Never enough time… TiVo and do-it-yourself television. (CNET) $9.99/mo commercial-free BabyFirstTV debuts. (Associated Press) Apple FrontRow and QuickTime updated. (AppleInsider) Why the world doesn’t need Hi-Def DVD’s. (NY Times) EchoStar 1Q profit down on TiVo victory. (Business Week)
Never enough time… Slingbox whips Sony’s LocationFree TV. (Time) Porn industry may decide Blu-ray/HD-DVD winner. (PC World) DVR installations to grow by 100% a year. (ZDNet) No one really wants to buy UMD movies. (Kotaku)
Today’s the day… ABC launched their two month trial (5/1 – 6/30) offering free web rebroadcasts of current, prime time television series. Unlike most streaming content, you do not need Windows as ABC is broadcasting via cross-platform Flash. Of course free is just another word for advertising, but it competes well with $1.99 iTunes downloads. Assuming all goes well, ABC is planning on tweaking the model and relaunching with the fall television season.
Check it out here!
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Never enough time… ReplayTV settles patent dispute, licenses audio technology. (Press Release) Consumer Electronics Association calls on industry to educate consumers. (CEA) Media center software SageTV adds place-shifting. (SageTV) Well-designed customer experiences are good for business; TiVo is one example. (Business Week) Blu-ray prototype stores 200 GB. (jkOnTheRun) VDC mobile television service reviewed. (Brighthand)
Another week, another study…
RINGWOOD, N.J., April 26 /PRNewswire/ — According to the Total TV Audience Monitor (T-TAM), an annual syndicated report which measures total TV viewing, about one-fourth (24%) of DVR owners actually watch time-shifted TV in the average week. Furthermore, only 6% of DVR owner’s total weekly viewing time is shifted. DVR owners watch an average of 29.25 hours of TV in a week, and only 1.7 of those hours are shifted.
The T-TAM study reports that DVR owners watch 2 more hours of TV in an average week compared to non-owners. Those who watch any time-shifted content consume the most TV — 30 hours per week. Syndicated programs (8%) are amongst the most popular genres time-shifted by men. Sports events and news are the least likely types of programming to be viewed as shifted. Daytime soaps account for 26% of quarter hours viewed as time-shifted by women.
According to Barbara Leflein, with Total TV Audience Monitor, “there’s an incremental audience lift of as much as 9% among 35-49 year olds for select broadcast networks during primetime, when time shifted viewing is included. This is a significant finding, because when combined with out-of-home viewing, traditional measures can miss over one-fifth of time shifter’s viewing in the average week.”
The T-TAM 2005 study, also uncovered these key DVR facts:
- 17% of adults 18+ (36 million) report owning a DVR, an increase of 55% from the 11% reported in the 2004 study.
- The recent growth in DVR ownership can be attributed to upgrading to set-top boxes with built-in DVRs (4% of adults in 2004 to 8% in 2005). The penetration of TiVo and Replay units remained unchanged from 2004 (3% TiVo & 4% Replay).
- The West Central and South East territories have the highest DVR penetration levels (20% and 19% respectively). Penetration levels in these regions doubled since 2004.
- DVR owners are more likely than the average adult TV viewer to be: college educated (41%), employed in a professional occupation (36%) or self-employed (11%)
- DVR owners are also more likely to visit restaurants (24%), bars (9%), hotels (6%) or airports (3%)
- The average DVR owner has 3.3 working TVs compared to 2.9 among non- owners and is more likely to subscribe to premium pay channels and VOD.
Does it really come as any surprise that HBO isn’t in favor of place shifting? If you recall, HBO petitioned the FCC to ban DVR recording too. Light Reading says: Content owners dont like it [Sling] because they think it violates their copyrights, HBO CTO Bob Zitter said during a panel here Tuesday. Zitters comment … Read more
As you know, TiVo came away with a huge patent victory versus Echostar last week. The judge hasn’t yet ruled on increasing damages for willful infringement, and not only hasn’t an injunction been awarded but apparently TiVo hadn’t even requested it as of Wednesday. Could settlement/licensing talks be going on outside of court? Regardless, TiVo’s legal team is tooting their horn this morning…
Apr 21, 2006 08:45 ET
Irell & Manella Trial Team Secures $74 Million Patent Infringement Verdict for DVR Market Leader TiVo
Jury’s finding of willful infringement by EchoStar means damages could be trebled
LOS ANGELES, Calif., April 21 — In a closely-watched trial involving one of the most popular forms of technology in the home entertainment market, law firm Irell & Manella LLP represented TiVo Inc. in its $74 million patent infringement verdict against EchoStar Communications Corp.
On April 13, a Marshall, Texas jury concluded that EchoStar had willfully infringed TiVo’s patent on its “time-warp” technology for digital video recorders (known as DVRs). Despite two weeks of testimony about complex technology and patent issues, the jurors needed only two hours and fifteen minutes of deliberations to reach the unanimous verdict.
The finding of willful infringement exposes EchoStar to potential treble damages. In addition, EchoStar faces a potential injunction that would preclude it from further distribution of infringing DVRs. TiVo’s general counsel Matthew Zinn noted after the trial that an injunction would be even more meaningful than the sheer dollar award.
