Most of us don’t automatically think about how a blind person copes with modern technology – a touch screen can’t be much help – and getting the best out of subscription VoD must be a genuine problem. But the UK’s Royal National Institute for the Blind has come out with an App for precisely that by augmenting audio description (AD) within the services. It is being tested by 150 bind and partially sighted people to work with OTT services like Sky Go, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Now TV and Netflix. AD is commentary which describes scenes, body language, expressions and movements during films and TV programs so that people with sight loss are able to enjoy them fully. The MovieReading app has been developed by Universal Multimedia Access and made accessible in the UK in partnership with the RNIB.
We were approached by US firm Kannuu this week with what it sees as a clever way to navigate content selection on a TV with only a pointer. It is based around a four sided square on the screen, with a middle button, and uses just point and press in the general direction of the letters around the edge of the square to move it on. It takes about 3 key presses to find a piece of content based on what it is called, who is in it or who directed it. Kannuu describes it as an intuitive search, discovery and recommendation solution. We would describe it as a remote short cut to content selection. We saw something very like it as IBC, we think from SoftAtHome, and it is all about never having to type to carry out a search. Kannuu has just arrived in Europe and wants to partner with MSO and OTT service providers here.
Dish Network’s Sling TV, has added more premium video offerings over and above the basic offer of $20 per month. It has added Epix, Epix2, Epix3, Epix Drive-In and Sundance TV in movies, the SEC Network, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Universal Sports, Univision Deportes, beIN Sports, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Bases Loaded and ESPN Goal Line in Sports and the children’s tier now includes Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, Baby TV and Duck TV. These tiers for movies, sports and Junior packages are $5 a month extra each. Dish has also made additions to its basic package adding the highly considered AMC and IFC networks at no additional charge. Disney’s online video network Maker Studios is expected to launch a new Web video channel on Sling TV called Polaris+, which will offer gaming-related video content.
Metadata management firm Triveni Digital has announced changes to its cloud-based GuideBuilder metadata generation platform. GuideBuilder Cloud features a Web-based UI, centralized control and management, a PSIP carousel download, and a new remote program editing function. It allows broadcasters to create EPG metadata for their channels targeted at local broadcasters offering ATSC and ATSC M/H channels.
In a letter sent to the FCC last week, the American Cable Association said it could get smaller cable operators to offer faster Internet service if program costs came down. Well we can see that, but we’re not sure what it expects FCC can do about it. The ACA said smaller providers of triple-play services are struggling to maintain margins amid a 9.3 percent annual increase for programming licensing costs while MVPD revenue has grown closer to 4.9%
CSG International which introduced its Ascendon service platform just last week has its first take in the form of Eastlink of Halifax, one of Canada’s leading video service providers. Ascendon allows providers to build, manage and monetize new services such as movies, games, home security and over-the-top offerings with links to the customer’s existing services.
Rovi this week announced a deal, we assume is an extension of a license it already has on TV services, with Bell Mobility, to use Rovi’s intellectual property on mobile TV services in Canada. Rovi says the agreement is another example of its success in licensing patents to second screen products in North America. Recently Rovi has struggled in Europe, losing a variety of patent cases against tier 1 players who do not believe the Rovi patents are valid there.
China Digital TV Holdings the native conditional access player out of China gave out Q4 figures this week with revenues up at $29.2 million, up 12.8% over this time last year and up a huge 72.3% over the revenues from a weak Q3 just passed. It shipped 5.15 million smart cards in Q4 compared to 4.95 million in 2013 and 3.35 million in Q3. Revenues for the year were $81.5 million down 6.5% from 2013 and it shipped 15.6 million cards in 2014, compared to 17 million in 2013. It looks like Q4 pulled China Digital out of the fire and it claims a 53% share this quarter in shipments. The company said that its net loss in Q4 was $7 million up 145.5% from the same period in 2013.
US TV maker Vizio this week announced a creative collaboration with Everdream which will give it its first piece of original content – a documentary entitled Growth. It was selected to World Premiere at SXSW Film Festival 2015 in Austin, TeXas on March 14, 2015. Vizio says it needs to create more 4K content in support of its P-Series Ultra HD Full-Array LED Smart TVs.
US New York based cableco Cablevision said at its results conference that it has launched a new WiFi Smart Router and that it has reached 1.1 million Optimum WiFi access points within its service area. As a result it has seen huge usage growth with customers using more than four times the data this time last year. The company said that it believes its new WiFi only Freewheel service is the beginning of a disruptive force against cellular. Given that Cablevision only added 4,000 broadband customers and lost 11,000 video and 34,000 voice customers, it appears to need a new direction – and it has to bet the farm on WiFi.
AT&T has come out with new, and rather disappointing Q1 expectations, that it will only add 400,000 postpaid cellular customers, below most analyst estimates. A year earlier it added 625,000 in the quarter. The statements came from CFO John Stephens speaking at a Deutsche Bank event. AT&T also said that it expects service revenues to fall, but for device subsidies also to fall.
The FCC has finally released its 400 page document which lists the differences between the 1934 Telecommunications Act and its move to bring Title II to the internet. We won’t rush out our take on it since it came out later today, and instead will examine it over the coming week.