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Viacom pulling shows from Hulu

Imagine for a minute you are an executive at a cable TV network. You have a couple programs which are so popular they are a mainstay in popular media. Imagine these shows were available online on one of the most popular video websites around. These programs were also so popular they were consistently amongst the top performers on this site, and the ad revenue also made it quite profitable.

With all of this success, why would you decide to take the program off of this website?

Earlier this week, Viacom pulled Comedy Central videos off Hulu effective March 10th. Amongst the titles include the two shows I’m referencing above: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. The Daily Show has long been a powerful satire program in the United States, and Stephen Colbert of the The Colbert Report has been performed at the 2006 White House correspondents dinner for President Bush, and President Obama has appeared on his show once, and even mentioned him by name to the NASA astronauts when they were installing Colbert’s eponymous space tread mill on the International Space Station late last month. Both shows have been in the top 15 popular shows on Hulu for almost two years.

While shows come and go on Hulu all the time, these two shows have been so consistent that the Senior Vice President of Hulu, Andy Forssell, bade them a fond farewell.

So why did they do it? There isn’t any clear indication, but the parting seems amicable. Over the past few years there has been so much volatility in the entertainment market that companies are struggling to maintain ownership of their property, so it’s possible they feel these programs are so powerful they won’t lose the viewership and that the viewers will follow them to their own website where they have complete control over them, and only the expense they already incur on their site.

Whatever the reason, I was hoping for more aggregation of video content, not less. But I guess that’s what the Boxee Box was created to fix.

Control4 adds apps

The affordable home automation firm Control4 has gone several years with a very basic graphic user interface (GUI) offering simple control to everyone. Earlier this year they unveiled a new GUI based on Adobe Flash which offers much more customization abilities.

One new feature is the ability to download and install applications (apps) on the home automation system which can then be accessed from anywhere in the home where a Control4 interface is installed, even from wireless touch panels. These apps add control features, such as power monitoring, but also entertainment and communications apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Some apps are free, and others cost a few dollars.

From the looks of it, Control4 has found a great way to perhaps deliver online video throughout a home in a very simple way – or even out on the patio with a wireless touch panel.

Check out this video provided by CEPro.

Walmart to purchase Vudu

Three years ago, Walmart partnered with Hewlett-Packard to provide movie and television program downloads. This venture was canned within 10 months’ time. Now that video streaming has become much more widely accepted, Walmart appears to be leveraging what market share Vudu has to get back in the game.

Vudu launched in 2006 and has since gained partnerships with most Hollywood studios, as well as many independent providers, but they have also blown through most of their venture capital and have been looking for a buyer. With big players such as Netflix, Sony, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Best Buy competing for the online video market, Vudu has been struggling to keep up. The Walmart acquisition makes for a good match, bringing the quality-leading service (Vudu) with the market-leading retailer.

At the CES expo earlier this year, Vudu announced many new hardware partners and a new app service. It will be interesting to see how Walmart will leverage Vudu within their consumer electronic products from various manufacturers. The retailer has exclusive products made for them from companies like Sony; it makes sense they will add the Vudu app to the exclusive products at a lower price point than the competition. Walmart has been focusing on electronics every aggressively for the past few years, so they do have the ability to make a huge play into the video streaming market.

It seems one of the factors holding Vudu back was the hardware costs considerably more than comparable products. Walmart has the ability to subsidize the hardware for market penetration.

Because online media is “in the cloud” we’re not asked to make a commitment with one provider over another. The hardware prices have come down so much, or is included within HDTVs or Blu-ray Disc players, that even a hardware investment is negligible.

Panasonic Blu-ray/VHS combo baffles

Question: What do Demi Moore, Fred Thompson, and Panasonic’s newest Blu-ray Disc player have in common? Answer: They’ve all played a VHS tape.

The Panasonic DMP-BD70V Blu-ray Disc player also plays VHS cassette tapes. This makes as much sense as recording cable shows on a VCR (as one recent client asked to do). No, it makes less sense because this VHS player won’t even record – it only plays!

As mind-blowing as this product’s mere existence is, what’s more discombobulating is the fact that Amazon is selling it for $139 with free shipping. Pretend the VHS player isn’t attached and it’s one of the best deals I’ve ever seen on a BD player … ever.


Included on the player is an SD memory card slot; USB port; upconversion to 1080p for DVD and VHS; 7.1 channel audio decoding with bitstream output over HDMI (including DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD); and, internet video streaming from Amazon, YouTube, and more. Quite a fully-featured player, with VHS to boot.

Maybe my mother-in-law can use this…

Netflix Watch Instantly to get surround sound

If for no other reason than I spent all of last weekend sitting on my sofa with a chest cold, I sure have been using my Netflix instant queue an awful lot lately. The video quality has been improving, and the high-definition video content looks very comparable to HD cable (like Heroes, for example, which is available the following day after it first airs on NBC), but I have been missing out on surround sound. Netflix currently provides only stereo audio on streaming video. While the timing of this development hasn’t been confirmed, it will be some time this year.

Netflix uses the Microsoft Silverlight video player, which supports up to 1080p video and 5.1 surround sound audio. Netflix is on task to add surround sound and closed captioning this year, but unfortunately 1080p video will have to wait for now. It had previously been announced plan that Netflix would add 1080p video this year, but later claimed that was a mistake. Video now peaks at 720p with a 5Mbps internet connection.

Vizio bowl ad featuring Beyonce

The official TV of the NFL might be Samsung, but the biggest game of the year was sponsored by Vizio. Their big ad ran in the fourth quarter was directed by cinematographer Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight) and featured superstar Beyoncé.

The commercial spot ran for over a full minute and spotlighted the Vizio Interactive Apps (VIA), which is a toolbar for internet content. Featured apps included Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Vudu, Yahoo!, and Flickr. YouTUbe was not mentioned by name, but popular YouTube memes such as Chocolate Rain, Numa, Numa, and Dramatic Hamster.

Other features in the spot included built-in Wi-Fi, and LED back-lighting.

The video itself sort of made Vizio televisions seem menacing.

What does the iPad mean for internet video?

By now you’ve heard about Apple’s newest product, the iPad. Steve Jobs calls it “magical” and “revolutionary.” Apple stocks fell dramatically upon its announcement. It is sexy. It is familiar. It will be popular, if for no other reason than the media will convince everyone it is (kind of like Twitter).

Whatever you think about this new iPod Touch XL, it has people talking. It seems some people pay no attention to any technology unless Steve Jobs shows it at Macworld. I heard someone on the radio express how wonderful Apple’s idea was to make a device that allows you to carry lots of books around with you; it was as if the last two years, the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Sony e-Reader never existed. And that’s how powerful Apple has become. The innovation of an entire global industry is ignored, but when Apple introduces their version the whole American media world acts like Steve Jobs descended from Mount Sinai.



All this as an introduction simply to suggest the iPad will undoubtedly create another cottage industry dedicated to iPad apps. Apple locks everything down so much it’s unlikely they will allow much competition with their own iTunes store (prediction: antitrust lawsuit in Europe), but many people will find new ways to use the portable video screen to access their entertainment.

Even though the claim by Apple about the iPad is “The best way to experience the web,” the lack of support for Adobe Flash and Microsoft SIlverlight does cripple the browser from accessing several sources of video, it’s more than likely apps will be made for specific services. iTunes is a direct competitor with Amazon Video On Demand and Vudu, but Netflix’s subscription service may make the cut. Maybe one of these days Apple will allow a Pandora app.

But apps aside (it is all speculation after all), how will this device be used to enjoy TV shows and movies? The iTunes store will of course allow rentals and purchases, but will people take a 10-inch tablet with them on the Subway to watch last night’s Colbert Report, or will they stick with the iPhone? The dock for the iPad is on the bottom edge, meaning docking the screen leaves it in portrait mode, so how will one watch wide-screen TV? The screen’s aspect is somewhere between 4:3 and 16:10 when in landscape mode, but there is no kickstand or dock (yet) for hand’s free use. Are we expected to always hold this device? Like the iPod, the iPad is a breeding ground for accessories.

Finally, most home automation and entertainment control companies offer iPhone/iPod Touch apps to allow control of your home system on your portable device; Control4, Crestron, AMX, Speakercraft, Savant, and more all offer apps in the iTunes store. These apps should work immediately on the iPad without changing a thing. New apps will undoubtedly be created to utilize the larger display. This is probably the most exciting use for the iPad that I can think of, though a $499 10-inch touch panel seems unfair when a Control4 7-inch panel is $2,499. It’s nothing like Samsung’s prototype panel, but the multiple uses the iPad has can certain advantages.

(Imagine that: A whole article and not one mention of Google.)