BeyondTV To Power The Daily Show

Now that I’ve firmly planted a stake in the ground, declaring that we’ll regurgitate fewer press releases… let’s discuss a press release. Because Rakesh Agrawal, founder and CEO of SnapStream, is a good guy. And because I’ve been fascinated with automated business intelligence collection techniques since being collocated with a startup in that space during … Read more

PVRBlog.com eBayed for $12,110.00

pvrblog

Matt Haughey recently unloaded his PVRBlog.com domain and content on ebay for $12,110.00 at the conclusion of a 7 day auction. As with most items that attract seasoned bidders, the reality was closer to a 20 minute event — during which time we saw PVRBlog‘s price more than double. However, the week-long listing provided plenty of time to mull over a purchase. And to be approached by a variety of folks looking to team.

But how do you value a website? In it’s heyday, PVRBlog held an amazing 9/10 Google PageRank. And despite hardly any new content (8 posts in 2009), the site still sees several hundred visitors a day. Perhaps most impressively, PVRBlog may have over 180,000 RSS subscribers thanks to some early Google promotion. Yet Matt says his revenue maxed out at $3,000 a month (and currently brings in about $100/mo). Given those top flight numbers, I would have expected significantly higher cashflow. I’m not entirely sure where the disconnect is, but it did give me pause.

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Three Apps Coming from Comcast, Including… Xfinity?

With the NBCU news drowning out other Comcast conversation, I thought I’d take this moment to tally up the gifts the MSO has promised to all the good little subscriber girls and boys this year. First and most important, TV Everywhere, er, On Demand Online, um, Xfinity is scheduled to roll out before the start … Read more

DISH Network next up with an App Store

Looks like DISH Network is next in line with an app store offering, following in the footsteps of rival DirecTV. EchoStar’s repeatedly delayed Slingbox-loaded 922s DVR, now slated for delivery “early next year,” will provide access to a variety of home grown and third party apps. The SDK and API has already been made available … Read more

Sezmi Launches LA Pilot, Lands $25M

Given a year of radio silence, I’d assumed Sezmi had gone the way of the dodo Akimbo and Moviebeam. However, after speaking to president and co-founder Phil Wiser last week, it seems they’ve quietly been working deals, raising new capital, and refining the Sezmi experience. And, today, they’re launching a public pilot in Los Angeles. … Read more

Moxi DVR Prices Slashed, New 3 Tuner Model

While I predicted significant Moxi HD DVR price cuts after Arris’ acquisition of Digeo, I expected to see them come as the new parent company retreated from retail. However… Not only isn’t Arris giving up on direct consumer sales, versus exclusively pitching hardware to the MSOs, they’re pushing forward with the introduction of a new … Read more

EchoStar Pitches Slingbox DVR to Cable (Again)

The SCTE cable industry show, having hit full swing in Denver, has revealed another EchoStar attempt at wooing the cable industry with a Slingbox-enabled DVR (aka “SlingLoaded”). Like the units I photographed at The Cable Show back in April, this model appears to be a tru2way CableCARD device. However, the SCTE edition features a brand … Read more

FiOS TV Updates: Mac OS X, More Storage

About a week ago, Verizon launched Media Manager for Mac OS X. While it’s not quite as capable as their Windows version with drive scanning and Internet video capability, this desktop app makes iPhoto (albums, events, slideshows) and iTunes (playlists) available for streaming to FiOS DVR hardware (similar to TiVo Desktop, circa 2006). Media Manager … Read more