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A company called Inxstor, based in Scotland, received $1.2 million in funding for its TV place-shifting technology. Investors included Scottish venture firms Braveheart Ventures and the Scottish Co-investment Fund.

Inxstor was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Infinite Data Storage.

It said it has already signed a deal with set-top box maker Pace Micro Technologies.

According to PaidContent:

“But Inxstor’s unique selling point is that it claims to be the only one of these that allows content to be accessed remotely in a secure way, writes the Scotsman.”

Competition will come from other place-shifting companies like Orb, a relative newcomer and Sling Media, which already has a huge market lead. Another new place-shifting company is CMWare, which announced in September 2006 that it received an undisclosed amount of funding.

From: Digital Media Wire and PaidContent.

[tags] Inxstore, Orb, Sling Media, Slingbox, CMWare, Place-Shifting, TV [/tags]

Time Warner Cable has turned off ad skipping in its “Look Back” on-demand service. Here’s a succint description of Look Back from the NY Times:

The service, called Look Back, will let cable customers watch certain shows later on that they missed, just the way a digital video recorder does, but without an extra monthly fee. The fast-forwarding function will be turned off, however, and consumers will be limited to watching programs later on during the day they are shown, anytime before midnight.

Look Back will be rolled out in South Carolina in October 2007 and will be phased into other markets.

So why make it difficult to skip ads? Time Warner Cable is obviously catering to the market that’s most important to them: Advertisers. Time Warner is a huge conglomerate and they know the value of keeping advertisers happy.

Apparently customers aren’t that high on their priority list. Not being able to skip ads makes advertisers happy. But it makes most customers unhappy.

Some research from Tivo has shown that most DVR users value their DVRs because of time-shifting, not because of ad-skipping. But that’s not because viewers love advertisers. Everyone’s just used to it.

Time Warner is giving consumers the ability to view TV shows on their own schedule but is forcing them to watch commercials. If consumers are really upset, they will likely pay with their wallets. Anyone unhappy with this arrangement can simply buy a Tivo, pay a monthly fee and have total control over skipping commercials.

It seems like Time Warner is handing Tivo potential customers that want more control of their TV. From the NY Time article:

Time Warner is aware that it may lose some DVR subscribers as its Start Over and Look Back features become more widespread, Mr. Stern said. But it believes it can make more money in the long run by providing free time-shifting, accompanied by ads.

“People are used to advertising. A good number of people like the advertising,” said Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the president of Time Warner Inc. at a cable industry conference in late July. “Our research and our in-market tests show people would rather have free everything you want, when you want.”

Other cable providers in the U.S. will likely follow suit. Currently Number 1 cable company Comcast has lots of on-demand shows, but does not block ad-skipping. Comcast is looking to add a similar service to Look Back, however, and may decide to block ads for that service. Cox Cable also has a VOD service and plans to turn off ad-skipping.

Perhaps Time Warner should offer viewers options. For example:

• Allowing customers to Pay for Fast Forwarding. How many people would be willing to pay $5 a month to view all on-demand or Look Back shows without commercials? I’m not sure, but why not try it and see?
• Using Short Overlay Advertisements. Keep the Look Back service free, but instead allow advertisers a new way to sponsor content. Their ads can run on the lower-third of the screen, or as an overlay while the shows are playing. That way there’s no need to fast forward at all. The downside? No 30-second spot. But it’s about time that advertisers start making ads for the next-generation of TV viewers.

Overall, a very sticky situation for everyone. Will consumers be OK with not skipping ads? Will other cable companies follow suit? Will stand-alone DVRs like Tivo become more marginalized if cable companies get everyone used to free ad-sponsored on-demand TV? Guess we need to wait and see.

[Via TV Squad. Business 2.0 and NewTeeVee.]

[tags] DVR, PVR, Time Warner, cable, Cox, Comcast, Look Back, digital video recorder, Tivo, personal video recorder [/tags]

According to a survey commissioned by IBM on consumer attitudes about TV and digital media, 24% of respondents said they owned a DVR. Yesterday, I wrote about another survey that found that 20% of U.S. households own DVRs.

The IBM study surveyed individual countries and found that the U.S. had the largest DVR market. The U.K. was at 19%, Japan at 5%, Germany at 12% , and Australia at 14%.

Owning a DVR seems to affect how much consumers watch TV. In the U.S., 33% reported watching more TV than ever since owning a DVR. 58% said they watch about the same. See the pie chart below and click on it to see the full-size:

But do consumers watch live or replay content with their DVRs? Shockingly, 19% said they watch all TV live, despite having a DVR. So why do these people have a DVR if they’re not going to use it? Perhaps just using it for pausing live TV or watching live events like sports or live news? I wish some researchers would go deeper into some of these answers and find out the reasons behind these results.

Fortunately, 19% said they watch most everything on replay on their DVRs. This is my group. Ever since I’ve owned DVRs, I don’t sit down on the couch and say to myself “Gee, what’s on TV tonight?” I head right to my saved shows and don’t even wonder what TV shows are on or if I’m missing anything. Between my DVR and my cable’s on-demand shows, I don’t have to deal with live TV at all.

Here’s the breakdown on Live vs. Replay viewing:

Interesting stats from outside the U.S.:

• More than twice as many U.K. consumers surveyed use video on demand services than own a DVR.
• Less than a third of U.K. consumers have changed their overall TV consumption as a result of DVR ownership.
• In Australia, despite owning a DVR, most respondents prefer live television or replay less than 25 percent of their programming.

[tags] Tivo, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, IBM, research, TV [/tags]

Bonus: For general results on digital media and how the Internet is affecting TV viewership see my other blog.

Research from The Leichtman Research Group found that about 20% of U.S. households own digital video recorders. That’s a big jump of 8 percentage points from last year when it was at 12% of households.

What’s driving this surge?

Popularity of HDTV. Would you really bother to buy a regular VCR after purchasing a $2,000 TV? No, you’d probably want a DVR. You’ve already invested in HD, ordered HD service from your TV provider so you’ll probably want an HD DVR. Liechtman found that 53% of DVR owners had an HD set but there were no numbers on how many were HD DVRs.

Availability of DVRs. Tivo and ReplayTV used to be the only DVRs that you could buy. But now cable and satellite providers offer their own DVRs. And at prices that are cheaper than buying a standalone Tivo and paying monthly Tivo subscriptions.

Higher Household Incomes. According to Leichtman Research Group, the mean household income for DVR owners is 33% above average. If you’ve got higher income, you can afford to pay for HD, and buy a DVR.

Skipping Past Commercials. Well, not quite. Although most DVR users say the ability to skip commercials is very important, only 8% say it’s the main benefit of owning a DVR.

Consumer Acceptance of DVRs. More people know and understand what a DVR is and how it can change how you view TV. However, only 45% of respondents said that they record five or fewer programs per week. Perhaps, I’m a TV junkie, but I record over 20 hours (Ok, maybe it’s closer to 30 hours) of programming every week. Of course, I can’t watch it all but I watch a lot of it. Plus, Tivo records suggestions for me all the time. It seems my Tivo is always recording something no matter what time it is.

Finally, Leichtman also predicted that the number of U.S. households with DVRs will grow to over 60 million by the end of 2011.

[Via TV Squad]
[tags] Liechtman Research Group, DVR, HD DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder[/tags]

In 2008, a TV tuner and DVR functions will be coming to Sony’s PlayStation 3 next-gen gaming platform.

Warwick Light, sales and marketing manager at Sony said to the New Zealand Press: “We’re also hoping next year — about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service — to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder.”

Officially, however, Sony isn’t commenting on that slip although an official announcement may be coming shortly.

But it’s been generally accepted that DVR and TV functions would be happening. Since game consoles already have an established presence in many living rooms around the world, it only makes sense that they get transformed into a media hub. It’s not enough to be a game machine—today they can be used to watch DVDs, photos, listen to music, use voice calling, and other Internet functionality.

Microsoft’s rival gaming platform, the Xbox 360, will include IPTV functionality in late 2007, according to the company. Although it hasn’t been confirmed yet, it’s likely that the Xbox 360 will also have some DVR functionality as well.

Frankly, if Sony and Microsoft didn’t have plans to add DVR functionality to their consoles, I’d be pretty concerned. It’s a no-brainer. DVR functions are getting commoditized. It’s just a matter of how to get the TV into the boxes. Microsoft is using IPTV.  Perhaps Sony will just include a TV tuner upgrade and a larger hard drive.

It’s still questionable whether there will be enough consumers interested in using their gaming machines as TV receivers. In my opinion, the consoles should also include video-on-demand, so consumers can download movies and TV from legitimate outlets, like the Apple TV and iTunes.

Rather than trying to play catch-up to set-top box makers (like Tivo and Motorola), and devices (like Apple TV), Sony and Microsoft should stay ahead of the game and add VOD and other services.

[Via PC World]