How Mohu Could Be as Disruptive as Aereo

Mohu Channels TV adapter

For all of the ink spent on Aereo (and I’m responsible for my fair share), the relatively quiet efforts of Mohu could end up being just as disruptive to the TV service market. Mohu has already had a successful run with its line of over-the-air TV antennas, but the company is ready to take its technology a step further. As Janko points out over at GigaOM, Mohu has just completed a Kickstarter campaign to help with the development of a new product called the Channels TV adapter. The adapter will combine OTA channels fed through an HD antenna (bought separately) with web video apps like Netflix and Hulu, and it will offer a personalized program guide including any channels and apps a user wants to highlight.

If Mohu can deliver a clean experience with the new Channels TV adapter – and that’s certainly a big if, particularly when it comes to switching between OTA and web content – the company will have a very compelling product offering. For the contingent of TV viewers who want broadcast TV and their $8 Netflix subscription, the Mohu device will put all of that content in one place on the living-room flat screen. Mohu isn’t offering DVR or multiscreen services (at least not yet), but it will appeal to the same audience with the Channels TV adapter as Aereo has with its monthly service. And with Mohu, there’s no additional monthly fee, and no cloud of legal drama. 

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DISH Sets Stage For Internet TV With Disney Deal

While DISH may have acquiesced on the ad skipping front, in return they have inked one of the very first deals to offer “live” programming via the Internet: The extensive and expanded distribution agreement grants DISH rights to stream cleared linear and video-on-demand content from the ABC-owned broadcast stations, ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN and ESPN2, as … Read more

Superbowl Advertising On Twitter: It's All Gibberish

In an industry where any publicity trumps questionable publicity, several brands have leveraged Twitter to draw attention to themselves via apparent mistakes. It’s a low risk, high reward approach that got going last summer when Chipotle faked a Twitter hack. The costs of sending a tweet, versus shooting and placing a Super Bowl commercial, are insignificant. And many members of the social network seem to enjoy calling out and retweeting the “drunk” 140 character missives. But as an old fuddy duddy with an apparently rusty funny bone, the attempted manipulation and misdirection is too much to overcome, leading me to purge most “brands” I follow on Twitter.

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Cisco Demos New “Proof-of-Concept” TV App

Cisco hosted tech reporters at its annual CES press reception last week and took us through a whirlwind of company news, vision-speak, and proof-of-concept demos. The best of the demos was an app giving users the ability not only to control TV from a mobile device, but also to share related secondary content between different screens. For example, execs showed how to bring up detailed program information or social networking content on a tablet, and then transfer that information in widget-like tiles to the television display.

On the tablet, meanwhile, the app kept a strip of video from the live program streaming at the top of the small screen, while still leaving the rest of the window open for browsing Internet content. The idea is that the video strip gives you the feeling that you’re still attached to a TV show even when you’re looking down at your mobile device. It sounds a little ridiculous, but it works. And, if you want, you can drag the strip down to see the full-screen video.

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Hulu Desktop Support Comes To An End January 31st

Several months ago Hulu quietly pulled their Desktop software from download to barely a ripple in the blogosphere – which I found somewhat surprising giving the company’s various machinations as they decide what they want to be when they grow up and who controls the purse strings. Well, Hulu has now gone ahead and made … Read more

TV OS Wars: Welcome to the Front Line

ActiveVideo AmEx ad

TV service providers have had a monopoly on the consumer television experience for years, but the CE guys finally have a chance to get in on the game. From LG’s launch of WebOS TVs to the incorporation of the Roku platform in TCL and Hisense sets, CES is full of news about how the TV companies are banking on delivering better software to differentiate themselves.

As Dave alluded to, however, it’s hard to imagine that consumers are going to pay too much attention to software when they buy a TV. Worse, the messy ecosystem means it will take longer for any useful new applications and features to gain traction. How are content companies and developers going to deal with creating TV apps for a thousand different connected TVs, set-tops, and streaming sticks?

The one interesting solution out there right now is ActiveVideo’s CloudTV distribution platform.

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PlayOn Upgrades To High Definition Streaming

One of PlayOn’s perennial dings has been the lack of high definition streaming. But, starting this month, both new and existing customers can upgrade from 480p to 720p… at a cost – both in terms of fees and required quad core processing capabilities. As a refresher, PlayOn lives on your home PC (sorry Mac owners) and … Read more

Chromecast for Christmas

Chromecast stocking

There may be no better excuse to buy gadgets en masse than the holiday shopping season, and this year Google has nailed the stocking-stuffer price point at $35 for its Chromecast streaming video stick. It’s not just Christmas either, of course. I’m a sucker for alliteration, but in reality, Chromecast is going to be the gift of choice for many a holiday celebration this winter.

Chromecast has a lot more going for it than just price. Google added HBO support last week and is reportedly getting ready to release an SDK to developers in the near future. The more apps that integrate with the hardware, the more valuable Chromecast becomes. As someone with a Roku box, I was initially uninterested in using Chromecast for to watch Netflix. However, I installed the Chromecast plug-in on my first-gen iPad, and when the tablet prompted me to choose between my mobile device and my Chromecast-connected TV to continue watching a show on Netflix, I decided to test Chromecast viewing.

The result?

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