Roku adds Universal Channel Search

Roku announced Roku Search on its blog today.

"Roku Search makes it a snap to find movies, TV shows, actors and directors across Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Crackle, VUDU and HBO GO. When you search for a title, Roku Search shows you where it’s available on the Roku platform. Simply select a channel and Roku Search will take you straight to your desired movie or show."

Watch this video to see how it works and to understand more.

I'm surprised it’s taken this long for Roku to add this functionality. I've always been frustrated with discovering content across the disparate sources of digital content. As Roku expands its sources, the Search function will become more valuable. Search is a critical functionality add which enables Roku to more closely substitute for traditional cable TV by providing the ease of “channel” searching. I’m also curious to see how much of the content provided through Search results will be “free” versus “paid” content. Paid providers obviously benefit from curating content and making it easy to search, however, users benefit from discovering free content versus paid content.

What do you think will be the impact of Roku’s search? What other providers offer this functionality? Who is the best cross-platform search and viewing platform today for free content?

Nielsen changes way it counts households to reflect “Cord Cutting”

According to the Associated Press article published today, the Nielsen Company is considering redefining what it considers a television household to include people who get service through Netflix or similar services instead of traditional TV signals.  

About three years ago, 99% of TV homes received traditional [e.g. cable] TV signals.   Now that has dipped just below 96%.   Three-quarters of the five million US homes that don’t get TV signals over other airways or through cable, satellite or telecommunications companies have televisions anyway and use these to watch programming on DVDs, streaming services such as NetFlix or Apple TV.   

I have been surprised by the resilience of cable and satellite TV over the past three years.   Could this finally be evidence that a glacial change away from traditional cable providers is occurring or is it a function of the poor economy?   My sense is the diversity of alternative forms of digital entertainment delivered through TV and mobile devices is drawing attention away from traditional TV programming delivered by cable operators which, in my opinion, has reached a nadir in quality.  

Could it also be evidence of not so much Cord Cutting, but younger people who never attached the cord in the first place?   Just as many young people today have never had land phone lines instead relying on mobile phones, could they also just avoid Cable TV in the first place? 

What are your thoughts?

I'm back - International Hotel Cord Cutting

I've been gone for some time, but am happy to say that I'm back to writing "Cut Cable TV Cord".

Recently, I took a trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico where I stayed at the Fairmont Mayakoba.   A wonderful, high end hotel, but the cable TV?  

I've done a fair bit of international (outside US) traveling and no matter how good the hotel, the cable TV is terrible.   At best, one might get CNN international or the BBC world news.   If one is SUPER lucky, one might get HBO.   That's if one can find a program in English.  While in Egypt before the revolution, the only show available was the Hosni Mubarak station where it showed him walking his dog 24 hours a day.   Another time in Finland, the BBC replayed a local protest by fisherman every 40 minutes for 2 days.  While I've talked about how bad cable TV can be at home, it's infinitely worse internationally. 

Where cable TV is infinitely worse, Netflix via wifi is infinitely better.  Free from US licensing restrictions, a whole universe of new content is available that one cannot get in the US.   While in Mexico, I was able to watch movies and TV series like food at a buffet on a cruise ship.   This got me thinking.   Why do hotels spend the capital to outfit each room with a large LCD TV hooked up to expensive local cable TV programing, when an iPad or internet connected TV could offer better programming (compared to local dearth of shows), wider choice, on-demand.   The hotel chain could put Netflix, Hulu+, or HBO Go onto a branded hotel App that combines this internet programming with functions that enable hotel services like room service and letting the maid know not to come at 6.30 in the morning.

Just another reason for Cord Cutting - now for the international hospitality industry.

Comcast / NBC - Reaction to Cord Cutting?

Comcast is rumored to be in talks to merge with NBC/Universal.  Comcast's move is designed to aquire NBC/Universal's rich content library in a defensive measure against their customers increasingly accessing content directly over the internet versus paying for access on cable.

By owning content, cable operators can either prevent content from becoming available on the web for free or charge subscription access.   If Comcast actually goes through with the merge and it proves successful commercially, expect a wave of similar mergers and a fundamental shift in the industry.  

Unfortunately, such moves serve to limit consumer web access to programming.   In either case, Comcast's actions recognize the threat that internet access poses to their existing franchise.

RFID Tag meet Broadband Video

I just bought a do-it-yourself home RFID tag system called TouchaTag by Alcatel-Lucent.  RFID stands for radio frequency identification device.   Automatic toll passes, such as EZPass, use RFID technology.   Libraries use RFID tags for book check-out.  My dog has an embedded RFID tag to identify him if he is lost.  Touchatag enables you to create your own Internet of Things by attaching RFID sticker tags to everyday objects and linking these tags to computer commands and websites.  Pass the tag over a reader, and the command(s) or website is activated.

Touchatag's starter kit provides 10 RFID sticker "tags" and a USB connectible tag reader.   Here's a very simple example that I created.   I associated a tag to trigger and log-in to my daughter's math homework site.  She attached the RFID sticker to her homework folder.  To start her math homework online, she just places her folder next to the RFID sticker reader and her homework site appears on the screen.   At first, I didn't think this would be very useful, but we've grown accustomed to just "touching" the folder to begin her homework.

What does this have to do with broadband TV?   I use the same process to access various broadband TV shows, sites, or genres.   For example, if you want to watch The Office or browse what's new on the Action & Adventure channel on Hulu, just define tags and place these on a card with a picture of an office or a DVD case.   Simply touch the tag to the reader and your show appears on your broadband connected TV.

I've just started experimenting, but I can see this becoming more useful when companies introduce tags whose actions can be activated at a distance from a stationary readers or tags than can be pressed to activate.  Some phones, for example, serve as tag readers today.   NFC (near field communication) turns your phone into a an RFID tag reader so that you can activate your favorite TV on your broadband connected TV using your phone.  Here's an example using an iPhone with RFID/NFC.

At some point in the future when tags activate lights, televisions, and stereos, one can press a tag and activate a "mood" via the use of RFID and WIFI in the house.  But, now I'm getting ahead of myself...

Wall Street Journal - Right Trend, Wrong Application

Today's Wall Street Journal article TV Shapes Up as Web Battleground highlights a trend that I've highlighted for some time, but poses the wrong question.

Television manufactures will add the means to connect sets directly to broadband internet connections either through direct connect Ethernet cables or WiFi.

The article says that Web-enabled sets will grow to between 88 million and 90 million world-wide by 2013, around 40% of the television market. There are around 90 models on the market that are Web-enabled lead by manufacturers like Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Vizio.

Once connected, a set-top box becomes a monitor and/or a computer depending on what applications draw you to connect your set. The article highlights how consumers may use their set top as a substitute for web viewing and debates the correct viewing format (browser or not browser) for television manufactures to use. The core question, however, is what will consumers want to do on their televisions? Past efforts at adding a key board to a TV have failed largely because consumers habitually do not view their televisions as the place to interact with text.

The most obvious use (and killer app) is streaming traditional television, video, and movies directly to televisions using formats increasingly standardized by Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight. Whether these formats are ideal is debatable, but designers need to focus on how to make dynamic video content from the web easy for consumers to use in the mode they are already accustomed to viewing television. One cannot need a degree in network engineering to make these connections happen. Ease of use and increasing volume of web deployed video content will lead to consumer demand for web enabled televisions. From there, innovation on user interfaces blending other modes of communication designed to enrich the consumer's viewing experience can occur.

Content Aggregators - Which Model?

Throughout the summer, I've seen a growing number of free and subscription content aggregators.

I will cover content aggregators on later posts in detail.   For now, a Content Aggregator finds relevant and related web "channels" and bring them to one easy to access portal.  A few are offering cable favorites such as A&E, Discovery, etc. 

When content previously offered only through cable access is offered via broadband TV content aggregators, the competitive game gets very interesting for consumers.   How many of you subscribe to cable TV to only receive two or three of your favorite channels or to just get sports?  If a provider offered your favorite cable TV channels a la carte AND you could view these programs on your TV, would you be willing to drop your cable programing and try something new?  This is the promise of content aggregators - subscription, advertising, and hybrid models.

There is advertising supported content on Hulu; subscription supported content on NetFlix; and pay-per-view content on iTunes. Which model will win?  None of them and all of them.  I foresee a world where aggregators emerge enabling you as a consumer to "create" your own cable "package" with much more choice than today.  Aggregators will charge a monthly fee based on the programs you select.  Highly effective aggregators will provide "smart" wizards to guide you in choosing programing and making cost trade-offs. For instance, wait 3 days and you can get your favorite show for free via ad supported model or pay a subscription fee and see it live. You decide.

Therefore, if the programs you select are driven by advertising, then you'll see advertising. If by subscription, it will be included in your monthly subscription. For pay-per-view, you might get 3 viewing events included in your subscription.  Aggregators will compete based on their ease of use and "merchandising" of the exploding number of micro-channels that are emerging.  They will learn your tastes and suggest new "channels" for you to view. Social learning will become more important in driving channel and individual show uptake.  There will always be a place for the nationwide shows such as The Office or 24 to draw us together, but increasingly people will seek programs that appeal to their unique tastes. Witness the splintering of today's cable programming and the difficulty that even today's shows have in reaching audiences that were once common for Happy Days or Mash.

In short, Content Aggregators will be the cable companies of broadband TV offering much wider variety and more flexible payment models.