Slingbox Advertising Challenged With Class Action Lawsuit

Disappointed that the ad-free Slingbox you purchased was suddenly inundated with banner ads and pre-roll video commercials? Well, you’re not alone. And two customers have taken these infractions to court via a class action suit. “Sling Media failed to disclose that the use of the product would be contingent upon and subject the purchaser to unrequested advertising from … Read more

Is “TiVo Bolt” TiVo’s Answer To Sling TV & Aereo?

By way of the US Patent & Trademark office, we see that TiVo has submitted not one but four applications for a “TiVo Bolt” trademark. As their “late July” Aereo news announcement approaches (and assuming they’re still on schedule), I figured there was no way in hell TiVo could launch an online video subscription service to rival Sling TV as they target cordcutters… but, they seem to open that very door via verbiage found in the most interesting of the filings:

Subscription television broadcasting services; cable television transmission of personalized and interactive television programming

tivo-bolt

And the rest:

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Fox Locks Down TiVo On FiOS

For years, we’ve proclaimed FiOS to be the best home for TIVo owners. And I’ve put my money where my mouth is in that regard. Yet, with newly introduced copy restrictions, this may no longer be the case. As first discovered on the MythTV mailing list, and coming to my attention via Twitter, Verizon now flags Fox’s cable content with the CCI Byte as “Copy Once.”

For TiVo and/or CableLabs, copy once allows us to DVR a show… but that recording cannot not be streamed beyond our home networks or downloaded to computer by TiVoToGo clients. Also, given the unfinished TiVo Online experience, it’s quite likely these shows will similarly be out of reach for in-home browser-based streaming.

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HBO WENT: Older Rokus Lose HBO GO

As older TiVo set-tops losing Amazon Instant and YouTube, Roku has drawn a line in the sand with similar partner responses. No Roku players produced prior to May 2011 (a lifetime ago in this space) will receive software updates. And, as app complexity and hardware requirements increase, existing channels will be dropped. Namely HBO GO – … Read more

TiVo Update To Stream MPEG4 Cable

While “early 2015” has come and gone, TiVo is making good on their promise to stream cable content encoded in MPEG-4 as the industry drives towards more efficient utilization of its finite bandwidth. Roamio Pro and Plus DVRs updated with software release 20.5.2, in conjunction with recently updated iOS and Android apps, gain these new capabilities… as early as today, if you get your boxes on the new Priority list (with old heading). And we imagine similar TiVo Stream support for Premiere, Roamio, and Roamio OTA is not far behind. Those who abstain from the Priority List should expect rolling updates to begin in August.

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Slingbox Mobile Clients To Drop Fees, Offer Paid Ad-Free Upgrade

Perhaps in conjunction with the introduction of a new Slingbox M2, we’re being told that Slingbox mobile clients for Android and iOS will soon be free -as opposed to the current $15 or original $30 SlingPlayer price points. Presumably the company can assume these costs in order to move more hardware and given the introduction of ad serving… well, all … Read more