TV Everywhere

Service Providers Including Midcontinent Now Offer Synacor's First-Of-Its-Kind Social Login, Providing Access to Online pay-TV Content Through Social Accounts Like Facebook, Twitter or Google

‘It has to get better, and it will,' says the Synacor executive behind the HBO Go app, speaking at the Next TV Summit.

The FCC has ordered cable operators (and TiVo) to update their cable boxes to include support for HD streaming over home networks to devices like PCs, smart TVs, and tablets. In addition to video streaming, cable boxes must also allow HD video recording on external devices through home networks. By June 2nd 2014 the vast majority of set top boxes will have to support an open standard, although cable companies with fewer than 400,000 subscribers have been given an extra three months to implement the changes.  The commission originally ordered cable companies to support network-based streaming back in 2010, but TiVo protested the order saying "if each cable operator deploys set-top boxes with its own understanding of an open industry standard, the result may be an outcome that is neither standard nor open." The FCC has now clarified that an open standard should enable companies to work together without consultation, explaining that video streaming should work even if the cable company and (for example) PC manufacturer have never had any contact with each other.

Both the FCC and Verizon have cited the successor to the DLNA Premium Video Profile, which should be agreed upon at some point next year, as an example of a compliant protocol that cable companies could adopt. In order for the standard to comply, it must support "recordable high-definition video, closed captioning data, service discovery, video transport, and remote control command pass-through."  It'll be down to each company to choose the standard they want to use, but whatever happens, customers should be free to watch (and record) their cable TV content on any household device they choose.

...While planting your face in front of a tiny screen is perfectly acceptable on trans-Atlantic flights, it can be a little odd at home. But if you give yourself over to the tablet, it's actually a pretty awesome experience. I'm not claiming an iPad beats the big screen, but I will say this: Watching shows and movies on a tablet feels closer to what television viewing should be like in the 21st century than what 21st-century TVs actually deliver.  Yes, there are "smart" televisions that come with Wi-Fi and video-streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus baked in, but they feel sluggish compared to tablets. Devices that help bridge the gap between Internet-based content and your living room's television, like Apple TV and the Xbox 360, are pretty excellent, but once you've become accustomed to the speed and intimacy of using something like an iPad to watch your shows and films, it's hard to deal with tech that's not as responsive. Even simple things on a tablet, like briskly flicking through a menu of movies or accurately rewinding with the tip of your finger, can be pleasurable. As the gadgets in our pockets and handbags and briefcases become the most impressive technological objects in our lives, the good ol' TV setups in our homes can feel painfully slow and antiquated.  And what these futuristic slates lack in eye-popping bigness, they make up for in deft portability. Want to watch "Monday Night Football" in your backyard for a more tailgate-like experience? You can do that. Spouse kick you off the big screen to watch "Glee?" Grab the tablet and head to the attic. The tablet can be a marriage saver in one-television households. It's also the best thing to happen to lazy Sunday mornings since breakfast in bed...

...Welcome to the byzantine world of in-season digital syndication, where the inconsistencies that confuse viewers are just as frustrating to distribution execs at top cablers. "If the industry could move faster to establish some kind of uniformity across the board, I think it would absolutely change how programmers would window content in the free, on-demand space," said Denise Denson, exec VP of content distribution and marketing at MTV Networks.  What is delaying the multichannel TV world is a complex web of vested interests ranging from the cable and satellite operators that dictate most of the distribution parameters for programming to the studios that hold onto some of the rights to the content they license to the networks. Then there are the varying off-air marketing strategies, not to mention just old-fashioned indecision.  Programmers face a tough balancing act here. On the one hand, they don't want to cannibalize the aud for premiere telecasts, reruns and even DVR playback within the first three days when advertising revenue is earned. Cablers also need to protect their relationships with operators that pay them a fortune in carriage fees.  On the other hand, programmers want to maximize the exposure of their shows in ways that can drive ratings back to on-air, dilute the appeal of piracy and capitalize on the momentum of online video in general.

...differing approaches illustrate a divide in the media industry over how best to put content on the Web while also keeping customers hooked to their TVs.  In 2009, cable giant Comcast Corp.and Time Warner — parent of TNT, TBS, HBO and other popular channels — unveiled TV Everywhere, an initiative that was to be a blueprint for the pay-TV industry to develop a platform to let subscribers watch content on their computers, phones or tablets. The proposition was simple enough: Take all that is good about television — lots of channels at the click of a button — and transfer it online.  The hope was that by offering subscribers more content online, people would be less likely to cut the cord to their cable or satellite TV service in favor of so-called over the top services such as Netflix, Hulu and Roku. TV Everywhere was also meant to discourage programmers from giving away their shows for free online.  But in the three years since it was conceived, TV Everywhere has struggled to gain traction.  "It's simply a mess," BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield said. "A complete and utter failure."  Andy Heller, vice chairman and TV Everywhere point person for Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting, believes "the real stumbling block has been deals." Some programmers and distributors, Heller said, are using TV Everywhere contract talks as an excuse to try to "change terms and conditions" of other contracts.  Another problem is that neither the programmers nor the pay-TV providers can decide who should be the gatekeeper for content online. Some consumers have to register at multiple networks to watch content, while others can do one-stop shopping through their distributor.  "We're trying to figure out, can you have a single access point?" said Mike Hopkins, president of distribution for Fox Networks. "It's technically complicated but not impossible."

Nearly 70% of total TV shipments in 2016 will be for connected TVs, resulting in revenues of more than $117 billion (€88.3 billion), according to a new report by IMS Research.  This contrasts with a global figure of 25% last year and shows, according to the company’s market analyst and author of the Connected TV Sets – World – 2012 report Veronica Thayer, that “internet connectivity is becoming a standard on high-end TV sets, and it’s increasingly being added to mid-end televisions.”  The report also shows that proprietary operating systems will remain the main type used by manufacturers in the next five years, although Android OS will start gaining presence and is expected to reach a significant share of the market by 2014.  It shows that in 2016 more than 80% of the connected TV sets shipped worldwide will have built-in Wi-Fi and close to 30% will have advanced user interface features such as motion, gesture or voice.

Video With a widely expected announcement to let some YouTube channels charge monthly subscriptions of 99 cents and up, Google is positioning its video site as the anti-cable TV: a video service willing to offer individual channels on the cheap rather...

Look for cable operators to increase collaboration to counteract over-the-top services like Netflix, John Malone says.

People are streaming online video more than ever before but only 17% of pay TV subscribers have watched cable programming online using so-called “TV Everywhere” services, according to a new study. The study, from research firm GfK Media, is the latest bad news for big media companies’ TV Everywhere initiative, which is aimed at reinforcing the value of traditional cable subscriptions. But since its launch four years ago, the effort has been plagued by delays in launch as a result of difficult rights negotiations between various entertainment companies and pay TV operators – cable, satellite and phone companies.

...What's going to kill the TV business, or at least challenge it, isn't Apple designing the perfect remote or Microsoft designing a superior guide. It's two things.

First is the rising cost of entertainment, which is happening right now. The sitcoms and great dramas you love cost more to produce every year because they're labor intensive. Sports rights are seeing even worse inflation. ESPN recently signed a deal with the NFL to pay 73% more each year for Monday Night Football. So Comcast and its ilk are stuck between rising programming costs and flat-lining middle class wages. That's a problem, and eventually something has to give. But in the short term, providers can merge and channels can be cut and costs can be saved. Expensive shows and sports rights shouldn't destroy the TV business on their own.

Combined with a second trend -- the accelerating exodus of attention away from television -- the TV business might really be in trouble. But this second trend is still more of a projection than a reality. One hundred million households still pay for a bundle of networks. That number isn't really going down. With the pace of household formation tripling in the last year, it could even go up. The number of cord-cutters -- households that have replaced the bundle with over-the-Internet video like Netflix -- is in the low single-digit millions. TV-providers have even found a hedge against cord cutting. They've become Internet-providers and expanded overseas to make up the revenue they're not making here. Cord-cutting is a marginal trend that could sneakily turn mainstream, creating an innovator's dilemma for TV and cable. But not yet.

The Olympic Games are weeks away, and NBC is teaming up with Adobe for two apps that will provide easy access to game details as well as live streaming from London.  The free Adobe AIR-powered apps - NBC Olympics Live Extra and NBC Olympics - are now available for iOS and Android. The first will allow for live streaming of more than 3,500 hours of Olympic content, while the second provides more indepth details about the athlethes, the games, and more.  In a nod to the TV Everywhere model, access to the "vast majority" of streaming content will be limited to U.S. users with a pay TV subscription. In order to watch, users will be asked to sign in with their cable login, whether that is Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cablevision, or a smaller regional provider.  Ashley Still, director of product management for Video Solutions at Adobe, said that 97 percent of all households that pay for TV can access the live streaming content. If you're at home and also get Internet access via your TV provider, the app will automatically recognize that you are allowed to watch the live streaming content.  Those who don't currently have a login for their cable provider can contact the company; NBC has a list of contact numbers on its website. The same authentication can be used across multiple devices...

Cable, satellite and Telco operators reluctant to up resources to facilitate wider user adoption of on-demand video entertainment, analyst says.  Mainstream consumers remain indifferent about TV Everywhere, due in part to cautious efforts by media companies and cable, satellite and telecommunications operators to educate subscribers about accessing content on demand over the Internet through connected devices, an analyst said.  Just 20% of pay-TV subscribers were aware of TV Everywhere provided by their operator in the first quarter of 2012, with 53% of those subscribers using the service at least once a month, according to data presented in a June 21 webinar by Parks Associates.  TV Everywhere is a platform designed to attract and retain pay-TV subscribers in an era of competing (and less expensive) over-the-top alternatives such as Netflix, Hulu, Google Plus and Amazon Prime.  “Is anybody watching these [TV Everywhere] services? Do they even know that these services are available?” asked Parks senior analyst Brett Sappington. “What we found is that by and large the answer is no.”