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Sling Media (now owned by EchoStar) announced that it was now supporting BlackBerry smartphones.

The Slingbox allows customers to watch and control their home TV on an Internet-connected computer, or mobile phone including those based on Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian operating systems. Having support for BlackBerry was a long time coming and it should bring some more users to Sling. BlackBerries, however, were never known as multimedia friendly devices, which is probably why it took so long to support them.

There are other ways to get your TV content on the go, but Slingboxes are the best way to actually connect and control your home TV, DVR and other components while you’re traveling or away from your home. However, you must have pretty fast broadband connections in order to make it work. Since you don’t have the videos saved locally to your PC or phone, you do save on storage space, which can be a premium for older smartphones. However, the streaming, live nature of Slingbox makes it only for those with fast connections, like broadband cards or unlimited data plans for your phone.

Here are the ways how I see how to watch your home DVR/TV shows while on the road.

Transferring to Portable Devices. Rather than use a Slingbox, I use Tivo’s Desktop software to transfer shows to my PC. From there, I can burn videos onto a DVD or transfer it to my portable device, like my Windows-based smartphone. The downside? It’s a slow and clunky process–I have to wait for Tivo to transfer the file over my home network, then wait while I burn the show on a DVD. The whole process can take about 1 hour or more.

Portable DVRs. Comcast’s upcoming portable DVR is going after the same market–those who want complete access to their DVRs while away from the home. But the Comcast portable device is the actual set-top. So what happens when you un-dock the device from your home and take it on the road? Will you miss recordings? Will your family that’s not traveling be able to watch TV? Or should this portable DVR be relegated as a second set-top and not the primary one for the home? I guess it’s still too early to tell since the Comcast DVR isn’t out yet.

Network DVRs. This would seem to be a great option since you theoretically wouldn’t need to buy anything. Network DVRs save your shows on your TV provider’s hard drive so you don’t actually need to buy a separate set-top box like a Tivo. Everything is saved out there in the network. The benefits are that you get unlimited storage (well, almost), and access from anywhere. Imagine recording a show like American Idol, traveling to another city, then just logging in to your cable provider’s network DVR via your laptop (or smartphone) and streaming it. All your shows would be available and you don’t need to buy a Slingbox. Unfortunately, here in the U.S. network DVRs are available because of a lawsuit between Cablevision and the TV studios and networks. Things are different in Europe, and maybe things will change here in the future.

I think network DVRs are a great idea and wish that consumers were able to use them. In the short term, I would really like it if Tivo started offering place-shifting (Slingbox functionality) in its boxes. I just don’t feel the need to go out and buy and hook up yet another device to my TV/DVR right now. Perhaps if I traveled more often I would feel differently.

A story from E-Commerce Times says that DVR use is growing due to cable and satellite TV providers that are “pushing much of the growth with their offers of discounted and subsidized boxes and services.”

Additionally, Leichtman Research Group predicts that by 2011, DVRs will be in 60 million homes, or 50% of U.S. households.

LRG President Bruce Leichtman said that the DVR market isn’t driven by consumer demand. “It’s often about supply. This is a great example about the supply side pushing a product.”

Another analyst said that DVRs have moved from being a premium offering to a standard one.

Cable and satellite providers are essentially subsidizing them into the market, as has the growth o HDTV. DVR use increases because consumer usually upgrade their service to HD, then decide to get a DVR because it’s usually part of the set-top box anyway. Some providers just charge an extra $5 per month to get a DVR with the set-top.

LRG found that even though DVR ownership is increasing, only 45% of DVR owners record five or fewer programs a week. LRG says that 95 percent of all TV viewing in the U.S. is still live TV.

“We should not assume,” [Leichtman] continued, “that just because DVRs are in one out of every five homes that they’re dramatically changing the landscape of television overall even in the homes that have a DVR.”

[tags] Tivo, Comcast, DirecTV, EchoStar, cable, DVR [/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]

Earlier this year, a story on Broadband Reports said that Time Warner’s network DVR service called Mystro received “rave reviews from trial participants.” Unfortunately Time Warner Cable decided to scrap the service because it was getting legal threats from the TV networks and movie studios.

That’s why Cablevision was sued last year by Hollywood and what recently led a judge to rule in favor of the entertainment giants.

As a result, Time Warner scaled back Mystro and introduced “Start Over” instead. That means that you can watch “selected” shows on “designated” channels which lets you watch the TV show from the beginning. A “Start Over” logo appears on screen and if you chose to watch it, the show will be available for “two and a half times the length of the original program.” That means a 30 minute show has a viewing window of 1 hour and 15 minutes using Start Over. Users can pause and rewind shows, but you cannot fast forward past commercials.

Guess that’s another downside of network DVRs–providers can enable or disable features as they wish, even if they are really popular like skipping ads. However, providers may start charging customers a premium (say $10 per month) in order to be allowed to have ad-skipping on their network DVR. Another idea: Time Warner can sell advertising (that can’t be skipped) in these network DVRs.

Time Warner reps say that Start Over is producing more than “450,000 viewing sessions per week on 160,000 different digital set-tops.” Plus, viewers are watching an average of 75 to 90 minutes of shows every week.

It seems like customers like it because it’s free and convenient. For example, if you arrive home late and miss the beginning of a show, you have the option to start from the beginning. Tivo can do this already of course. It can record from the beginning of a show if you press the ‘record’ button provided it has been tuned in to the channel since the beginning of the show.

Having a VOD/DVR system like Start Over is great because you can watch shows you almost missed and you don’t have to dedicate valuable storage space for the shows.

Start Over is available in parts of six markets only but should be available in 18 markets by the end of 2007.

Last week, a federal judge ruled against Cablevision’s  attempt to launch a network digital video recorder, giving a victory to Hollywood. (Read the decision in its entirety here (PDF).)
Network DVRs–sometimes called nDVRs–lets users store TV shows on a cable company’s network rather than on a set-top-box. For some screwey reason, the judge ruled that those recordings would be unauthorized reproductions. Oh really? How do you figure? It’s amazing that the case even went to court!

What’s the difference where the recording is made? Whether it’s at my home or a network from my cable provider.

The studios argued in the Cablevision lawsuit that because the company was doing the recording, not individual customers, their copyrights were being violated.

Cablevision contended that its network technology was comparable to individuals recording shows in their homes because it was planning to dedicate separate storage space for each subscriber. In other words, if 10,000 subscribers decided to record the show “Lost,” 10,000 separate copies would be made in the network, Cablevision said.

The fact that Cablevision was willing to save separate copies of TV shows for every customer shows that they were willing to play fair. They could have said that they were storing all shows together, to save storage space.

A network DVR would save cable companies money since they wouldn’t have to distribute set-top DVRs to customers. It’s a forward-thinking approach, which would have left set-top box makers like Scientific Atlanta and Motorola worried about their revenue streams.

It would be a win for consumers as well. Why buy a stand-alone DVR when you can buy hard drive space on a TV provider’s network? An HD Tivo DVR costs $800, plus monthly fees of about $20 per month. Instead, customers can avoid paying $800 and have one less box under their TV sets.

So what happens if I want to host my own media remotely? Like in a network attached server, where I keep files for streaming or products like Sling or Orb that allow you to view TV shows from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Cablevision said it is thinking about appealing, which I hope they do. This judge’s decision is stuck in the 90s.

Last week, I discussed why network DVRs are the future. Despite some of their negatives, I hope they can survive.