Tag Archives: Cablevision

Media, Technology

Verizon Poised to offer the Digital Media Food Chain: Content Creation to Distribution

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The service, which Verizon only refers to as OTT, or over-the-top, named because it will be available to anyone with an Internet connection, as opposed to a television subscription, is the company’s big growth engine for the future. So far, the company has been mum on the details.

The telecom company is readying a mobile and online video service for launch in late summer, and a top exec says there’s nothing like it.

Verizon continues to line up video content from partners as well as through acquisitions, such as AOL.

Source: Verizon mulls mobile video that doesn’t eat into your data cap – CNET

Advertising, Entertainment, Media, Technology

Make Finding a Movie Just as much Fun as Watching it.

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Content is king.  It seems to be resonating throughout the Entertainment universes.  Fantastic!  Content creators managing their content through licensing, and through their own distribution channel(s). The creation of short clips to entice viewers.   Of course, navigation to view content on a revolving carousel.

The entertainment industry has had successful initiatives in marketing their own content. and licensing their content for distribution and viewing to consumers.

What’s next?

  • Augmented and Virtual Reality

Sitting in your living room with VR headsets, enabling you to socialize before virtually entering the Theater.  Virtual meet ups for discussion / interaction around Genre, e.g. Action, Sci-Fi; or Adhoc meet ups, ‘e.g. by Actor, or Movie interests

Enable a viewer to select, and rotate perspectives of the actors/actress currently in the scene.

  • Movie / Television Trivia (by Genre, by Actor, by Movie)

Another creative way to match up viewer with media beyond the ‘Carousel’: Design games around the content provider’s owned or licensed content.  It will make for a more enriched experience, and help the viewer find their entertainment for the evening.  Even put together a licensing relationship with Hasbro for a spin off Trivial Pursuit.  ‘Sponsored puzzles’ like on ‘Wheel of Fortune‘ may help to bring in Advertising dollars.  Or a licensing deal with Screenlife,  makers of Scene It?,  Looks like Screenlife is a Paramount property, small world.

Game examples:

  1. reconstituting a ‘famous and recognizable’ image.   The image is taken directly from one of the movies being streamed.
  2. Guess where the movie or TV show short clip originated.  Select to stream, or play another round.
  3. In what movie or TV show did ‘this’ main theme song originate?
Entertainment

The Channel Guide is Dead. Move on Already.

If I have to scroll through another channel guide, or search using an archaic user interface one more time.!.  I will just use my web streaming service instead.  At least the web, video streaming apps have started to innovate how the consumers click through to get their content. TV channel bundled providers (Cable Cos., AT&T, Verizon, etc.)  typically display ‘what’s on?’ in the form of the classic channel guide, or variations of it.   The TVCBP , or TV Channel Bundled providers,  also allow us to get through to content by drilling down into our desired genre.  Finally, the TVCBP allow the watcher to search ‘painfully’ using the TV remote keyboard.

The set top box evolution, such as UI revamp, are at times, slow like a huge glacier moving along in the Arctic.

Changes, here they come

First, the new ‘Media Guide’, is a display page of tiles, similar to Windows 8., Nintendo Wii, Netflix, or Amazon.  Netflix and Amazon are displaying tiled pages.  In each row users are enabled to horizontally scroll through the tiles of movie covers.  These tiled movie rows are grouped by e.g.  recommended movies based on user viewing history to ge

In this new paradigm, we add a level of abstraction to the row, grouping, scrolling carousel model.

Genre or N grouping of channels / media brands coalesce in clouds, such as cloud hashtags.   A person can drill into the ‘content universe’ and select a genre or grouping cloud. A user would navigate network icons in the ‘content cloud’.  Highlighting a network icon plays out the current, live video stream.

The ‘Content Cloud’ within the ‘Content Universe’ is the overarching paradigm.  ‘What are currently the most popular channels to view within the providers viewership’ would have each network icon color coded, e.g. red hot, cool blue.

A genre, or N grouping, has network icons grouped around the category.   Hovering the Set Top Box (STP) remote pointer over the network icon will popup a live stream from the channel.  Drilling down by clicking the channel/network icon,  a tiled view of the current and the next 24h is displayed. The current show has a pop up for the current streamed show, selecting it then plays in the entire screen.    If you hover over any future shows, one of two things occur. If there is a 30 sec promo for the show, a pop up shows the promo. If no promo, the show beauty shot still for the show is displayed. If the user selects the show, current or future, a menu overlays the still or show in progress with options such as record show / DVR.

The UI would also allow the user to create their own tiled pages using their favorite channels, and again,  hovering over the image would allow play out in a popup of the current stream.  The tiles can be sorted by your popularity rating, general popularity rating, ascending or descending title names, and most watched videos from the TVCBP.

If our TV bundled channel providers want to keep and lure new subscribers, then they need to innovate the STB software and think about how you evolve the viewer experience.

 

Business, Technology

User Interface Usability and Video On Demand Content from Distribution Portals

Cable and phone companies are competing in their marketing campaigns for high speed and cost.  There are many more attributes, features, they can compare and contrast between their competition to show leading edge.  For example, the industry association may hire an independent user interface usability organization to show who’s system is the most user friendly, i.e. easier to use.  E.g. a study by an independent body declares N has the easiest system to use, and provides the most functionality.

Another measure of comparison between content distributors might be how much content is available on demand, roughly, for Free, Premium, and On Demand, Paid content.  I had all the providers in my area, and found that one interface made it easier to see how much content was available for video on demand, e.g. the user interface made their content more transparent, and it appeared one provider had significantly more content than another.  There are may features video content distributors can highlight in their commercial advertising with a bullet point scroll, video shot.  There are significant feature advantages that may differentiate these providers, and I don’t know why a comparison chart has not been made available.

Business, Science, Technology

Hotspot Companies Sell Smartphones and Data Plans, use Affiliate Networking to fill Gaps

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I’m using my Samsung S3, which I throughly enjoy, but I am eyeing the new Nokia Lumina 920 with Windows 8, and not to mention my old fling with the iPhone 5, and I see an article that AT&T is now the largest hotspot provider.  I’m also eyeing the prices of these phones without a contract, and don’t want to take out a 4th mortgage.  Alternatives?  Why aren’t the Wireless Carriers, and even cable companies that offer currently free hotspots add or change their business models, where we can sign up for two year agreements for data only plans, and sell subsidized smartphones and WiFi only usage?  Even cable companies that give away their hotspot coverage, start charging $20, $30 a month depending on GB usage plans and even $40 per month for unlimited.  Are the cable and wireless companies worried about coverage?  Treat it like toll charges and chargeback to the provider.  The consumer gets relatively seamless transition with an app that handles the switch between WiFi spots.  Even more wild, have any business or residence with a wireless router that wants to sign up to have the ability to sign up to be an ‘affiliate WiFi provider’, and they too can get a toll chargeback, given they are approved, e.g. running upgraded software on their router for handling transitions between WiFi hotspots and security.  The consumer can receive a credit on their monthly cable or wireless statement for their shared bandwidth chargeback usage.  Its like when people charge for their surplus of their energy from their solar panels.  It’s ok to charge a cancellation fee of $400 or prorated based on months of usage if the smartphone user exits the contract early.Get those cool devices in the hands of consumers, and you’re now able to pay for the WiFi infrastructure you’re built up, and your giving incentives to consumers with WiFI routers.   I like this technology because the Cable, and Cell Phone companies can even lease this to the consumer, and the consumer can get a charge back from usage.

The technology is primarily available, the business model is required to implement:

Note from Wikipedia: Femtocell

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is small cell, with femtocell as a subset. It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSLor cable); current designs typically support two to four active mobile phones in a residential setting, and eight to 16 active mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. Although much attention is focused on WCDMA, the concept is applicable to all standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAXand LTE solutions.