Wilmington Transition Issues: Programming Converter Boxes [Multichannel News]
I wrote yesterday about the digital television transition test in Wilmington, NC and the numerous calls received by broadcast stations and DTV hotline from viewers who lost their picture with the transition. Turns out that most of the callers were aware that the transition was occurring early in Wilmington and even had digital converter boxes connected, but didn't have the converter boxes properly programmed.
My post yesterday encouraged the FCC to focus on a successful and seamless digital television transition. The findings from the Wilmington test reveal that over 97 percent of television viewers were aware of the transition, but that there were still problems due to converter boxes needing to be programmed or antennas to be properly aligned. So, we're doing a pretty good job on awareness of the DTV transition, but there are still are many even more complex issues that need to be addressed to assure the transition occurs as smoothly as possible.
DSL Is The New Dial-Up [Broadband Reports]
A new report by Strategy Analytics is telling the telcos something that consumers have known for a while -- DSL is the new dial-up. With the faster broadband speeds provided by cable, many consumers have switched. In fact, the second quarter of this year was the worst quarter ever for DSL additions.
The post at Broadband Reports looks into the future of broadband competition -- how cable operators' DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades will compete very effectively with the telcos' fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). The conclusion seems to be that DOCSIS 3.0 has a significant advantage over FTTH, and the telcos would be better off focusing on their strengths in wireless.
For the Best TV Prices, Stay Online [NYT Bits Blog]
Bits compares the prices of new HDTVs from online retailers versus brick-and-mortar retailers, finding that the cheapest prices consistently are online. If you're in the market for a TV upgrade, you may want to take a look at this price comparison. Of course nothing compares to being able to compare picture quality of different models in a store, but if you know which model you want to purchase, you might be able to save a few hundred bucks by making the purchase from an online retailer.
Google Tightens Data Retention Policy — Again [NYT Bits Blog]
Increased scrutiny of Google's retention of search data has prompted that company to change their retention policy for the second time in the past two years. You may not know it, but each time you perform a search using Google, specific identifying information about your computer and web browser is saved by Google and retained for 18 months. Under this new policy, that data will only be saved for 9 months.
Google to sell TV ad time for NBC Universal [CNET News]
And in other Google news, the company continues to make inroads in the television advertising world with an announcement that advertisers can now purchase NBC Universal ad inventory directly from Google's television ads portal. The partnership will include the Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller channels.
What does this mean for advertisers? Google's television ads product allows advertisers to track viewership data on their commercials. For NBCU, the partnership provides an additional outlet for advertisers to strategically purchase ad inventory. And for Google, they have landed a marquee partner in their budding television adverting sales business that will likely lead to increased adoption of their sales product.
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