Content Providers (IPTV/Cable/Music)

Monsoon Multimedia, the folks behind the Vulkano Flow which we have mentioned once or twice, announced today their Multi-Screen Policy Management Solution aimed at enabling content service providers to easily deploy remote and mobile viewing service. Content providers have struggled to come up with ways to provide streaming services that allow subscribers to tap into recorded and live television on portable devices and across the Internet. One of the consistent issues has been varying interpretations of the rights that content service providers have secured from content owners and what rights subscribers have to placeshift and sideload content.

The Monsoon Multimedia Multi-Screen Policy Management Solution gives content providers a rights-managment system that they can deploy without additional infrastructure and is dynamic enough that the rights granted to a particular piece of content can be adjusted whenever necessary. Though I am sure that Monsoon Multimedia would love to see the Comcasts and Time Warners of the world adopt the Vulkano in conjunction with their new MPMS, it can be licensed separately and integrated with a content service provider's current hardware. Put it all together and hopefully we will see more "TV Everywhere" products from more content providers.

Monsoon can enable or disable each of the following features on a show-by-show or channel-by-channel basis: Live TV, Recording, Local Placeshifting, Remote Placeshifting, Local Sideloading and Remote Sideloading. The rights are downloaded to the Vulkano unit much like Electronic Program Guide information is downloaded. As new rights are negotiated, they can be rolled out to the field allowing consumers to enjoy the TV access they expect and demand. For example, a widely available Over-the-Air channel might allow all of its content to be used freely, while a premium sports event might be restricted to local viewing within the home, with no recording.

Monsoon Multimedia

--Complete Press Release after the break.--

Once upon a time, Microsoft had a service called Xbox Live Diamond.  It was a short-lived, and rather pitiful, discount card program for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.  Sounds like we might be getting a new take on Xbox Live Diamond that could actually offer some true value.  The Xbox 360 already offers IPTV funtionality with Mediaroom integration for interested service providers, but the idea of offering television service independent of the service provider, directly over the Internet, is potentially game-changing.  Question is, will Microsoft be able to get enough content providers to sign on and how will service providers react to be being pushed even farther toward being dumb bit providers?

Microsoft has been in talks with media companies to produce the  TV service for its Xbox console. Microsoft is proposing a “virtual cable operator” which will be delivered over the Internet and charged with a monthly fee. The software maker has also suggested that cable companies could use the Xbox as a device to authenticate existing cable subscribers to watch shows and interact with their Xbox LIVE friends. Microsoft offers a similar service in the UK where Sky customers can use their Xbox LIVE avatars during sporting events. Xbox LIVE Diamond subscribers will likely be charged a premium subscription cost (think monthly) which includes access to the Xbox LIVE Gold features and streaming TV.

Winrumors

I guess I'm a bit disappointed by this report of the latest integration from TiVo but not all that surprised. That being said I think it's still a value add to the platform that some people will enjoy. Kind of reminds me of when Microsoft added "Internet TV" with a vision of integration that was short of expectations and its potential.

What we mean is that Hulu Plus on the TiVo is exactly like the others, and nothing like a TiVo. Launching Hulu via the TiVo My Shows menu is almost as jarring as switching inputs on your TV, with the exception of not switching remotes, obviously. The scrub bar changes, the menus are different, even the info view looks different. So while Netflix, Blockbuster, and all the other TiVo add-ins carry on the TiVo experience, Hulu Plus does not. Now we admit this complaint is mostly superficial -- the real failure is the lack of unified search, making TiVo Premiere's universal search feature not so universal. That's right, when you search for The Office on your TiVo Premiere with Hulu Plus, you'll see results from your DVR, the guide, Netflix, and Amazon VOD; but you won't see results from Hulu Plus. TiVo tried to reassure us by saying "we are working on integrating the content into TiVo Search and plan to update with that functionality soon after," but we have a bad feeling this will be right after the rest of the Premiere UI is converted to HD.

EngadgetHD

Verizon showed off some new innovations in its Flex View VOD service and revealed that they might take the service over-the-top to both subscribers and non-subscribers outside of FiOS service areas. Verizon also showed off a Roku channel that would be one way to consume Flew View VOD content.

If Verizon ends up following through, it will be interesting to see what model the service will use. Will it be all-you-can eat, a la carte or some new scheme we haven't seen?

Verizon could soon make its Flex View video-on-demand service available to anyone, not just those that pay for its FiOS TV service, the company said today. In a press briefing that GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham attended, Shadman Zafar, SVP of product development for Verizon Communications, showed off some new features of the Flex View VOD offering, which could soon become available to FiOS customers and non-customers alike.

The new service would have all the same features as its existing Flex View VOD offering, including access on PCs and some mobile devices. But Verizon is looking to extend that even further, to connected devices like Roku broadband set-top boxes. Zafar showed off a channel today that could allow Verizon FiOS customers — and even non-customers — to access the company’s VOD service on Roku devices.

NewTeeVee