Following rumors that surfaced back in May, Yahoo has officially acquired RayV, a Cali-based video streaming start-up that specializes in delivering high-quality video streams to a large audience. It makes sense for Yahoo to acquire RayV’s HD broadcasting platform with the aim of improving its streaming tech. After all, competition in current OTT video market is already quite fierce, and Yahoo would need more than a new season of cult favorite Community to help establish Yahoo Screen’s market awareness and presence.
Tag: ott
Verizon Strikes Back At Netflix Over Streaming Congestion
In the on-going feud between OTT content providers and Internet service providers over who is responsible for low streaming speed, the ISPs — oft-reviled cable and telephone companies — make convenient villains. But after receiving a public shaming from Netflix, Verizon has decided to point the finger right back at the dominating streaming service. It accuses Netflix for “purposely select congested routes”, which Netflix has denied, so as to manipulate the ISPs to cover the cost of upgrading their infrastructure, while essentially blaming the humongous Internet traffic caused by Netflix on its vast popularity.
But taking a step back, it’s easy to see the bottom-line here: congestion at the interconnection point is in fact controlled by ISPs like Verizon. And if the customers are paying the their ISPs monthly to stream Netflix at a decent speed, then no other excuses would be valid for ISPs to jettison that responsibility. Maybe the ISPs are conveniently villainous for good reasons after all.
Aereo Looking To Reverse Supreme Court Decision
After the Supreme Court decision to rule Aereo’s streaming service illegal and essentially shutting it out of business, the company is still, quite admirably, not giving up on its business. Earlier last week, CEO Chet Kanojia sent a letter to its customers urging them to notify Congress that they want the decision reversed, empathizing the important freedom of having access to a cloud-based antenna. Although such reversion seems highly unlikely in the short run, the trend of content consumption moving towards the OTT services providers will only keep gaining traction. In the long term, the broadcast industry can expect more Aereo-like services cropping up, as the cable customers and cord-cutters are always out looking for better, cheaper options.
Google Announces Android TV
Google unsuccessfully launched Google TV in 2010 but their announcement of Android TV at Google io yesterday looks more promising. Content will be paramount with access to the Google Play store as well as Netflix, Hulu and more. It will also have “Chromecast-like” functionality to cast other devices to your TV as well as some gaming from Google Play Games network similar to Amazon’s Fire TV.
In an increasingly cluttered space, Google’s point of differentiation may be their search which leverages their Knowledge Graph to offer recommendations and aid discovery. With such a breadth of content across multiple providers, an intuitive interface and easy search will be key in the battle for the living room.
Playstation TV Coming This Year
Just when you thought you had a handle on all the over-the-top platforms, Playstation announces the North America release of Playstation TV. The $99 device will stream PS Vita and select PS 3 games to your TV in addition to media services like Hulu and Netflix. More importantly, it enables remote play for current PS4 owners who can stream games to additional TVs without the need to move their main console.
Vevo Coming To Apple TV and Samsung Smart TV
Vevo, the leader in music videos, has inked a deal to bring their service to Apple TV and Samsung Smart TVs. The deal will deliver on-demand content to the two OTT platforms while expanding Vevo’s presence beyond YouTube. Over-The-Top video has plenty of functionality but lacks the breadth of content required to push it into the mainstream, so we’ll see if they can sign anymore major content partners down the road.
Engadget Review of Ouya
The Ouya gaming platform is an Android-based console meant to compete with the likes of Playstation and XBox. While it clearly doesn’t have the kind of firepower the latter two systems do, it is interesting for a number of reasons.
Because it is an Android-based platform, there is a built-in army of developers all over the world who can easily create games for it, or port mobile device apps into this new format with relative ease.
Also, since there is built-in media player functionality, it will be interesting to see if this sort of device becomes a competitor to the likes of Boxee and Roku as well. Not to mention the obvious potential parallels with Google TV.
Amazon Likely To Create Set-Top Box
Amazon is rumored to be launching a set-top box this fall, bringing their content into the living room. Amazon has already had quite a bit of success with their Instant Video service so it makes sense to expand their distribution platforms. While Amazon Instant Video can be accessed via other over-the-top services like Roku, their dedicated device would allow them to feature their services more prominently. Time will tell if they decide to include other competitive content providers like Netflix within their ecosystem.
Microsoft ‘Xbox TV’ device due in 2013 with casual gaming and streaming | The Verge
Microsoft ‘Xbox TV’ device due in 2013 with casual gaming and streaming
The trouble with TV apps: hardware experts can’t build great software | The Verge
The trouble with TV apps: hardware experts can’t build great software
