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Cable industry execs claim they don’t fear Netflix
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment,
Cable executives on Tuesday downplayed the impact of Netflix on their businesses, arguing that it is simply another provider in a crowded market, though they were forced to acknowledge that consumers are no longer satisfied with just a cable box and a remote.
Execs from Time Warner, Viacom, Comcast, Cox, and News Corp. sat down this morning for a panel discussion at The Cable Show in Chicago. When asked about Netflix's recent decision to air original content, Philippe Dauman, president and CEO at Viacom, warned that "it's not easy to get into the content business; it's a tough exercise."
"That's not really their fundamental business," Dauman said of Netflix. Viacom, on the other hand, is "100 percent focused on content," he said. Netflix is just one cog in the content wheel, he said, pointing to the "incremental money" Viacom has made by repurposing its older shows, like "Beavis and Butthead," on Web-based services like Netflix.
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ABC To Offer Hit Shows On-Demand… With A Catch
Posted by Jacci Lewis Categories: Prime Time, ABC, Cable, On Demand/PPV, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Cable/Satellite, News,
ABC is finally getting with the program and releasing some of its hit shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives for free to various on-demand cable systems and not just in cities where ABC stations are owned and operated. There is just one catch: viewers won’t be able to fast-forward through the commercials.
In this case though, programming would only have two to five minutes worth of commercial time versus the usual 18 or more minutes aired during hour long programs on network TV.
ABC’s parent company Disney says this is just another way to drive people back to network television while expanding its digital strategy beyond what is already offered on its website ABC.com. The company can also make more money by selling ads within on-demand programming.
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Associated Press
TiVo Inc. Sees Sharp Increase In Revenue
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Broadband, Corporate News, Home Entertainment,
Tivo Inc. announces a 30% increase in service and technology revenues for its quarter that ended July 31. CEO Tom Rogers claims that this increase was partially due to distribution of TiVo through Radio Shack and the recent signing of a deployment agreement with Cox Cable. Revenues are reported at $52.9 million, compared to $40.7 million for the same period last year.
“We remain highly focused on our key points of differentiation between TiVo and generic DVRs. Those points of differentiation are becoming hugely significant and form the basis of being able to market TiVo’s many benefits as a world apart from simply having a hard drive in a cable or satellite box,” said Rogers.
With 30,000 new TiVo subscriptions, the recently launched KidZone, its new Series 3 unit, and sugar plum thoughts of the Christmas season to come, it’s easy to assume that the only direction TiVo will be traveling is up.
Read More 
| Tivo Press Release
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