which provided some clues as to why the company pulled the...

Monday's ruling from the 2nd Court of Appeals found that Cablevision's Remote Storage DVR (RS-DVR) service was not in violation of copyright law, overturning a March 2007 ruling. The RS-DVR feature allows subscribers to have DVR-like functionality without a set-top box, as Cablevision itself hosted the storage. I had commented on the original ruling in this blog post last year. While Cablevision may be free to now restart the RS-DVR services, I wonder how much they'll actually do...

Parks Associates recommends operators should offer free content to entice new subscribers... While nearly one-third of U.S. households have a video-capable mobile phone, operators are struggling to find an audience for their mobile video services, according to Mobile TV: Analysis & Forecast (Second Edition). This new report by market research firm Parks Associates found a majority of consumers with a video-capable mobile phone have never used the video features. For...

Sales of NAS devices to reach 13 million by 2012 The rapid growth in digital content libraries will push worldwide sales of network-attached storage devices to nearly 13 million units by 2012, according to Parks Associates’ Home Servers and Consumer Storage: Analysis and Forecasts. In targeting this broader market, companies should develop storage solutions that emphasize easier file allocation, searching, and media sharing, Shields said. Manufacturers and retailers must...

The Los Angeles Times reports that the rumor is true: Sony will be offering movie downloads through the PlayStation3. The company said it would start selling and renting movies and TV shows through its PlayStation Network tonight. MGM, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Turner Entertainment and of course Sony Pictures are making titles available. PlayStation 3 owners will be able to buy TV shows for $1.99 and up. They can also rent movies for...

What we had written about in a March blog has apparently come to fruition. The streaming content from Netflix's Instant Queue online video service will be available to Xbox 360 users this fall, Netflix and Microsoft reported at the E3 show in Los Angeles. The service, expected to launch as a software upgrade for the Xbox 360, will be offered at no additional cost to Netflix subscribers who also hold Xbox 360 Live Gold memberships.

Parks Associates’ leading analysts will explore the implications of high-speed connections and the exponential growth of digital devices in homes as a kickoff to CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase . The session Analyst Roundtable: Top Trends to Watch, Tuesday, June 24, will feature analysis of the digital living industry and focus on trends in broadband and access services, video delivery, online content services, advertising, digital health, and home...

I was thinking that things were awfully quiet in the IPTV space for some time. However, it looks like the major systems integrators are all looking for new angles of attack in the space. Last year, the company to beat up was Microsoft ("It's a monolith and doesn't allow third-party software developers to play within the Mediaroom framework"; "Microsoft can't scale"; etc., etc. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal says that Cisco is now in the crosshairs of some marketing...