In addition to enhanced iCloud and iTunes Match support, the new Apple TV software — as well as the third-generation 1080p Apple TV — allows users to subscribe to Netflix and MLB.tv directly from the device. Rather than creating a separate billing account, users simply pay with their existing iTunes account.

Sound familiar? That’s essentially how Apple’s in-app subscription model works in iOS. Although some magazine publishers and digital services companies initially balked at the idea of giving Apple a 30% revenue cut for in-app subscriptions, the changes Apple made to the program in June 2011 seemed to absolve most complaints.

It’s a win for users and content providers. One of the challenges that companies such as Netflix face is getting subscribers to follow through with the sign-up process. It’s one thing when the content is primarily consumed on the Internet. For more passive devices — like the television set — a user who has to go to a different device just to sign up may end up putting off the purchase.

On iOS, publishers who have embraced in-app subscriptions and Apple’s Newsstand have found great success in the model. One high-ranking publishing executive explained to me that his company didn’t really mind giving Apple 30% on digital subscriptions because subscription acquisition costs are usually more than that.

Implications for Netflix and Other Subscription Services

Peter Kafka at AllThingsD saw something else in Netflix and Apple’s new payment relationship: The potential for a new business model for Netflix.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Netflix was in talks with major cable companies about becoming an additional on-demand offering. In other words, cable subscribers could add Netflix to their existing cable packages as an add-on or bundled offering.

This is what Dish Network is already doing with its Blockbuster streaming service. Last month, Comcast created its own Netflix-like subscription streaming service, Streampix as a free add-on for Xfinity TV-bundled customers. Comcast customers who don’t have a qualifying Internet or TV bundle can get Streampix for $5 a month.

As Kafka points out, Netflix’s arrangement with Apple — wherein Apple handles sign-up and billing and Netflix offers the service — could easily be parlayed to a cable operator. Most modern cable boxes would be capable of working with Netflix with an appropriate firmware and software update (or, cable companies could rent new Netflix-enabled boxes to those user who don’t already have Netflix built into all of their home theater devices), with the added advantage of offering TV content from one box.

It would be an interesting move for Netflix — who is currently competing with cable TV Everywhere initiatives in a battle to secure content. In the past, Reed Hastings has named TV Everywhere Netflix’s biggest competitor, but in recent months the Netflix chief has moved his sights to HBO.

HBO is a premium content juggernaut, thanks to not only its licensing deals with major studios, but its stable of original, quality content. HBO’s TV Everywhere solution, HBO Go has been a huge success. It gives HBO subscribers access HBO content from the web, iOS and Android. HBO has also started to sign deals with consumer electronics makers, including Samsung, to bring support for the service to HDTVs and Blu-ray players.

As Netflix starts to shift away from just licensing content and tries its hand at creating its own original programming, it makes sense that the company could see itself as a kind of HBO-alternative, especially to cable companies that are looking to hold on to customers.

Potential for the Future Apple Television Set

What I find most fascinating about Apple’s new payment arrangement with MLB.tv and Netflix is the potential this could have on the mythical Apple subscription television service. Apple is reportedly trying to sign media partners onto its rumored service, but is struggling to make concrete deals.

The Netflix subscription offering could be the first step at testing the waters. If Netflix sees success with the offering, perhaps other subscription services — either over-the-air (OTA) or cable-backed — could come to Apple TV as well. An a la carte offering of premium content that is billed through one party and viewable on an array of connected devices could be a good start at disrupting the current cable business model.

What do you think of Netflix’s new arrangement with Apple? Would you like more video services to offer sign-up and billing through iTunes and Apple TV? Let us know in the comments.

More About: apple, Apple TV, cable tv, connected devices, netflix, social tv, tv everywhere

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/09/apple-tv-netflix-subscriptions/?utm_source=fee...

The streams of conference tournament games — precursors to the real “Big Dance” tournament later this month — began Thursday and run through March 10. Included are both obscure match-ups from far-flung leagues and heavyweight bouts from major conferences.

But not just anyone with a Facebook profile can watch. The games are being delivered through the sports network’s ESPN3 service, which typically provides live streams via the watchespn.com website to people who subscribe to the service or affiliated Internet providers. So to watch on Facebook, you’ll either need to be a pre-existing subscriber or get Internet service through one of these providers.

People who are allowed to access the Facebook streams can do so by going to ESPN’s Facebook Page and selecting the ESPN3 app, which should be third from the left in the row beneath ESPN’s new Timeline cover photo. Once at the ESPN3 app, users can choose from a number of simultaneously available games.

“The Facebook (option) is the result of our ’10,000 front doors’ strategy for ESPN3, which started with the ESPN3 player on AustralianOpen.com this past January, where we achieved fantastic results,” ESPN3 executive John Lasker said in a corporate blog post. “We believe in making content available to sports fans wherever they are and choose to consume.”

Do you think live events streaming via Facebook is a trend that will gain more momentum soon? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Facebook, march madness, sports

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/02/espn-basketball-facebook/?utm_source=feedburne...

Facebook, Spotify, Sonos and the Power of Relevance in Ads Business Insider Of course it is not a coincidence that an ad for a Spotify related product appears on my Facebook timeline: I am a Spotify user. They know this and they are advertising against it. This ad is directly relevant to me and really the only reason I care to ...

from spotify - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFSVxK_b9behp5vcFh6Dwmf4rJ...://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-spotify-sonos-and-the-power-of-relevance-in-ads-2012-3

Apple sent out invitations today (right) for a March 7th event that appear to confirm the company will unveil a new iPad. But there’s mounting evidence that a new Apple TV — or something along those lines — will be unveiled at the same time, too.

If you visit just about any Best Buy, Fry’s or similar electronics store, you’ll discover that they’ve been sold out of Apple TV units for the last couple weeks, both online and in stores (we’ve checked several times over the last two weeks). When asked, Best Buy said they didn’t know when they’d receive any more shipments.

Now the Apple site 9to5Mac.com is citing sources (I know, I know) that March’s announcement will include a new Apple TV. “Sources have outright said Apple is launching this J33 (the new Apple TV’s codename) alongside the new iPad,” the site explains. Sure, we’ve all know about Apple rumors, but the mysterious disappearance of the old Apple TVs gives it unusual credence.

Some are hypothesizing that the invite, which says “We have something you really have to see. And touch,” suggests two separate product announcements. And perhaps there’s a reason for the simultaneous launch of the iPad 3 and a new Apple TV: the iPad already connects to existing Apple TV units via Airplay, and you can imagine how that seamless second-screen concept could be taken to a new level.

Now, the rest is certainly deep into rumor territory. Will it be a TV set or a souped-up box? Will it bring iOS apps to the TV screen, enabling a new world of social TV? Will I be telling Siri to turn the channel? Who knows, but we’ll keep you posted.

from Lost Remote http://www.lostremote.com/2012/02/28/new-apple-tv-launching-along-with-ipad-3...

Since launching HBO Go on the iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices last spring, premium cable network HBO has seen a massive increase in the number of viewers tuning in to watch its programming on their PCs, mobile devices and increasingly on connected TV platforms.

Before a press screening of the network’s newest original movie, Game Change, HBO Co-President Eric Kessler gave some details about viewership on the company’s streaming service. According to Kessler, original programming makes up about 75 percent of all viewing on the platform, with movies contributing another 20 percent and sports programming taking the final 5 percent.

It might seem obvious that HBO original programming would be a big draw on the service. After all, HBO Go allows viewers to catch up on current shows like True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and the recently introduced Luck just hours after they air on TV. It also has every episode of every series that the network has ever produced, meaning that viewers can re-watch classic HBO series like The Sopranos, Sex and the City and Six Feet Under whenever they want.

But HBO also has a pretty large film library for its subscribers to choose from, including a large number of new release films — those that have been released over the past two years or so. And when viewers do watch movies on HBO Go, it’s those new releases that they’re drawn to: Kessler said that about 80 percent of all film viewing comes from new releases like Rio or Something Borrowed.

In that respect, HBO is clearly differentiated from streaming services like Netflix, which relies almost entirely on long-tail content for viewership. That will be even more true in the coming days, as Netflix sees new release movies from Disney disappear along with the expiration of its long-running Starz streaming deal.

Of course, Netflix has begun to take a page out of HBO’s playbook, by creating original programming of its own. The streaming service released its first original series, Lillyhammer, this month, and has two or three other projects in the works, including the return of Arrested Development and a U.S. re-creation of the British miniseries House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey and produced by David Fincher.

Netflix still has a large lead in the device world, however, which is something that HBO is trying to change. HBO Go recently became available on Roku streaming players and Samsung TVs, and Kessler announced that the service would launch on the Xbox 360 on April 1 — which coincides with the season opener of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

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• Connected Consumer Q1: The Over-the-Top vs. Pay TV Battle Heats Up
• Why HBO’s TV Everywhere Economics Don’t Make Sense
• Report: The Connected TV Marketplace

from Video http://gigaom.com/video/hbo-go-original-programming/?utm_source=feedburner&ut...

TVGuide.com’s Christy Tanner released a new survey at the TVnext Summit today which looks at the age-old question, does social media drive ratings? According to a survey of TVGuide.com users, it does: 17 percent of respondents say they have started to watch a show and 31 percent say they have continued to watch a show because of a social impression. And 71% of TVGuide.com’s respondents say they’ve seen social messages about TV shows.

While those numbers may not be entirely surprising, this metric is interesting: a full 27% of respondents say they watch more live TV to “to avoid plot and reality spoilers that may be revealed in real time on social networks.” That’s up from 20% two years ago. Twitter has said it’s helping bring back the “shared experience” of watching TV, which is true both because people want to participate and perhaps even more true for people who want to avoid spoilers in their streams. (For more, see our earlier story, “When Twitter impacts TV ratings the most.”)

Tanner’s full presentation digs into the reasons why people were influenced by social media to start watching a new show or to continue watching an existing a show. Well worth the look:

from Lost Remote http://www.lostremote.com/2012/02/27/social-media-drives-tv-viewing-finds-sur...

The cable MSOs have long been accused of lagging in product innovation while boosting prices. Meanwhile, web-based services like Netflix and Hulu have grown market share, helping create a new demographic of “cord nevers.” But over the last few months, Comcast is fighting back, unleashing a barrage of new products: second-screen Xfinity apps, a cloud-based set-top experience, social TV integration and now its own streaming service, Streampix.

Streampix will take flight this week (press release), leveraging content deals with Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers and its own NBCUniversal. The service will be available to Xfinity subscribers — only to subscribers — for $4.99 a month (or bundled with bigger packages), broadening its current on-demand slate by 75,000 television shows and movies. Subscribers will be able to watch online, via their cable box, on their iPads and iPhones. In “the coming year,” Comcast says Streampix will be available on Android and Xbox 360.

Here’s a screen grab of the Screenpix service, which will be integrated in the existing Xfinity app experience.

A peek at Comcast’s recent patent finding reveals a treasure trove of social TV products, many of which would work well in a Streampix experience, from trending shows and friend recommendations to social rewards. Social TV is all about data, and Comcast will have tons of it: viewing behavior across live TV, DVR, on-demand/streaming, second-screen viewing, second-screen remote control, etc. This could enable some amazing cross-platform social TV experiences as well as synchronized interactive advertising.

And today, Canoe Ventures — which was formed by the six largest U.S. cable operators, including Comcast — is shutting down its interactive TV advertising operations. The MSOs elected not to back the project further, Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Comcast is suddenly the most aggressive MSO so far in launching new products to compete in a new world of television. And it appears to be pushing into social TV faster than Netflix itself. But as the company explains, it’s not about competing with Netflix per se, but with everyone else. “We didn’t set out to go after Netflix’s business,” said Marcien Jenckes, senior VP and GM of video services at Comcast. “We set out to create the most compelling multichannel offering to compete with DirecTV or Verizon Fios.”

And since the service is only available to Xfinity subscribers, it really isn’t aimed at Netflix, as Variety explains. However, Netflix’s stock price took a little hit today (4-5%), and the company is stepping up its content acquisition and distribution efforts. It announced Tuesday that it reached a deal with Weinstein Co. for rights to stream the Academy Award-nominated movie “The Artist” and other programming. Then today, it announced a new distribution channel: Playstation’s new Vita. Netflix members can start playing a title on their TV through PlayStation 3, and resume watching on PS Vita right where they left off.

from Lost Remote http://www.lostremote.com/2012/02/22/comcast-fights-back-streampix-social-tv-...

This story was favorited by Mike Berkley. It was written by (Austin Carr).

Fast Company

Rhapsody, Spotify, Netflix, And The 28-Day Waiting Game Fast Company BY AUSTIN CARR The music industry may soon be acting even more like the film business and delaying streaming songs to avoid cannibalizing sales."Windowing," says Jon Irwin, CEO of subscription-based music streaming service Rhapsody, "[is] fundamentally the wrong thing to do." New movies aren't available to Netflix subscribers until at least 28 days after they're released to the public (even 56 days in some cases). Movie studios use this practice of delaying releases, called "windowing," in order to stop subscriptions from cannibalizing DVD sales and rentals. Soon, that same practice could become more commonplace in the music industry, where a number of popular artists believe "windowing" might offset any potential for subscription services to cannibalize single and album sales. It represents a huge obstacle for Rhapsody and Spotify, which are concerned with keeping their music libraries fresh in the eyes ofiTunes-addicted consumers. And it's a a practice that Jon Irwin, Rhapsody's CEO, hopes to stop. "Windowing," Irwin says," [is] fundamentally the wrong thing to do." Rhapsody is the No. 1 subscription service in the U.S., and Irwin has seen plenty of big-name artists question whether it's better to release their albums on iTunes before Rhapsody in order to boost sales revenue. Coldplay, for example, released Mylo Xyloto in October, but it was nowhere to be found on streaming services such as Spotify and Rhapsody until earlyer this month. There was no official window that Coldplay agreed to--the band simply added it (quietly) to Rhapsody and Spotify several months after it went on sale. "EMI, in this case, said, 'They're not releasing it for streaming; you can't put it up in your feed,'" Irwin recalls. "I said, 'Okay, well, are they going to?' And they said, 'I don't know.' We try to have a dialogue with the labels and the band management to understand why [they're] making this decision." The reason was simple: "Spotify competes with download stores," Dave Holmes, Coldplay's manager, said in January. He was "very concerned" that subscription services would hurt Coldplay's sales--and who can blame him? The band set digital-sales records in the U.K. with Mylo Xyloto. Now that it's released on Rhapsody and Spotify, Coldplay stands to continue to generate revenue off the album each time it's streamed. Irwin believes that theory is wrong. For one, he says there is no evidence that Rhapsody and Spotify have cannibalized CD or MP3 sales. If anything, he argues, streaming services help cannibalize pirated music. "I think [the "windowing" theory] is wrong because Rhapsody provides incremental revenue," Irwin says. "There are people who are going to continue to want to own and purchase music--those people who are buying it on iTunes are probably still going to buy it on iTunes. There are going to be people who want access and who would never pay--those people who are aren't buying it on iTunes are never going to buy it on iTunes. And there are people who, if it's not available on streaming, they're going to steal it. They're going to pirate it. They're not going to go out and buy it." When asked if he could understand why a band as big as Coldplay might want to sell their music on iTunes first to make as much revenue as possible from album sales first, Irwin acknowledges that an album stream won't be worth as much as an album purchase. "But what happens to that album over time? That streaming revenue model goes on and on and on--it's going to compensate you forever and ever," he says. "You're trading analog dollars for digital pennies--maybe digital dimes--and hundreds of millions of plays will become billions of plays and trillions of plays." Still, it will likely take sometime before streaming revenue becomes that significant--Rhapsody boasts just 1 million subscribers, and Spotify 3 million. Until it does, though, Irwin believes "windowing" isn't worth it, as it might "potentially alienate your fan base." While Irwin believes artist adoption of streaming services is inevitable, some believe it could be the policy of "windowing" that is inevitable too. Music analyst Mark Mulligan anticipates that "windowing” will help artists release albums across various digital services. “That is a really easy way to mitigate a lot of the risk of streaming,” Mulligan told the Financial Times. “The relationship between streaming and the download could be the same as radio and the CD. Radio cannibalizes sales as well...but artists get many multiples higher on Spotify per play than they get on the radio.” In this sense, perhaps the idea of "windowing" is out of the hands of Rhapsody and Spotify, which rely on artist and label content as heavily as Netflix relies on movies and TV shows from studios. "I just fundamentally think it's the wrong thing to do, which would probably indicate what our behaviors will be," Irwin says, stressing so for a second time. "We don't have the choice because the labels and the artists are making the decisions about the content and the art that they create, and the rights they grant the labels, and what the labels can in turn grant to us." Then he adds: "I don't really have a say in it."

from spotify - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF7kkVR5QpAck-A4lN...://www.fastcompany.com/1818163/should-rhapsody-spotify-have-28-day-delays-like-netflix?partner%3Dgnews

UltraViolet might sound too good to be true, but the service is growing. More Blu-ray titles are featuring the digital media option and consumers are at least trying the movie industry’s alternative to, well, piracy. iSupply just announced that there are now more than 800,000 household accounts, up from 750,000 at the beginning of 2012. But so far it seems most of those accounts are just testing the waters, as iSupply notes that the average account has 1.25 titles. That results in over 1 million digital films for UltraViolet but also paints a picture that consumers aren’t too sure about the service.

“One million may not sound like much compared to the 504 million movie discs sold in 2011,” noted Tom Adams, principal analyst and director, U.S. media, for IHS stated in today’s announcement. “However, we have projected that only 19 million digital film files were sold during the entire year of 2011 by electronic sell-through (EST) vendors like iTunes, Xbox Live and Vudu. This suggests that if UV can continue to gain momentum this year, it could encourage consumers to buy more movies. Movie purchasing represents an important priority for movie studios, which have seen their film sales dwindle in the face of growing physical and digital rentals and streaming services like Netflix.”

UltraViolet is the movie industry’s first major push into digital media. Rather than relying on a 3rd party like Netflix, UltraViolet is run by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a consortium of major Hollywood studios, CE makers, retailers and DRM vendors. These companies came together in 2008 and proposed the digital locker service now called UltraViolet that lets consumers store and share digital media. Originally these movie titles were only to be bundled with physical media but Paramount started selling UltraViolet titles seperatly late last month. With UltraViolet, consumers can watch media on up to 12 devices and share between six members of the household. Content can either be downloaded or streamed from the cloud.

So far the UltraViolet selection is still very limited. Paramount has about 60 titles from their online store. UVVU.com keeps a running list of new UltraViolet releases. But in order for people to ditch Netflix (and illegal downloads) UltraViolet needs to have content. Once again, content is king.

Now that UltraViolet has a growing user base, the next milestone should involve seeing the average amount of titles in the digital lockers increase. Sign-ups are easy (and free), retention is hard.

We interviewed DECE’s president Mitch Singer at CES where he explained UltraViolet in detail. Watch the interview below.

from TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/22/ultraviolet-hits-800k-digital-media-locker-a...

Chicago Tribune

Magic Johnson to launch TV network via Comcast Chicago Tribune Johnson's entry into the television arena comes courtesy of communications giant Comcast Corp. as part of its agreement with the FCC and Department of Justice to diversify the cable landscape. Comcast agreed last year to launch 10 new independently ... Magic Johnson to Launch Channel on ComcastWall Street Journal L.A. Lakers Legend Earvin 'Magic' Johnson to Launch Cable Network Aspire on ...Hollywood Reporter Magic Johnson partners with Comcast to launch Aspire cable networkThe Grio Washington Post -TheCelebrityCafe.com all 299 news articles »

from Comcast - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHmck_FzeoFB6UP_8KaNpAgfLF...://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/la-fi-ct-magic-johnson-20120221,0,6635305.story