News

Like Netflix and Hulu, we can soon get HBO content streamed to consoles. The ability to stream every HBO show ever at anytime on a console sounds pretty awesome to me. If there's a billing option that circumvents by cable provider, I may be a new customer of theirs....

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No time table has been announced, but we'd be surprised if the service didn't launch on consoles within a year or so. Although there are no price details at this time, given that the service is free to HBO subscribers on other platforms, we expect the same for consoles.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/08/03/hbo-go-heading-to-consoles.aspx

I'd definately be interested in terminating my cable service and use Microsoft's if it's any good. Even more if it's reasonably priced. Hopefully, for those who have LIVE, it won't be too much more. It's only rumored though.....

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"Rumors abound that another tier of Xbox Live will add subscription TV service.

Winrumors is reporting that an anonymous source has brought them news of some big changes on the way to Xbox Live. Specifically, Microsoft's E3 press conference is said to have an announcement regarding the new Xbox Live Diamond service, which will add IPTV services to Xbox Live users"

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/06/04/report-xbox-live-diamond-on-the-way.aspx

Some study done by a group that works with Comcast believes that Netflix traffic is greater than typicall web surfing traffic. I wouldn't typically post this as news, but I was drawn to a comment that was posted regarding the article. Someone mentioned that this will hopefully lead to more studios offering their movies to stream on Netflix, because it would be more profitable for them since people are downloading their movies using filesharing anyway. It's an excellent point. Not that I'm in favor of breaking the law, but at this point it doesn't seem to be a battle that studios can keep up with. If they offer the movies on Netflix, they'd at least make some money off of it rather than nothing at all from those that are sharing it. I also thought it was interesting that Netflix has more subscribers than Comcast, so it would make sense for studios to deal with them anyway. By the way, I have Comcast and they suck hard.....

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A study published Tuesday by Sandvine Inc. shows that Netflix movies and TV shows account for nearly 30 percent of traffic into homes during peak evening hours, compared with less than 17 percent for Web browsing.

Only about a quarter of homes with broadband subscribe to Netflix, but watching movies and TV shows online takes up a lot of bandwidth compared with Web surfing, email and practically every other Internet activity except file sharing and videoconferencing.

As late as last year, both Web surfing and peer-to-peer file sharing — mainly the illegal trading of copyrighted movies — were each larger than Netflix's traffic.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43059955/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

I really don't care that the FCC is trying to make TV a more competitive marketplace. Forcing agencies to refer back to another bureaucracy is not the right thing to do and introduces time delays and other nonsense. The FCC needs to go away along with their regulatory ideology.

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But cable operators, telecommunications watchdog groups and some members of Congress think the FCC is using flawed data that could lead to it overstepping its authority. The FCC plans to release a report on Wednesday that looks at the average rates for cable TV service over the past 10 years. In his recent speech, Martin said that from 1995 to 2005, cable rates have risen 93 percent, from $22.37 in 1995 to $43.04 in 2005. He used this data point as an argument for changing the local franchise rules to add more competition to the market.

I am no fan of the cable monopoly. As I understand it, it was the FCC and the government that gave them this in the first place with tax payer money. See how regulation is bad? REMOVE THE REGULATIONS.

How many more nails need to be in this coffon? A video media company is suing on demand cable operators for infringement. I guess patents help screw the big guys while copyrights screw everyone?

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SA Video Technology Corp., a small technology firm that holds patents for the digital delivery of media, said on Thursday it has filed a suit against top U.S. cable operators over their video-on-demand services. The Old Lyme, Conneticut-based company said it sued Time Warner Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., alleging the cable operators violated its patent with their video-on-demand services offered to subscribers.