Post from: Digital TV Selector

Sky have announced they will launch Sky Player on the Xbox 360 games console in the UK.

The service is due to launch this autumn but Sky have already been showing an early version off to journos.  Not only will Sky offer video on demand access to their back catalogue of TV programmes, it will include live TV streaming of Sky channels if you pay for a Sky multiroom subscription.  There will also be new services that combine the features of Xbox’s LIVE platform so you can watch the footy on your Xbox whilst chatting to friends in other towns or countries via the Xbox LIVE headset.

Unfortunately HD  programming will not be available at launch either, which seems a shame.  You will of course have to be a Sky subscriber to have access to this service.

This is an interesting move and a small step forward towards everyone having access to all their favourite TV programmes available via video on demand content on your TV set rather than via your laptop.

One point worht making is that the quality of programme streaming will depend on the quality of your broadband connection, an area where Sky is still behind Virgin Media’s fibre-optic broadband service.

Read more at Sky.co.uk

Post from: Digital TV Selector

Top TV provider Sky is offering Sky+ for free plus a £25 Tesco Gift Card to new joiners.  The free Sky+ offer will save you £99 compared to the standard price for Sky+.

The offer is only available until Tuesday 19th of May so don’t miss out!

Read more at Sky.com

Post from: Digital TV Selector

Freeview look set to rescue the armchair iPlayer enthusiast by building iPlayer funtionality into Freeview set top boxes by Christmas.

For now the only TV provider to support the iPlayer was Virgin Media who were able to add access thanks to their fast cable TV and broadband network. Most of us have to huddle around a laptop to watch iPlayer at the moment rather than enjoy it on our main TV set.

The Freeview version will use your broadband connection to deliver the BBC’s ground breaking video on demand service to your main TV.  The recent launch of HD TV content on iPlayer also means this will be a great way to get free HD programmes and sport.

However, you’ll need to make sure you have a broadband package that has a very large download limit as using iPlayer will use lots more data.

Post from: Digital TV Selector

Good news for Virgin Media customers.  The HD TV (High Definition) version of BBC iPlayer is now available on the Virgin Media’s TV platform.

This is a great new feature from Virgin Media.  It’s the only way of properly experiencing the HD version of the BBC iPlayer on an HD TV.  Who wants to watch iPlayer whilst huddled around a PC when they’ve got a £500 HD Ready TV sat in the corner of the lounge? It also means that Virgin Media can provide you with loads more HD TV programmes than they have to date, bringing them closer to Sky’s market leading position in HD TV, without the need to pay extra each month.

iPlayer on Virgin Media is very popular - it’s had over 100 million views  since its launch in May 2008.   “There’s a real appetite for BBC iPlayer on TV screens and the addition of the BBC HD programmes further adds to its appeal. HD lets viewers enjoy their favourite programmes in exceptionally vivid colours and crisp pictures, perfect for the TV screen,” said Rahul Chakkara BBC controller of TV platforms.

Post from: Digital TV Selector

A great article by US TV blog NewTeeVee discusses how and why Google may move into the digital TV set top box market later this year.  Below are my own thoughts on how Google could bring fundamental change to how we watch and interact with TV, whilst destroying the existing business model for Sky and Virgin Media.

Are Sky and Virgin Media stifling innovation?

In the US the set top box market is more liberated and innovative than the UK.  US consumers are more likely to buy ‘after market’ set top boxes such as the highly successful Tivo, rather than be tied to their TV provider’s own equipment.  In the UK, aside from Freeview, we rely on Sky or Virgin Media to furnish us with set top boxes.

The Sky+ box is of course well loved, reliable and has brought digital TV recordering into the mainstream, but whilst TV providers control the supply of equipment they will only integrate services and features that protect their commercial model, stifling innovation in services that don’t earn them more cash.

TV can be delivered online – now!

The continual increase in UK broadband speeds is changing the digital TV landscape.  Services such as the BBC iPlayer prove that TV services can be delivered in high quality and directly to the viewer over the internet. Just yesterday the BBC announced the addition of HD quality TV programmes to iPlayer.

The success of the iPlayer has accelerated interest in so called ‘video on demand’ TV services which challenge the traditional fixed ‘TV provider to TV set’ scheduled broadcast model.  I can now watch The Apprentice at 3am on my iPhone and no longer need to plan my week around watching and record my favourite tv programmes. No need to subscribe to Sky or rent a V box off Virgin Media.  Watching TV becomes a more personalised experience, fitting around your lifestyle rather than the reverse.

The set top box is the gateway to a new TV world

The largest remaining barrier to the widespread adoption of internet based TV services is the relative difficulty in transferring TV and movies from your PC to your TV set. Watching TV on your laptop is ok, but it’s not suitable for family viewing.  Which family wants to crowd around a 13inch Dell laptop to watch Eastenders rather than use the 40inch HD Ready LCD TV in the corner?

Whilst equipment is available that can transfer content from your PC to your TV, it still remains the domain of the geek minority and it can be expensive, hard to set-up and complicated to run.

Apple recognised this gap in the market and launched the Apple TV set top box which lets you watch TV and movies, view photos and listen to music stored on your Mac via your TV. Whilst this is a step in the right direction, Apple’s motivation is similar to that of Sky and Virgin Media.  Apple wants to expand it’s own closed commercial model – iTunes. There’s no easy way to stream TV programmes such as the BBC iPlayer and the focus is on promoting Apple’s own movie rentals and other paid content.

Android to the rescue?

Enter Google.  Their Linux-based Android mobile phone operating system is being touted as the potential base for an open source set top box operating system that any set top box manufacturer could licence and build into their hardware.  Android TV could provide a common standard for web 2.0 type TV services as part of an open model that would allow any developer create apps or widgets that enrich the viewing experience or make it easier to find new TV shows or movies from anywhere or anyone in the world.

So called ‘mash ups’ of technology could open up all kinds of interactive viewing experiences. Think personalized channels and tv  show recommendations, search functionality that can find relevant content from the entire web, the integration of social media to tv viewing.  Imagine watching a football match and having the option to integrate twitter feeds from other people watching the game or viewing Flickr feeds  from photos taken by people at the match. How about a Google Maps mash-up that shows you the filming locations for an episode of Coast?

Just this weekend I was watching the Shanghai Grand Prix  whilst discussing it with friends on Twitter.  People are ready for these new services to be integrated.  Google’s ownership of YouTube also opens up a world of professional and amateur content that you could now watch  on your TV.

This type of innovation scares Sky and Virgin Media to death.  How could they monetize web apps that are already free? They would lose control of the content pipeline and ultimately lose the opportunity to charge a subscription for TV content.  They could simply become run of the mill broadband providers.

So how could this work and why would Google move into TV?

Google would obviously benefit from yet another advertising platform,  but it would also completely disrupt the media industry distribution model, fundamentally shaking up the roles of content producers, distributors and TV providers.

Google has built its huge success by offering excellent services for free in order to create a huge virtual marketplace for businesses to sell their wares.  With a worldwide base of Android set-top boxes Google could offer a free and open TV service that would rival any current TV provider.  All the viewer would need is a good broadband connection and a Google compatible set top box or Google-ready TV.

Google would then help viewers find the cheapest or free sources of content from anywhere in the world, and make peronsal recommendations of new content whilst making revenue from offering highly relevant advertising, from sponsored ad’s for movies to ‘rent’, through to advertising the latest new chocolate bar.  Google’s advertising would be far more relevant and personalised than traditional TV advertising because of the two-way nature of the relationship with it’s ‘viewers’.

On top of this, an open developer community could freely innovate thousands of new widgets and apps making the TV experience more rich and interactive by the day.

The traditional providers would try to resist this threat by hanging on to exclusive content such as Premier League football, but over time the sale of media rights would re-align to the new model.  Why limit the sale of content to a fixed distribution channel when you can offer it directly to the entire world?

The ultimate irony of this would be that Google would effectively perform a reverse take over of  the TV advertising market that they have been central in destroying over the past decade.

Anyone who knows me will realise that I am not Google’s biggest fan, quite the opposite in fact. However if Google were to facilitate a revolution in TV viewing I think it could only be a good thing for the rather chap on the street.  Whilst the model I present above would take time and investment to realise, I think it could be a reality within 2-3 years.

Let me know your thoughts.

Post from: Digital TV Selector

The BBC has today announced that it’s iconic iPlayer service will now offer many of it’s shows in HD (High Definition) TV, whilst also improving the quality non-HD Standard Definition (SD) programming.  Standard Definition will now match the quality provided on Freeview.

Some other new techie things are being done under the hood that will improve performance, but I won’t bore you with the details here.  If you want more info you can read more on the BBC Internet Blog.

iPlayer HD will be available for PC, Mac and Linux users, but you will need to have a pretty fast internet connection and a PC or Mac that’s only a year or two old to make the most of the HD TV experience.  The good news is that most PCs have high enough resolution screens to see the benefit.  All we need now is a simple way to watch the iPlayer on our expensive HD ready TVs in the lounge!!

Post from: Digital TV Selector

The Premier League has agreed TV deals worth a record £1.782bn with BSkyB and Setanta.  Sky won five of the six rights packages available giving it 115 matches a season from 2010, a rise of 23 matches.  Setanta won the remaining 23 game package in the rights auction.

The Disney-owned American sports giant ESPN also bid in the auction, albeit unsuccessfully.  A spokesman said: “We can confirm that we did bid for Premier League rights and we are therefore disappointed in the outcome. But we were pleased to be at the table and we would like to congratulate Sky and Setanta.”

Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s Chief Executive said: “The Barclays Premier League is a fantastic competition. The continued investment in playing talent and facilities made by the clubs is largely down to the revenue generated through the sale of our broadcast rights.”

Post from: Digital TV Selector

Virgin Media has launched a new Sci-fi & Fantasy section for its TV on demand service. There’s around 150 hours of Sci-Fi TV shows available for customers to watch whenever they like, perfect for Sci-Fi fans who want to avoid Dancing on Ice.

If you’re on Virgin Media’s XL package, or subscribe to TV Choice, you’ll have unlimited access to Si-Fi favourites like Babylon 5 and Star Trek, as well as new hits such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Star Trek fans will be able to see season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation, season four of Star Trek: Voyager.  Season seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will be available in February.

Post from: Digital TV Selector

A version of the BBC’s iPlayer service made specifically for digital cable will soft-launch on Virgin Media in May.

According to a page on Virgin’s website, digital TV customers will be able to access the iPlayer from May by pressing the red button when tuned to any BBC channel.

After the service has soft launched, it will be added to the Catch Up TV on demand menu, Virgin explained: “There’s about 50 hours of BBC shows in Catch Up TV on demand right now. When iPlayer launches in Catch Up TV on demand the BBC folder will be renamed BBC iPlayer and instead of having 50 hours of BBC shows to watch there will be over 250 hours.”

Post from: Digital TV Selector