Google Broadband: One Giant Step For Google

By James Zipadelli

Google is planning on building and testing its own high-speed broadband networks in select U.S. cities, the company announced in its blog recently. The company has put out a request for information (RFI) until March 26 to see how many communities want to participate in this experiment. A Google spokesman says, “We will connect at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, in one or more trial communities across the country.”

One city that is participating in Google’s experiment is Baltimore, Md. A team of technology and business leaders began working Feb. 22, and entrepreneur Dave Troy says Baltimore’s government and research institutions are also on board. “We hit the ground running,” Troy says. “We have world-class research institutions (the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University). One of the things Google listed is 3-D medical technology. This is something that Hopkins has done. We can do that right here.”

According to Troy, there were other reasons Google’s experiment benefits the city. For example, Baltimore’s proximity to Washington, D.C., makes it helpful if there is a question on regulations. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed Feb. 17, 2009, included the Broadband Initiatives, which has essentially the same goal: to “accelerate broadband deployment in unserved, underserved, and rural areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits.” Troy says that Google’s experiment helps because it creates competition. “Not only is Google getting access to more people, but they are doing it by using an open access approach,” Troy says.

Asked for clarification, the Google spokesman says, “We will allow third parties to offer their own Internet access services, or other services, using our network. We believe this approach will maximize user choice as well as spur greater innovation and competition. Most providers in Europe and many places elsewhere in the world operate open access networks.”

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents cable operators, is optimistic. “We look forward to learning more about Google’s broadband experiment in the handful of trial locations they are planning, says spokesman Brian Dietz. “The cable industry has invested $161 billion over the past 13 years to build a nationwide broadband infrastructure that is available to 92 percent of U.S. homes, and we will continue to invest billions more to continually improve the speed and performance of our networks and provide tens of millions of consumers with the best possible broadband experience.”

Not everyone is pleased with Google’s experiment, however. Scott Cleland, president of Precursor and chairman of NetCompetition.org, called Google’s announcement a “PR stunt.”

“This is classic Google,” Cleland says. “Everything is about them. When the nation is trying to move from a jog to a run, they’re wanting to take airplane rides.” Cleland says the timing of the announcement was poor because it coincided with the National Broadband Plan.

“They want a gigabit to the home, which is 50 times more than people have right now, and there aren’t any applications other than Google’s plan that takes advantage of that network,” Cleland says. “Google is the biggest bandwidth consumer in the world because YouTube broadcasts over the Internet and it’s 14 times bigger than any video broadcaster. Google is constantly crawling the trillion pages on the Internet.”

AT&T spokesperson Jenny Bridges was cautiously optimistic. “We commend (FCC) Chairman (Julius) Genachowski for his plan to set an ambitious goal for broadband deployment in America,” Bridges says. “But in setting a 100mb goal, the FCC surely recognizes the massive investment by the private sector that will be required. As the Commission’s own broadband team estimated, it would cost an additional $350 billion to bring 100mb service to every household in America. It is thus all the more important that the FCC resist calls for extreme forms of regulation that would cripple, if not destroy, the very investments needed to realize its goal.”

Verizon Wireless spokesman James Smith says, “The Internet ecosystem is dynamic and competitive, and it’s delivering great benefits to consumers. Google’s expansion of its networks to enter the access market is another new paragraph in this exciting story.” To learn more about Verizon’s network, VerizonFIOS, click here. VerizonFIOS serves 16 states including Maryland and Washington, D.C., according to the fact sheet.

Baltimore’s Troy says the benefits for the city from Google’s experiment are just beginning. “It will make Baltimore a world-class destination for technology entrepreneurs,” Troy says. “It also will keep people here that might go somewhere else. The combination of those two things makes it extremely compelling.”

TV’s Web Widgets Won’t Replace Internet

By Barbara Gengler

While today’s consumer is most likely to watch online video on the PC screen, manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and LG are offering widgets based on screen content that runs alongside your regular viewing.

TV widgets make it easy to interact with Internet content and offer services that complement and enhance traditional TV viewing — but industry experts say consumers are not looking for the Internet on their television sets.

Content partnerships are being made between Internet companies and content providers. For instance, Yahoo! accelerated its approach to Internet access on the TV through its widget platform by announcing new distribution partnerships with Hisense, ViewSonic, MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs. New content partners include CNBC, NBC, RadioTime, The Weather Channel, Brightcove and others.

The Weather Channel widget, for example, allows viewers to access information on current conditions and five-day forecasts while CNBC’s widget allows viewers to interact with real-time stock quotes and create real-time watch lists.

ViewSonic plans to integrate Yahoo!s Widget Engine Platform into its media player while MIPS Technologies will develop an optimized reference platform running Yahoo!’s Widget Engine for digital TV and set-top box applications.

Yahoo says its new Widget Development Kit can be downloaded by anyone who wants “to create, deploy and monetize engaging TV widget experiences.”

In-Stat analyst Keith Nissen says one of the important questions is will the devices permit the user open access to the Internet via the TV.

“When you’re subscribing to Sony’s set of online video, (which you can get directly from a Sony TV set), they have various websites or content that is available, but you can’t go to any site but to whatever Sony has programmed in,” Nissen says. “I don’t think most PC users want the TV to be a PC.”

Nissen points out Over the Top (OTT) video delivered to the TV via broadband services is starting to take place. OTT services run over the top of an existing broadband service and are not controlled by the service provider. OTT video will not be taking off until providers offer content you can’t get on the Internet, he says.

“Sony, Disney, Fox and Comcast will look at this as a new distribution channel,” Nissen says. “They want a distribution channel to market directly to the end user and monetize it.”

Nissen mentions that while widgets are nice, they are not earning money. According to Nissen, 98 percent of TV widgets are free and the amount of money earned from widgets is less than 2 percent.

“It’s a technology that service providers have to have to be competitive but no one is expecting to make money on it,” he says. “We’ve found what people want from a widget, is they want it to be complementary to what they already have access too, it’s not a slam dunk and I don’t think that’s the end game.”

Alternatively, while Yahoo! talks up its new distribution partnerships for Yahoo! Widget Engine Platform, DivX launched its embedded Internet TV platform that provides access to a line-up of online media content streamed directly to any connected device from any manufacturer.

DivX, a pioneer in bringing high-quality Internet video to consumer electronics, says LG Electronics will be the first manufacturer to license the DivX TV platform. In addition, Advanced Digital broadcast, Bluestreak, Brightcove, Broadcom, Innovation DTV Solutions, Iomega and ViewSonic also signed on.

DivX says its platform can be supported on any kind of Internet-connected consumer electronics device, including digital televisions, Blu-Ray players, gaming consoles, pay-TV operators set-top devices and mobile phones.

What’s more, Forrester Research found TV makers like LG, Samsung and Sony announced connected TV strategies that make consumer sense. “Enabled by tools like Yahoo! TV Widgets as well as IP-delivered services from Amazon.com, Blockbuster and Netflix, the connected TV is here to stay,” Forrester analyst James McQuivery says, “and millions will roll off production lines in 2010.”

Connecting the TV does not cut any existing players out of the picture, but instead, creates opportunities for content providers, advertisers, retailers and TV service providers to deepen their relationships with customers by serving their content needs, according to McQuivery.

While Internet users will stick to their PCs, widget technology looks to turn into an fascinating niche in the short term while browsing and watching content from the Internet might just be as easy as cable in the long term.

TV Goes Live On Verizon Wireless

By Rebecca Henely

As the fourth generation of mobile communication networks looms on the horizon, Verizon Wireless hopes to bring faster, more reliable live TV to its products. To do this the company has enlisted the services of digital service provider MobiTV, which was a featured developer for Verizon Wireless at the International Consumer Electronics Showcase in early January.

“We are excited to be working with MobiTV as we dive even further into the applications world out there and expand what people can do on their phones,” says Debi Lewis, spokesperson for Verizon Wireless.

Lewis says Verizon Wireless hopes to start offering its 4G network in various U.S. markets later in 2010, and has many companies working on hardware and software for the new network, of which MobiTV is only one.

This will be the first time Verizon Wireless and MobiTV have worked together. MobiTV was part of a developer’s conference with Verizon last summer, and the partnership between the companies officially started at the International CES, Lewis says.

Jacquie Robison, senior director of consumer marketing and public relations at MobiTV, says MobiTV has previously worked with phone companies Sprint and AT&T, as well as numerous others, so this new initiative will not be exclusive. Nevertheless, MobiTV is excited about the partnership. “As a carrier Verizon has a fantastic record of service. They have a deep listing of phones for the consumer,” Robison says.

Lewis called MobiTV a great provider and packager of live TV on mobile devices, which is important to Verizon Wireless because as mobile devices move into the next generation, video has the potential to be delivered with faster download times and more efficiently. Cost will also be less. “A lot of the [technology] challenges we see in existing networks are starting to melt away,” Lewis says.

Robison says more consumers want live TV on their phones. “We know there’s a high demand for entertainment, news and politics,” she says.

As an example, Robison cites MobiTV’s work with other mobile services, in which the company recently delivered the broadcast of President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address from networks that aired the speech live to mobile devices. Minutes used during that time period went up by 1,544 percent. “That’s the sort of experience we’re looking to deliver to Verizon,” Robison says.

“There’s a demand for that kind of content,” Lewis says, “and the better experience we can provide on the phone, the more people are going to be inclined to participate.”

Robison says the current plan is to offer live television made for mobile devices and video on demand from more than 40 different channels for Verizon Wireless devices. There are no concrete plans for other applications for the devices, but Robison says both companies will be on the look out for opportunities based on user needs. She cites MobiTV’s recent work leveraging capabilities from most recent iPhone upgrades for consumers to make purchases within applications.

“There are a whole host of services that are available and are a part of the consideration set,” Robison says.

Regarding any capacity or bandwith issues, Lewis says there may be some “bumps in the road” as Verizon Wireless moves from 3G to 4G, but the company has moved from analog to digital to 3G and anticipates the move to the next generation will go well.

“[Verizon Wireless has] been in the business of building and maintaining wireless networks for a long time,” she says.

Rebecca Henely is a freelance writer and reporter based in New Jersey.

WatchNBuy.com to White-Label its Interactive Video Commerce Player

By: itvt.com

Interactive video commerce company, WatchNBuy.com, announced Wednesday that it is offering its interactive video player on a white-label basis to other Web site operators.

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DECE and Disney Race Toward Universal Video Standards

By Barbara Gengler

In the race to take the guesswork out of digital distribution of films, two advancements have been made public that will allow consumers to buy movies and other digital content once and play them almost anywhere on any type of device.

The advancements result from efforts by the Walt Disney Company and the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) consortium.

Disney, which at this time is the only major Hollywood studio not a part of DECE, rolled out a technology called KeyChest that would allow consumers to pay a single price for a movie or TV show and then access it from the Web, iPhone or on-demand cable services.

Disney is planning to deploy the technology before the end of 2010 as it is pretty much complete. Disney says KeyChest will neither be a Disney-only venture not will it be governed by Disney.

“As for partners, we continue to engage in discussion with a number of companies across various industries,” says Disney spokesman Eric Maehara.

According to Maehara, KeyChest does not compete with DECE as both technologies aim to allow people to watch the content they purchase on any device they own. KeyChest is not a competitor to DECE rather it can work with it.

“It is our understanding that DECE is developing what is commonly known as a format/ecosystem,” he says. “KeyChest is not a format nor an ecosystem. It is an interoperability solution that will empower formats and ecosystems to work together.”

The aim of KeyChest is to create widespread adoption of standards for digital media based on existing Digital Rights Management (DRM).

DECE, on the other hand, is a coalition with support from various industries involved in digital entertainment. The system will provide a new way for consumers to share their purchased content on a number of devices in the home or by streaming them over the Internet to other gear such as cell phones or laptops.

Twenty-one companies joined DECE in 2009 including Adobe, Cox Communications, Motorola, Netflix, Nokia and Tesco bringing the total to 48. Philips Electronics, Sony, Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems are among the group’s founding members.

Surprisingly missing from the group is Apple, a key player in the rapidly growing world of digital distribution, although it is still possible the company may one day join.

“DECE has taken a significant first step toward creating an open market that will shift the digital distribution model and make ‘Buy Once, Play Anywhere’ a reality for consumers,” says Mitch Singer, president of DECE. “Our ultimate goal is to take the guesswork out of buying, downloading and playing digital entertainment.”

The cross-industry initiative revealed an agreement on a Common File Format, an open specification for digital entertainment, which will be released in the first half of 2010; approval of five DRM solutions that will be DECE-compatible and a cloud-based authentication service called Digital Rights Locker that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment.

The five DRM solutions, which will ensure content can be played back by streaming or downloading on a variety of services and devices, include Adobe Flash Access, CMLA-OMA V2, the Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady and Widevine.

DECE has also selected Neustar to provide a digital rights locker that will authenticate rights to view content from multiple services, with multiple devices and manage content and registration of devices. DECE says devices that are DECE-compatible may be available to consumers in 2011.

While there are still challenges ahead, the pace is expected to step up significantly and both services are expected to go live before the end of the year.

Barbara Gengler more than a decade experience covering the Silicon Valley hi-tech market before moving to the East Coast. She previously worked for trade publications and for print and online magazines.

Future of TV: Microsoft’s Ballmer Sees Content Everywhere

By: adage.com

LAS VEGAS (AdAge.com) — In the not-too-distant future, at least the one Microsoft subscribes to, TV consumption will be more portable than ever before as consumers see fewer and fewer differences between the screens belonging to their TV, the ones on their laptops and the ones on their mobile devices.

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