Netflix to expand…

In a pair of back to back public communiqués this week, Netflix has announced their intentions to expand both their geographic coverage and programming breadth. First, at a finance conference, CFO David Wells indicates the streaming service will “expand the content library meaningfully” via additional “four- and five-star” video — which has been Netflix’s biggest knock and why … Read more

AT&T To Acquire DirecTV

As widely rumored, AT&T has formally announced their intention to purchase DirecTV for $95/share. This purchase price implies a total equity value of $48.5 billion and a total transaction value of $67.1 billion, including DIRECTV’s net debt. While this transaction, should it be approved, would result in one of the largest pay television providers, I see … Read more

RCN Now Leasing TiVo Roamio as "T6" … for $45/Mo

RCN has hopped onto the TiVo Roamio bandwagon and is now the leasing 6-tuner DVR under less Shakespearean “T6” branding … for a whopping $45 a month. Given existing Premiere Elite “Q” $30 pricing, in light of the additional two tuners, increased recording capacity, and built-in iOS streaming, we suppose RCN had to go there. But … Read more

Share Your Vudu Movies

We’ve long pined for the day we could legitimately share our legally acquired digital content, similar to how we often recycle physical media, without piracy or loaning out HBO credentials as so many do. Well, the UltraViolet consortium, consisting of a large number of movie studios, obviously sees some value in keeping their customers happy — perhaps as a way to … Read more

Verizon Improves FiOS TV Search UI

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The FiOS TV guide has grown stale these last few years as Verizon turned its attention to all things wireless. However, while I await the next-gen version of FiOS service, I’m happy to report that Verizon has made a few short-term tweaks to improve the existing interface.

My favorite in the IMG 1.9.6 update (just five months after the 1.9.5 update) is the change to the search screen. Instead of having to scroll to every letter I want to type in, Verizon now lets me use the number buttons on my remote as alphabet keys just like old-style texting. (Or current-style if you haven’t given in to touch screens yet.) Example: you press the “2” button once for “A”, twice for “B”, and three times for “C”. This may not sound like a big deal, but searching for anything was terrifically painful before, and the new interface definitely speeds up the process.

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TiVo Relaunches Internet Affiliate Program

After a several year hiatus, TiVo is once again offering Internet entrepreneurs bounties for hardware and service sales… which may or may not be related to their newly appointed CMO. Whereas TiVo previously ran with the pricey Commission Junction, and featured something like $60 commissions, the new program is hosted by Share-A-Sale and storms out of the gate with pretty … Read more

Tabs: A Dropcam Hater Reconsiders

I can’t say I’ve been a huge fan of Dropcam ($149-199), primarily given their recurring fees — an upload-everything model that starts at $99/year for 7 days of cloud DVR capabilities (potentially threatening your broadband cap). However, the introduction of Dropcam Tabs to augment one’s camera with motion detection, via accelerometer, around the house seriously sweetens the deal. … Read more