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Traffic Jam: Is the Internet Sky Falling?

April 27, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

An article by Stacey Higginbotham for GigaOM cites a fascinating statistic from the Sandvine Global Internet Phenomena Report. According to last fall's version of the report, half of all our Internet use is related to video. Netflix and YouTube alone account for more than 37% of the total traffic. And according to the recently released spring update to the report, when you include audio streaming the total "entertainment traffic" accounts for 64.5% of...

Death Spiral for Broadcast TV?

April 25, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Did you ever hear the squeal of feedback in a public address system? It occurs because a sound coming from the amplified speakers finds its way into a microphone, where it travels to an amplifier that makes it louder. This louder sound comes out of the speaker and goes back into the microphone louder than before, where it gets amplified again. And the cycle repeats until someone turns down the...

TV Connect Rates Still Growing

April 23, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

According to a report by Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG), 24% of U.S. households had a television connected to the Internet in 2010. By last year, this rose to 30%. LRG's latest research shows that this share has jumped to 38% this year. The survey includes video game consoles, Blu-ray players, network media players (such as the Roku and Western Digital boxes), and Internet TVs. One of the most interesting results...

Cable Services Dangle Bonuses

April 17, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

If this keeps up, you'll be getting a new toaster when you upgrade your cable subscription. Cablevision announced on Friday that members of its Optimum Rewards loyalty program now get a new perk: discounted car rentals from Hertz. The deal also offers free rental upgrades and free membership in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. Wow, when I sit down in front of my television, I often find myself thinking about renting...

Another Blackout Ends

April 11, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

It looks as though 2012 will pick up right where last year left off when it comes to dust-ups over retransmission fees. Owners of local stations continue to hit cable and satellite subscription television services with increased charges when the contracts come up for renewal. The FCC won't let the services use the same content from adjacent markets, so their only leverage is to turn the channels off and let...

Some Data Streams Are More Equal

April 5, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Last week, Microsoft launched three (anticipated) new services on their Xbox Live system. Subscribers can now get Comcast's XFINITY TV, HBO GO, and MLB.TV. You need to be a subscriber to each of these services in order to get it streamed to your Xbox (just as you have to have a Netflix subscription to access its programming), but it is a big step toward expanding the "what you want, where you...

Game Consoles: Not Just for Blowing Up Stuff

April 3, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Video gaming consoles have come a long way since the early Atari 2600 and other devices. We've gone from pixelated little cartoon characters to almost life-like "meat puppets" that live out adventures in an immersive three-dimensional world. The Xbox 360, Playstation, and Wii provide a window onto interactive entertainment enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide. And now they do so much more than just play games. In fact, according to...

Reader Mail: The Future of Cable TV

March 30, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

I get a lot of email from readers, and occasionally I share our exchanges here. This week, I got a particularly interesting message about this week's post about "Online Streaming Grows": You close with the statement that a cable or satellite TV service should be figuring out what to do when their current business falls apart. There is one big hidden assumption that you seem to be overlooking here, namely...

More Homes Are Hooked Up

March 28, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

A new report from The Diffusion Group (TDG) updates the company's research on broadband in U.S. homes. One interesting point is that about eight out of every 10 homes with broadband Internet connections now have home networks. This is presumably driven by the consumers' interest in connecting more devices to the Internet than before. [Credit: TDG] Perhaps the most interesting development, however, is the location of those home network routers. TDG's research...

Competition Does Not Lower Cable Fees

March 23, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The Federal Communications Commission released a report this month with the descriptive yet cumbersome title of "Report On Average Rates for Cable Programming Service And Equipment." The results come from a study of cable television service fees in different markets. The data was divided into two groups: communities where there was no meaningful competition (aside from satellite) and those where there was a competitor (either cable or phone company). The...