Monthly Archives: August 2012
KIT digital’s Social Program Guide Shortlisted for the CSI Awards
We are proud to announce that KIT digital’s Social Program Guide (SPG) has been shortlisted for the CSI Awards in the Best Social TV technology, service or application category. The SPG is a white label, second screen solution for network operators that is essentially a mash-up of the remote control and the electronic program guide, with an overlay of social functionality to aid in the discovery process. This allows viewers to enjoy a full range of social TV functions, as well as change the channel, all through a single intuitive interface. Served through KIT digital’s Cosmos Video Platform, the SPG also boasts support for cloud-based DVR functionality, seamless VOD store integration, and multiple e-commerce models and ad serving for advanced content monetization. The SPG was introduced to critical acclaim at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters show. We are especially pleased to be shortlisted this year as it marks the 10th anniversary of the CSI awards which were first launched … Continue reading
Ask Mr. McKinney
While Jon McKinney’s official title is VP, Client Services, he’s also the guy many of us turn to for straightforward answers to tech questions. We thought we’d share his wisdom with our blog readers, since having guys like Jon on the team are part of what makes KIT different. Is there a difference in the way live events (like the Olympics) and pre-recorded content (like Game of Thrones) are delivered via OTT? A live stream is delivered via a direct link from a distribution source, such as a satellite to a live encode facility. From there, it is encoded on-the-fly and delivered to an edge distribution network and then on to end-users. VOD assets are run through a similar file-based encoder and distributed to the CDN much the same. On the CDN, the live asset behaves similar to a VOD asset in that it is generally ABR (Adaptive bitrate), delivered via Unicast rather than IP multicast and is sourced from … Continue reading
Apple TV Is Going To Be Software, Not Hardware
Back in January, we predicted that an Apple TV would be sold like an iPhone, via a proprietary deal with a select MVPD, who’d offer their subscribers an iPhone-like discount on the beautiful new box for a two-year engagement. So now I’m invoking Clause 34.2.A of the 2007 Addendum to the 2005 International Internet Code* to take that back. Sort of. I still think Apple is still going to offer someone a proprietary deal for its product similar to the one described above. Only the product is not going to be a TV set, but rather software that will put a beautiful new interface on the TV you already own. There’s no need for Apple to build a TV: the ones we already have work really well. They’re dumb terminals. There’s not a whole lot of clamoring for improvement on the size and shape of the screen or the quality of the HD display. (Compare that to the cell phone market … Continue reading
Nothing To See Here
The amount of lazy reporting that goes on in this space continues to amaze me. The latest example is the misinterpretation of a report on a drop in US cable subscriptions to mean that cord cutting is on the rise and viewers are abandoning pay TV in droves. Only the report was about actual cable subscriptions, e.g. the numbers reported by cable companies like Time Warner and Cablevision. It does not take into account the numbers reported by pay-TV services that don’t rely on cable, like Verizon FIOS, AT&T U-Verse, Dish and Direct TV. The telcos in particular reported a net gain in subscribers. Oops. Furthermore, most industry observers assume that since the two numbers are relatively equal, all that’s at play here is that the newer telcos services (FIOS and Uverse) are stealing subscribers from their more entrenched rivals. And, as Peter Kafka points out in the Wall Street Journal, cable subscriptions almost always drop in Q2, a time when … Continue reading
Why #NBCFail Is #Doomed
This article originally ran on Digiday It sure sucks to be NBC this week. The Peacock Network is at the center of yet another Twitter-centric firestorm around a relatively minor First World Problem that’s got the cable-free utopians in yet another uproar. Granted, not showing the opening ceremony in real time online or on Bravo was a bit of a miscalculation. But it’s certainly not the disaster of apocalyptic proportion the Occupy TV types are making it out to be. It was a business decision. And while I get that no one else you graduated from Vassar with has cable, between 80 percent to 90 percent of Americans do, so NBC really isn’t all that worried about the 2 percent to 5 percent that don’t. No matter how much you tweet about it. They (and the rest of the TV industry) actually do get that change is coming. It’s just that right now, it’s not profitable for them to radically … Continue reading