Michael's Insight

Disney renews deal with Netflix, signs new deal with Amazon

Disney Double Dips: Renews Netflix Deal for ABC Shows, Adds Amazon [All Things D]

Though Netflix has gone through tough times recently with self-inflicted problems via a sixty percent rate increase and failure to renew a deal for content from Starz and Encore, it has managed to renew its agreement with Disney for rights to stream older content from ABC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel. This new deal is set to last two years.

Most of the content involved in the agreement is for shows that are no longer on the air on those channels, though there are episodes from seasons two years ago for shows still airing.

When it renewed its deal with Netflix, Disney also signed a very similar agreement with Amazon to provide essentially the same content on the Amazon Prime streaming platform.

Google rolling out second version of Google TV

Google Tries Again With Google TV [New York Times]

Google's first foray into television with its Google TV product was met with serious ambivilence by consumers. Set-tops with the operating system that allowed users to access online video on their televisions sold poorly, eventually being reduced in price to clear them off store shelves. Now, Google is back with the second revision of Google TV, which it hopes will attract much more interest.

As with the first version, Google's aim is to create a product that lives alongside traditional television rather than attempting to replace it. The refresh features a streamlined interface and more robust search option for content, but the most significant feature update is the inclusion of third party applications from the Google Android market. Users can download and install apps directly onto their Google TV device.

Sony's televisions and Logitech's set-tops which run the first version of Google TV will be able to update to the newer version. Samsung and Vizio are introducing televisions with the new Google TV next year.

Facebook rolling out new feature for unlocking compromised accounts

Facebook Sees 600,000 Compromised Logins Per Day [Tech Crunch]

Facebook is set to release a new feature to allow users to designate friends who can facilitate unlocking that user's compromised Facebook account. Typically, when a Facebook account is hacked, a user's email account is also hacked, leaving that user unable to send a password reset to their email account. Calling the new feature, Trusted Friends, Facebook will soon allow users to allow 3-5 designated friends to unlock a compromised account.

In the context of announcing this feature, Facebook revealed that of the 1 billion logins to the site each day, some 600,000 come from hackers accessing other users accounts. Even though that's only 0.06 percent of all activity on the site, it demonstrates there is a significant amount of hacker activity with regard to Facebook accounts.

J.D. Power study reveals 86 percent of customers satisfied with their broadband speed

Just 14% Of Internet Customers Disappointed With Speeds: J.D. Power [Multichannel News] 

J.D. Power and Associates has released its 2011 Residential Internet Service Provider Customer Satisfaction Survey, which shows that 86 percent of all U.S. Internet customers are satisfied or extremely satisfied with the Internet speeds provided by their respective ISPs. J.D. Power surveys customers of every major ISP across the country, dividing the results into four regions.

The report specifically showed that 69% of customers felt that they were receiving the speeds they expected, while 17% felt their speeds were better than expected. That leaves only 14% who believe their broadband speed falls short of expectations.

The survey interviewed 23,098 residential Internet customers throughout the U.S. and asks specifically about performance and reliability, cost of service, billing, offerings and promotions, and customer service.

YouTube planning launch of professionally produced content

YouTube Rumored to Launch Their Professionally-Produced, Original Content ‘Channels’ Next Week [Gizmodo]

Seven months after Google reportedly spent on $100 million on original content for its video sharing site, YouTube, The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube is planning to launch a Channels feature. Channels will be several content hubs, organized around a theme, with several hours of original programming for online viewing. 

The launch is expected to be part of an overall site redesign, rather than just an addition to the current structure. The Journal reports that companies like News Corp have been involved in the creation of the content.

YouTube's current format of allowing users to upload and share videos is expected to be retained, but it remains to be seen how it is feautured among the professionally produced content.

Netflix accounts for one third of downstream Internet traffic

Netflix Now 33% Of Peak Downstream Internet Traffic In U.S.: Study [Multichannel News] 

Despite the significant subscriber losses it has endured recently, Netflix still accounts for a substantial percentage of downstream Internet traffic in the U.S. According to a recent report from Internet traffic management firm Sandvine, 32.7% of peak downstream traffic (between 7pm and 9pm) in the U.S. can be attributed to Netflix. Overall, online video viewing takes up roughly 60% of peak downstream traffic.

Sandvine's survey showed that only 20% of broadband users are using Netflix (and taking up 32.7% of the bandwidth). In comparison, over 80% of broadband users use YouTube, but that traffic only accounts for 11.3% of peak downstream traffic. 

Sandvine also reported that of all the streaming online video, 55% comes from gaming consoles, set-tops, and connected TV's, while the other 45% comes from computers.

 

FOX including online programming access in retransmission agreements

Fox Does VOD, Authentication Deals With FiOS TV, Mediacom [Multichannel News] 

FOX Networks reached a deal with both Mediacom and Verizon to offer Video On Demand programming and an online authentication video service.

This is all a part of a recent effort by FOX to urge consumers to push for 'TV Everywhere' access from their service providers. FOX hopes that by including 'TV Everywhere' it will lead to the negotiation of larger carriage deals, which means – higher retransmission fees.

FOX has even set up a notice on its video website for customers with providers who have not struck deals with FOX to urge their providers to get its TV Everywhere services. What's not shown on the website is the fact that to get these deals, the providers have to agree to higher programming fees.

Subscribers to these two providers, as well as Dish Network which previously signed a similar deal with FOX and Hulu Plus subscribers, will be able to view next-day episodes of FOX programming by entering their authentication information into FOX's video site. The deal also allows the providers to offer FOX programming Video On Demand service on its systems. Customers of other providers must wait seven days before FOX programming appears on the Hulu web site.

Android app downloads pass Apple iOS app downloads

Android Blows Past Apple To Take The Lead In Market Share For App Downloads [Silicon Alley Insider]

For the first time, more Android apps were downloaded than Apple iOS apps over a three month period. According to ABI Research's second quarter report, Android has 44% of the app download market share, while Apple has 31% of the market.

The good news for Apple is that it still has a 2-to-1 advantage over Android in app downloads per user and, according to the study, Apple is still attracting good developers because of its monetization policies for developers. It appears that iOS developers are okay with the smaller user base and total number of downloads.

Still, Android is growing at an increasing rate. While iPhone shipment growth dropped from 15% to 9% from Q1 to Q2, Android device shipment growth jumped from 20% to 36%. As the Android user base continues to grow, it will be paramount for Apple to maintain its strong developer base.

Amazon releases information about Silk browser privacy concerns

Amazon Sets the Record Straight on Silk's Security [Gizmodo] 

The Silk cloud browser on Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet device has been under strict scrutiny because of the security concerns of Amazon tracking and saving users' browsing history. The tablet stores certain history data on Amazon's servers so that web pages, especially ones already visited, load faster. Overall, running through Amazon's cloud servers and using a SPDY protocol is much faster than using full HTTP protocols. 

Amazon has finally come out and defended the Silk browser by offering detailed information about how the data collected by the Silk browser is used.

First of all, Amazon asserts that no secure communications – personal data, credit card info, etc. – are stored on Amazon's system. Any HTTPS protocol (used in most secure communications) are kept off the Amazon cloud. 

Further, according to Amazon, only three pieces of data are stored in the SPDY protocol – the requested URL, the timestamp of the request, and a session token. In addition, that information is only kept for 30 days. 

Finally, the SPDY protocol is well-encrypted to prevent any third-parties from accessing or manipulating the stored data. 

This may not be the end of the Silk browser investigation, but Amazon's clarification does yield additional information about how this new browser technology works.

Netflix loses 800,000 customers during the previous quarter

Netflix loses 800,000 US subscribers in third quarter [GigaOM] 

Netflix's recent pricing increases and the botched separation of its DVD and streaming businesses continues to negatively impact the business and has led to a disappointing third quarter. 

The third quarter results that Netflix recently released show customer subscriptions dropped to 23.8 million, which is a staggering 810,000 customers lower than its second quarter numbers. In fact, the numbers are even about 200,000 lower than Netflix had forecasted for the quarter halfway through September, even taking into account the impact of the rate increases.

The customer losses weren't just on the declining DVD service either. Netflix posted significant subscriber losses for both the DVD and streaming businesses – also lower than their mid-quarter projections. The streaming side was down to 21.45 million customers despite September projections of 21.8 million, and Netflix reported 13.93 million DVD customers compared to a 14.2 September forecast for the quarter.

Amazon including HTML5 standard into new ebook format

Amazon Embraces HTML5 for New Ebooks [Mashable]

With the introduction of its Kindle Fire tablet, Amazon is also upgrading its ebook format to Kindle Format 8, which will be based on the open HTML5 standard. The new format is set to add more capabilities for publishers to create richer visuals and media in their Kindle ebooks. Given the Kindle Fire's color touchscreen, the new format is an obvious upgrade for the new hardware and it won't be available on the e-ink Kindles.

Apple has encouraged the HTML5 standard, using it for web video playback on the iPhone and iPad rather than Adobe's Flash standard. However, Apple does not use HTML5 for its iBooks publishing standard.

The Amazon Kindle Fire begins shipping to customers next month.

Jobs' biography and Wall Street analyst indicate work progressing on Apple TV

Apple Is Building iTV Prototypes, And You Can Probably Expect A 50" iTV By Late Next Year [Silicon Alley Insider]

With the release this week of the Walter Isaacson authored biography of Steve Jobs has come new information about the long-rumored Apple television. Isaacson wrote that Jobs had told him, "‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.’”

That quote along with guidance released by Wall Street analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray indicates that perhaps we'll see a television screen from Apple soon. Munster expects to see an Apple TV either late next year or early in 2013. Munster believes, based on conversation with sources, that Apple is investing in manufacturing facilities for LCD screens that could go up to 50 inches in size and that prototypes of an Apple TV are currently being developed.

Munster believes that the launch of iCloud indicates that any Apple TV will be closely linked to a cloud-linked media service.  I just wonder if the recent price reductions of high-quality TV's will affect Apple's decision to move forward. 

Nintendo adds Hulu Plus streaming to gaming products

Streaming, Announces Hulu Plus Will Soon Hit The Wii, 3DS [Tech Crunch]

Nintendo announced this week that Hulu Plus will be joining Netflix as a streaming video option on its Wii console and 3DS handheld device. Hulu Plus is the paid subscription service offered by Hulu.

Users must have a Hulu Plus subsciption and have their device connected to broadband via a wi-fi network in order to view the service's content.

Nintendo's plans to include Hulu Plus on the Wii follow similar developments with Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation console. Nintendo said that the feature will be available to users by the end of this year.

 

Google links search data and television advertising sales

Google Now Selling TV Ads Linked to Search Data [Mashable]

Google has attempted to replicate its success in search ad sales with a television ad product available to advertisers on a limited number of cable and satellite providers. The search giant sells the ad inventory in an online auction, similar to how it sells search advertising.

Recently, Google announced that it would provide advertisers using its tv ads product with data about the frequency of search terms over time in order to allow those advertisers to air their television campaigns during periods when viewers have a heightened interest. For example, advertisers selling a widget that has a particular seasonal appeal because more people are searching Google for that widget during a limited time will have access to that information, and Google will encourage them to increase the frequency of their TV advertising during that period.

Google started selling television ads in 2008. Since that time, the company has ended experiments selling radio and newspaper advertising.

Nielsen reports that almost half of Americans watch online video

Half Of Americans Watch Online Video: Nielsen [Multichannel News]

Nielsen's latest quarterly Cross-Platform Report indicates that both online video viewing and traditional television watching were both up in the second quarter of this year.

On average, Americans watched 146 hours and 20 minutes of television each month during the quarter. That number represents an increase of 2 hours and 43 minutes vs. the same time period last year, representing a nearly 2 percent increase. Compared to the 2010 results, time-shifted television viewing rose 11 percent due to increased DVR penetration. 

Nielsen also reported that online video is now watched by 48 percent of Americans. Online viewing comes out to an average of four hours and 26 minutes per person each month. While that's an increase of 15 percent over the same quarter last year, it still only represents three percent of the average time spent watching traditional television.

DOCSIS 3.0 deployment expected to cover 77 percent of U.S. households by end of 2011

The State of Docsis 3.0 [Light Reading – The Bauminator]

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has released the results of a recent study of broadband deployment in a letter to the FCC. According to these results, 60 percent of all U.S. households have had DOCSIS 3.0, cable's advanced broadband standard, deployed by their cable providers. By the end of 2011, that number is expected to be as high as 77 percent.

The report not only shows the overall success of DOCSIS 3.0, but also highlights the fact that DOCSIS 3.0 is making its way to smaller, more rural areas as well – independent from government intervention. This is important information for the FCC's current considerations regarding the National Broadband Plan and Universal Service Fund reform.

Regardless of how the FCC chooses to use this information in its future rule makings, it shows very significant progress in DOCSIS 3.0 roll out in the very brief time it has been in existence.  DOCSIS 3.0 first hit the market when Comcast deployed it in Minnesota back in April of 2008.

 

Amazon negotiates deal with PBS for content

Amazon Kindles Up PBS Shows [Multichannel News]

Amazon has reached a deal for its Prime Instant Video service to carry over 1,000 episodes of PBS programs. The deal will bring such public television programs as NOVA, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, and The French Chef. The deal will also bring the various Ken Burns documentaries that have aired on PBS.

The deal will give Amazon's video service roughly 12,000 total video titles by the end of the year. That would be twice as many titles as Amazon Prime had when it launched back in February 2011. It has deals with Twentieth Century Fox, CBS, NBCU, Sony and Warner Bros., among many others, making it the strongest current competitor to Netflix. Estimates by research firm Piper Jaffray estimates that Amazon Prime has about 5 million Prime members out of the total 121 million Amazon customers.

In the battle between the various online video services, the best ammunition is content, and the more deals like this that these companies can iron out the better they will fare against the mounting competition. 

 

First draft of UHDTV standard reaches consensus

Ultra High Definintion TV Standard Moves Forward [Broadband Reports]

High definition television could be getting an upgrade in the next several years. A working group of the International Telecommunications Union has reached agreement about the standard for what they are calling Ultra High Definition Television, or UHDTV. The experts on the working group have agreed upon the basics - "most of the pertinent technical characteristics" necessary for the standard.

Based on demonstrations of the first draft of the standard, viewers can look forward to an upgrade from 2 million pixels in the picture of the most advanced HDTV currently available to a television capable of displaying 33 million pixels with UHDTV. It's roughly the same resolution as an IMAX movie.

Don't expect to see those UHDTV sets on shelves soon, though. There's a lot more work involved before the standard is finalized. After the standard is set, manufacturers will engineer and create televisions, programmers will create new UHDTV content and cable providers will look to include that new programming on their lineups for their customers. 

Another Netflix competitor set to launch

It's confirmed: Skype founder's new startup is Vdio [GigaOM]

A new competitor to Netflix is about to hit the market. GigaOM uncovered some information on Tuesday morning regarding a new service called Vdio.

Vdio is the latest startup of Janus Friis, who has co-founded other successful startups Skype, Rdio, and KaZaA. After GigaOM's initial discovery, Vdio sent a list of Q&A's confirming the earlier reports.

Currently, Vdio is in closed beta and will initially be released only in the U.K. There doesn't appear to be any close relation to Vdio's operations and the operations of Rdio or Skype, other than having the same co-founder.

It'll be interesting to see how much competition Vdio can truly give to Netflix, but even in the brief Q&A they released, Vdio has already taken a shot at that company. When asked how their product will compare to Netflix, Vdio answered "We think people will love using VDIO."

But the real question is, what makes you different from other Internet video services already out there?  Given how questionable, the number of video Internet services which can possibly survive, their answer didn't tell us anything about them. 

Congressman inquires about Amazon's Silk browser privacy issues

Amazon Silk Comes Under Congressional Fire [Gizmodo]

Recently Amazon unveiled its Kindle Fire tablet device that runs the Silk web browser. Silk is being touted as a super fast browser because Amazon's cloud servers handle the majority of the lift for web browsing, speeding up page load times and remembering the sites users visit for even faster load times later.

One aspect of Silk that isn't being promoted as heavily is the fact that use of the cloud servers could also enable Amazon to collect more specific user data during web browsing.

It's this feature that has some members of Congress taking a hard look at Amazon Silk. Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts has written Amazon requesting more information about Amazon's planned collection policies for user data in Silk and what Amazon plans to do with the data it collects.

Given Amazon's recommendations on its retail portal, it's easy to imagine Silk offering recommended web sites for you based on your search history or targeting web advertisements. 

Google's Chrome expected to surpass Firefox in browser market share

Chrome poised to take No. 2 browser spot from Firefox [Computerworld]

Google's Chome web browser, which was introduced in late 2008, has made significant strides in gaining users during the past year and is now poised to take over the title of second most popular browser in terms of market share before the end of the year. Numbers from Internet statistics firm StatCounter indicate that the number of Chrome users has grown 50 percent since the beginning of 2011, now encompassing 23.6 percent of web browser market share.

That compares to Mozilla Firefox's 26.8 percent share of the browser market, which has shed the largest numbers of users to Chrome. Firefox users have declined 13 percent since January 2011, while Microsoft Internet Explorer has shed 9 percent of its users. Most of these user losses were defections to Chrome.

Should Chrome continue its growth at the expense of Firefox and Internet Explorer, it is expected to become the web's second most used browser sometime in November or December. Internet Explorer, with its automatic integration in Windows, would remain the most-used browser, currently at 41.7 percent of users.

Hulu takes itself off the auction block

Hulu's Owners Call Off Sale [All Things D]

Several companies, including Google and Amazon, were potential buyers of the video streaming service Hulu. However, none of those companies is going to end up purchasing the service now as the owners of Hulu have announced their decision to end the auction.

The majority of the value of Hulu comes from the programming of its three broadcast network owners – Fox (News Corp), ABC (Disney) and NBC (Comcast). If those three companies sold Hulu, it would likely have had to include exclusive online rights for a period of a few years. 

Now that Hulu's owners have announced that they won't be selling, at least for now, it will be interesting to see whether there are any changes in store. Recently Hulu announced that it had hit the 1 million subscriber mark for its paid Hulu Plus service, and that paid subscriptions will soon account for half the venture's revenues.

Netflix inks programming deal for The CW content

Netflix Is Getting The CW's Programming [Mashable]

While it's lost some content deals recently, Netflix is adding a programming deal that will bring some additional streaming content to the service. The latest agreement was made with CBS and Warner Bros. and will bring all current, past, and future content from The CW to Netflix for the next four years.

The CW was created as a merger of CBS's UPN network and Warner Bros' WB Television. It airs such programs as One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and 90210.

The CW has never been shy about making its content available. All of its programs are available online one day after the original air date. The deal with Netflix will give the network even more streaming options.

Netflix has reached agreements with CBS in the past. In fact, CBS has been one of Netflix's strongest partners. Netflix, however, has never reached an agreement with Warner Bros.

Streaming movies may be next for Apple's iCloud

Apple reportedly trying to add movie streaming to its iCloud [EngadgetHD]

As part of iOS 5, iCloud officially launched this week. The service stores and backs up everything from movies and photos to contacts and documents to the cloud, making it easy for customers to push files from one device to another.

Apple isn't wasting any time trying to add new features to the recently released service. Both the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting that Apple has already commenced negotiations with Hollywood studios to allow movies to be streamed to multiple devices via iCloud.

Apple has dabbled with this type of cloud streaming when it created a feature for users to stream TV shows to the Apple TV set-top.

Movie studios and other consumer electronics have created a potential competitor called Ultraviolet, which is a cloud video streaming service that allows for videos to be purchased on one device and streamed to countless others. Apple and Disney the only two major holdouts on adoption of the Ultraviolet consortium's format.

Survey finds 44 percent of U.S. homes have DVR

DVR Penetration, VOD Monthly Usage Hit New Highs In U.S. [Multichannel News]

The results of a new survey from the Leichtman Research Group indicate that more American homes have at least one DVR today than at any point in the past and that video on demand usage continues to rise. 

Leichtman spoke with 1,347 adults in the U.S. during August and September, finding that 44 percent of households have one or more DVRs and 14 percent of households have more than one DVR. While nearly half of all homes have a DVR, the survey found that 90 percent of television viewing remains live content, rather than time-delayed recordings.

Last year, the research firm determined that 52 percent of digital cable customers viewed video on demand content at least once each month. This latest survey indicated that figure has risen to 62 percent of digital cable customers. 

Leichtman also asked some questions about Netflix customers, finding that 86 percent of Netflix customers also subscribed to a cable television service.