$7/Month Isn’t a Bad Deal for ESPN

Mari Silbey —  February 20, 2013 — 24 Comments

ESPN for $7

I love ESPN. I am entirely willing to spend gobs of money on my cable bill just to get it. Even so, my jaw dropped when I read that the licensing fee for ESPN programming is set to go above $7 per month in 2017. That’s the amount pay-TV operators have to spend per subscriber to get ESPN programming, and the amount that gets factored into our monthly cable bills for including the sports juggernaut. For $7 a month, I get ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, the WatchESPN app, and… wait a minute. I get all that for $7?

Yes, I was all set to write a snarky post about retransmission fees and the high cost of programming these days, and then I thought about all that I get from ESPN. Pretty much any sporting event I want to watch that’s not being broadcast on the free networks is available somewhere on ESPN. And that WatchESPN app? Man that’s come in handy when I’ve been away from the living room TV and wanted to catch a college basketball game or two. And it works on both my iPad and my Android phone. Inside and outside my house.

The big catch of course is that not everyone is a sports fan, and most cable subscribers have to pay for ESPN programming whether they watch it or not. On the other hand, I don’t watch a lot of the junk on the “free” networks (morning news programs, terrible reality TV shows, etc.), and I still have to pay for their skyrocketing licensing fees. So maybe all’s fair in love and TV programming. Regardless, there’s no cord-cutting in my future. Cable is expensive, but at least I enjoy what I get for my money.

In Industry, TV Shows
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Next Gen DirecTV C41 Genie Client Visits FCC

Dave Zatz —  February 20, 2013 — 4 Comments

directv-genie-c41

The DirecTV C41 next gen “advanced whole home client” made a brief appearance at the FCC. And it really is a limited engagement, as there’s not much to contemplate beyond the label above and reference to the 2.4GHz RF. However, last month Pace fired off a press release announcing DirecTV’s hardware successors:

Pace (LSE: PIC), a leading global developer of advanced technologies for service providers, today announced the recent approval for production of DIRECTV’s next generation HR44 “Genie” Media Server and C41 “mini Genie” device. These innovative new products are developed in compliance with the RVU protocol.

The announcement goes on to say that these boxes are intended to replace the existing DirecTV Genie H34 and C31 whole-home DVR hardware – a solution Engadget declared “the best” (along with DISH’s Hopper). Interestingly, while Pace may be behind the announcement, it’s Technicolor who submitted the new hardware to the FCC for review.

In DVR, Satellite TV
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TiVoToGo Transfers Fail Due To Expired Cookie

Dave Zatz —  February 16, 2013 — 50 Comments

tivo-desktop

TiVo subscribers looking to offload DVR recordings were caught by surprise when TiVo Desktop and other methods of transfer inexplicably failed. As it turns out, TiVo To Go has been crippled by an expired server-side cookie of some sort. Of course, you probably aren’t so concerned with the reason and are more interested in a resolution. While one TiVo support rep tried to pin this on a recent Microsoft update and suggested waiting 24-48 hours for a Redmond fix, we know better. And the simplest workaround is to merely set your computer clock to an earlier day, week, or even year. Assuming that approach doesn’t negatively impact other applications, like local email. Other options including constructing your own replacement cookie, should you be sufficiently geeky and motivated, or swapping out TiVo’s antiquated software for kmttg and updating the default curl download method to Java.

As to how this happened (and when it may be fixed), one can only guess. But we’ve seen it before from apps like Rhapsody and even prior versions of TiVo Desktop. And we suspect it’s related to contracting out a significant amount of what you might call non-core DVR functionality, as we see with the existing (and exceptional) TiVo iOS app developed by Duff Research. So while TiVo wisely contracts out the skills they need, without being burdened by long-term overhead, projects without champions have a way of failing via entropy. In this case, maybe it’s a simple oversight, maybe a preoccupation with a TiVo Desktop successor, or maybe the ship really is rudderless. Regardless, I imagine they’ll get it corrected in due course.

Continue Reading…

In TiVo
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Is Mailbox App Secure?

Dave Zatz —  February 16, 2013 — 6 Comments

mailbox-app

The new Mailbox app arrived to great fanfare, with promises to revolutionize the iPhone email experience by most efficiently managing messages and maintaing Inbox zero. However, unlike a typical email app, Mailbox is something more than a client that resides on your phone. Which is both a strength and a weakness.

On one hand, it allows the company Orchestra to do a variety of clever things on their server backend – such as redelivering messages one chooses to deal with at a later date (as pictured above). However, that effectively puts a startup between you and Gmail (which is the initial service they support). Now I don’t doubt their intentions and strategy to maintain user privacy, but security is hard. Real hard. And much larger companies with security teams or departments regularly fall victim to attack and compromise. And, as security expert Brian Krebs suggests, Mailbox becomes “another potential layer for failure” by entrusting them with with our data.

I’m not certain most folks recognize Mailbox is effectively a man-in-the-middle. So consider this a PSA worth contemplation as you wait in line for access. Also a consideration for Gmail power users is the app’s inability to handle tags. As for me, my golden ticket arrived a day or so ago and, while I don’t have state secrets flowing through my Gmail and don’t effectively use tags, I’ve held off and will keep my faith solely in Google’s two-step authentication and servers. For now. What about you?

In Apple, Software
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Roku Job Openings Offer Content Clues

Dave Zatz —  February 14, 2013 — 12 Comments

roku2-epix-aolhd

A random web search turned me on to some interesting Roku job openings, emphasizing content relationships and recommendations. Individually, maybe they’re not so compelling. But from a holistic standpoint, perhaps these new positions shed a bit of light on Roku’s ambitions and decision to turn down an Amazon acquisition in favor of additional funding.

The first role is Roku Programming Director… to be located in Los Angeles. Which, of course, much of the content industry calls home. “The Director will survey the landscape of available content, plans and strategies” to assist ”business development prioritize content acquisition efforts. ” Hm. By comparison, the Content Programming Manager will be based at Roku’s Nothern California headquarters and will basically function as a full-time recommendation engine: Continue Reading…

In Industry, Roku, TV Shows, Video
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