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Now DISH just announced this:
Dish Network is making the first big news in what’s likely to be a busy year for the future of television. At the International Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, the company unveiled its Internet television service, a $20-a-month alternative to cable that’s the most ambitious play for cord-cutters to date. The service, confusingly, is named Sling TV, even though it has no direct connection to the Slingbox, another device aiming to appeal to people fed up with the restrictions of cable. Sling TV will be available on a range of connected televisions, streaming boxes and sticks such as Roku, and mobile devices.
Dish has been working on the service for four years, says Joseph Clayton, the company’s chief executive officer. It spent much of last year lining up deals and developing technology to insert targeted ads into live streams. The company had originally said the service would be ready in 2014. A lot was happening while Dish was putting the finishing touches on Sling TV. HBO and CBS announced they would begin selling standalone streaming subscriptions, and Sony launched PlayStation Vue, its own cable replacement service.
Dish’s big advantage is a deal with Disney, giving it access to ESPN’s channels, which are arguably a necessity to draw viewers away from cable. The basic Sling TV package offers about a dozen channels, including Disney, ESPN, Food Network, HGTV, TNT, CNN, and TBS. It also features Internet video from Maker Studios, which Disney bought for $500 million last March. Viewers will be able to pay extra for additional channels grouped by themes like sports or children’s programming. For years, Internet television services have struggled to get off the ground because they couldn’t get rights to content. The introduction of Sling TV is evidence that this is changing.
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That sounds interesting from DISH. I pay almost $80 for my TV package, mostly because of relatives. $20 sounds nice, but I'm not sure if it has all the channels they watch. It certainly has almost all the channels I do watch.
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Direct TV coming up with sling tv for cord cutters. Don't know much details but it's good news for cord cutters. I seriously need resources to watch live European football games in hd. Online streams are spook poor.
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I don't get why TV is still a thing. On Demand services are just so incredibly much superior to a classic TV model with channels that send stuff when they want it, riddled with absurd amounts of ads. And they are obviously technically possible now. So why does TV still exist? TV is so absurdly outdated.
The only problem i have with legal on demand stuff is that for some reason country lines still exist for them. For inexplicable reason, despite most of them being US made series, almost everything i can see on Amazon Prime for example is in german dubbed. And while the dubbing might be good, i still greatly prefer the original versions. If it is on the internet, why does stuff have to be country-locked. The internet is international. Do not make stuff US only. Is my money really worth less than the equal amount of money by an american? Apparently yes. So don't complain if i pirate stuff if you don't make it available to me legally in a reasonable fashion.
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On January 12 2015 17:44 Simberto wrote: I don't get why TV is still a thing. On Demand services are just so incredibly much superior to a classic TV model with channels that send stuff when they want it, riddled with absurd amounts of ads. And they are obviously technically possible now. So why does TV still exist? TV is so absurdly outdated.
The only problem i have with legal on demand stuff is that for some reason country lines still exist for them. For inexplicable reason, despite most of them being US made series, almost everything i can see on Amazon Prime for example is in german dubbed. And while the dubbing might be good, i still greatly prefer the original versions. If it is on the internet, why does stuff have to be country-locked. The internet is international. Do not make stuff US only. Is my money really worth less than the equal amount of money by an american? Apparently yes. So don't complain if i pirate stuff if you don't make it available to me legally in a reasonable fashion.
the right to distribute is typically sold to a local distributor (in your case, some TV channel in Germany) whereby they then make money in the local market from ads and/or TV subscription, and the original producers block that specific country from viewing their contents directly
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Thus we have the crux of the issue. Distribution is archaic, in it's ancient grace it holds many people making much monies.
Another reason Comcast wants to kill Net neutrality. Because if they control the bandwidth then they get to stay a middle man. Without it studios will be more free to put their content out on the internet without a traditional program distributor or distributors will have to pay more for exclusive rights.
With the new smartify your tv gadget you can turn your TV into a monitor for a USB sized computer. What need then does one have for a cable box and a subscription through a cable distributor? This is also why the distributors have been buying up the content creation studios. Just in case their whole model implodes the revenue would presumably flow into the businesses that create the content. If they win on net neutrality then they just get to own the whole entertainment process from creation to delivery.
If the ISP's win on Net Neutrality even if you created something like twitch, internet providers could come in to your potential customers and say
"In order to gain RESTRICTED access twitch you will need to pay for the special twitch bundle fee* which includes LifetimeOnline and the Home Shopping Web Channel (a $25 value) free of charge!".
(* Subscription fee is $9.99 and does not include any additional subscription fees for the Twitch.com website itself or individual streamers)
OR
You can order COMPLETE UNRESTRICTED ACCESS to (Comcast's version of Twitch) for $5.99 and get a 1-year membership to ESPN.com for free! (a $49.99 value)
If ISP's win on Net Neutrality you can expect emails and letters like that to follow shortly.
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On January 12 2015 21:39 GreenHorizons wrote:Thus we have the crux of the issue. Distribution is archaic, in it's ancient grace it holds many people making much monies. Another reason Comcast wants to kill Net neutrality. Because if they control the bandwidth then they get to stay a middle man. Without it studios will be more free to put their content out on the internet without a traditional program distributor or distributors will have to pay more for exclusive rights. With the new smartify your tv gadget you can turn your TV into a monitor for a USB sized computer. What need then does one have for a cable box and a subscription through a cable distributor? This is also why the distributors have been buying up the content creation studios. Just in case their whole model implodes the revenue would presumably flow into the businesses that create the content. If they win on net neutrality then they just get to own the whole entertainment process from creation to delivery. If the ISP's win on Net Neutrality even if you created something like twitch, internet providers could come in to your potential customers and say Show nested quote +"In order to gain RESTRICTED access twitch you will need to pay for the special twitch bundle fee* which includes LifetimeOnline and the Home Shopping Web Channel (a $25 value) free of charge!".
(* Subscription fee is $9.99 and does not include any additional subscription fees for the Twitch.com website itself or individual streamers)
OR
You can order COMPLETE UNRESTRICTED ACCESS to (Comcast's version of Twitch) for $5.99 and get a 1-year membership to ESPN.com for free! (a $49.99 value) If ISP's win on Net Neutrality you can expect emails and letters like that to follow shortly.
That works for some countries, and really doesn't work for others.
Even for countries like the U.S., I would imagine 'middlemen' (I don't know what to call these firms really) are still needed. Streaming will slowly eat away cable TV until it is irrelevant, but that will be years if not decades. Even though the younger generation is in general tech savvy and willing to board the streaming ship asap, the older generation would still much rather watch regular TV without the hassle of buying a USB-sized computer. There is no way in hell my parents would and could move away from regular television.
And then you have countries like Japan, where CDs and DVDs are still prevalent and dominant. Streaming won't be popular for a very long damn time.
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Smart of them to do that finally
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
Internet only is the same price as Internet + TV for Comcast in my area. There isn't any good internet alternatives either.
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On January 20 2015 12:58 T.O.P. wrote: Internet only is the same price as Internet + TV for Comcast in my area. There isn't any good internet alternatives either.
You have Comcast in Hong Kong?
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On October 16 2014 02:36 Incognoto wrote: I have never paid for television in my life and I never will. The internet is much more entertaining. Ditto, this is wisdom.
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Sorry for interrupting with that, just adding my little say.
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Beta invites for Sling TV are expected tomorrow, first wave of invites at least =/
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner's TWX.N HBO is preparing to sell a standalone service over the Internet for the first time, in one of the most closely watched moves in pay TV history. Yet the road to the launch has been far from an easy one - marked by changes in strategy, deadlines, and the departure of its chief technology officer along with two of his lieutenants.
Otto Berkes, who was previously a Microsoft executive, resigned from the CTO position in December, only a matter of months before HBO is expected to start selling the new product, and two senior vice presidents on the technology team, Mark Thomas and Drew Angeloff, are also leaving, sources familiar with the situation said.
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Children’s entertainment giant Nickelodeon intends to follow the example of HBO and unveil a direct-to-consumer subscription service in February, the chief executive of Nickelodeon’s parent, Viacom, said during a call with investors Thursday morning.
More details about the service will be revealed when Nickelodeon hosts its upfront meeting with advertisers next month. U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their ad inventory in the upfront market, and TV networks that cater to children typically lead the salvo.
The new Nickelodeon service will be aimed specifically at consumers who use mobile devices, Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman said during a call held to discuss Viacom’s financial performance. He suggested the service would have a different name or brand, and said it “will be very attractive to parents and children.”
A spokesman for Nickelodeon, Dan Martinsen, declined to offer additional details.
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Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications has struck a deal with Dish Network’s over-the-top Sling video distribution service. Sling will have rights to both live and video-on-demand content.
The terms of the agreement include Univision’s flagship Univision Network, UniMás, UDN (Univision Deportes Network), Galavisión, El Rey Network, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clásico, Telehit, tlnovelas, FOROtv as well as Univision and UniMás broadcast stations nationwide, the companies said Monday.
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The rumor mill has been quiet as of late regarding Apple’s plans to disrupt the TV industry. But now Recode is reporting that Apple is in talks with programmers about doing its own Internet-based TV service for cord-cutters.
Similar to the way Dish’s Sling TV bundles channels together at an attractive cost, Apple would design its own experience around delivering content without the use of traditional cable companies.
Apple has been trying to get its own TV subscription service off the ground for years, with reports dating back to 2009 that it was pitching such a product to potential partners. Now that Sling TV is out, ESPN and HBO are unbundling, and Sony is about to release its own TV service, the right pieces appear to be falling into place.
Recode points out that talks are still early, which means it could still be a while before any sort of Apple-branded TV service sees the light of day.
“Apple has shown programmers demos of the proposed service, sources say,” according to the report. “But talks seem to be in the early stages, which means terms like pricing and timing aren’t close to being ironed out. Several programmers say they’ve yet to start talks with Apple at all.”
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Sling TV is now live. AMC being added to their core package.
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United Kingdom20149 Posts
Internet and other non-tv services have been my primary (well, almost only) source of media consumption for most of my life. Am i a hipster? >_____>
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On January 12 2015 17:44 Simberto wrote: So don't complain if i pirate stuff if you don't make it available to me legally in a reasonable fashion. Use and pay for Hulu or Netflix?
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