Thursday, November 25, 2010

Cable Subscribers Continue to Flee

Cable subscribers continue to leave in record numbers. Cable networks lost 130,000 subscribers for the third quarter of this year.

Four of the major reasons are Netflix, Apple TV, Google TV, and Microsoft XBox. Netflix alone added 4.1 million subscribers in the third quarter. Another main reason is the availability of free online content such as YouTube, Hulu, and other video/tv networks.

At the current rate, cable companies may continue losing 1.5% of their subscribers annually.

People may continue to part with cable and use the internet more just as they did when moving from landline phones to cell phones in the past.

Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Dish Offering Google TV Box

Dish Network is offering the Google TV set-top box to new and existing subscribers for only $179--around $120 off the list price. Dish is offering the Logitech Revue to subscribers with specific satellite set-top receivers--HDTV boxes and VIP 622, 722 and 722k digital video recorders. The addition of the Revue also requires Dish's $4 a month DVR integration services
Dish got a shout-out at the Google TV blog,
 which said nothing about Fox pulling its programming off the platform. Fox did so this week after briefly allowing access. None of the Big Four broadcasters have yet announced deals to optimize for Google TV, a combination of hardware and software that transmits web content to TV sets. It incorporates Google’s Android operating system and Chrome Web browser, giving it an edge over typical web-to-TV players.

 Logitech Mini Controller for Logitech Revue and Google TV

Zinwell ZIN-5005HD "ZinTV" 3-in-1 Networking-Ready 1080p Full HD Multimedia Player/Streamer/Torrent Downloader, Free Internet TV/Radio, Black