Under current regulations, cable companies are generally not allowed to encrypt their basic, analog channels. This allows the tuners built into TVs and devices such as the recently launched Boxee Live TV to receive the channels without a settop box. Cable companies can request a waiver from the FCC to switch to a fully digital and encrypted system, but to […]
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Time Warner Cable launched their live TV streaming app for Android phones just about a month ago, and today the company announced that iPhone and iPod Touch owners can get in on the action as well. The iOS app is actually an update to the previously iPad-only app. It offers Time Warner Cable subscribers live TV streaming over their home […]
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DirecTV has been a bit slow to get on board with HD, at least in the user interface of their set top boxes. The finally started pushing the new HD UI that they had been promising for years to beta testers a few months ago. Evidently they started rolling out it for real in November, but someone at DirecTV HQ […]
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Verizon FiOS appears set to get out of the set top box business, and into the media server business. Verizon has released a video detailing how they plan on eliminating traditional set top boxes to improve energy efficiency and offer better service by moving to a whole-house DVR/media server conjoined to small extender devices or devices that the consumer already owns […]
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Comcast is still working on their app-like Xcalibur settop box UI, but evidently Comcast feels they need something to hold folks over until Xcalibur arrives. Comcast was recently showing off their revamped high definition guide, codenamed Barcelona. It’s already rolling out in select markets and will be going wider before the end of the year. Like other HD UI overhauls […]
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Comcast is in the process of developing a new UI for their set top cable boxes. Known as Xcalibur, Comcast has been approaching the development of the UI with an eye to what consumers are becoming accustomed to on other devices. The goal is a UI that supports apps that tie into online services while displaying richer content information in […]
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DirecTV did a pretty good job of picking up subscribers in Q3. If their Q4 doesn’t go as well, they won’t have AT&T to blame. AT&T gets a lot of attention for their fiber optic U-Verse television service, but U-Verse has had a fairly limited roll-out at this point. Where AT&T lacks U-Verse to bundle in with their telephony and data services, […]
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In early August DirecTV announced that they had added only 26,000 US subscribers in Q2, their lowest number of new subscribers ever. This announcement came on the heels of falling subscriber numbers for several major cable companies, which combined to give rise to some breathless stories about the growing threat of cord cutters and web video to subscription television services. Fast forward […]
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