You are viewing the archive: “DVR”

Promo Campaign For New Fox Drama ‘The Following’ Embraces DVR Viewing

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday January 21, 2013 @ 8:00am PSTTags: DVR, Fox, Revolution, The Following
Nellie Andreeva

For decades, TV networks’ promo campaigns for new series had been focused squarely on bringing in viewers to the shows’ premieres. For the first time, Fox last week broke tradition, swapping the tune-in ads for its midseason drama The Following starring Kevin Bacon for billboards urging viewers to set their DVRs.

Encouraging DVR viewing is a two-edged sword as it gives the networks extra audiences — most of which they can’t monetize since a large portion of viewers who time-shift shows skip some or most commercials when watching. But with people’s viewing preferences for this season already firmly established, Fox opted for the unusual campaign to help its new show get on viewers’ season passes as a way to bring in regular audiences. That is especially important for a serialized drama like The Following, where retaining viewership is crucial for its long-term success. READ MORE »

Comments (5)

Broadcast Ratings Hammered In Q2, Even With DVRs Factored In: Analyst

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday July 16, 2012 @ 7:25am PDTTags: DVR, TV Ratings

“There is no way to sugarcoat this: broadcast has taken a beating,” Nomura Securities’ Michael Nathanson says this morning in his quarterly report on primetime TV viewing. He assesses the market the way most networks and advertisers do … Read More »

Comments 28

TiVo Says Time Warner Cable Infringed On Its DVR Patents

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday March 26, 2012 @ 8:06am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, DVR, Time Warner Cable, TiVo

TiVo’s business model seems to be based on suing companies for selling DVRs that allegedly use its patented processes to do things that users take for granted such as watching one show while recording another. And today it challenged a formidable … Read More »

Comments (8)

RATINGS RAT RACE: The Case Of Disappearing Live Nielsen Viewers

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 17, 2012 @ 11:22am PSTTags: American Idol, DVR, Grammys, Ratings, The Big Bang Theory
Nellie Andreeva

Is this week a glimpse into the near future of what broadcast TV’s fast national ratings will look like? All week, HUT (households using television) levels have been on par or even slightly higher than last week (with the exception of Valentine’s Day.) And yet, there have been massive across-the-board ratings declines every night. If the total number of people sitting in front of  TVs has been roughly the same and they were not watching broadcast shows, what were they watching? Certainly not cable series, many of which also posted declines this week. I think a footnote in the HUT definition may hold the key to the puzzle. In addition to live viewing, it also accounts for people watching pre-recorded shows on playback. Read More »

Comments 40

Programmers Face New Challenges As EchoStar Sells Recording And Streaming Technology To Cable

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday January 11, 2012 @ 1:33pm PSTTags: Dish Network, DVR, Time Warner Cable

Throughout the opening of the 2012 International CES I’ve had a feeling that the technology news here will delight TV viewers — but frighten Hollywood studios and other content owners. My impression was clinched this morning at a small presentation by EchoStar, Dish Network’s technology-focused corporate cousin. The company’s new gadgets make it possible for pay TV providers to offer customers television’s most popular shows on-demand — including via TV Everywhere-like Internet streams to out-of-home smartphones and tablets — without having to pay programmers additional license fees. Some of those capabilities were displayed on Monday when Dish unveiled its Hopper DVR: Dish subscribers with one of these boxes can watch any ABC, CBS, Fox, or NBC primetime show from the previous eight days. The boxes also use technology from Sling Media (which EchoStar owns) to stream any of the channels that users receive or and shows that they record at home.

But this morning’s presentation made it clear that EchoStar is starting to build bridges with cable operators — the dominant providers of TV services and, ostensibly, Dish’s mortal enemies. Read More »

Comments (0)

Talking Tech: Four Terms You’ll Need To Know To Keep Up With The Digital Elite

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 10, 2012 @ 11:26pm PSTTags: Blu-ray, Cable, DVR, HDTV, TV Technology

The 2012 International CES isn’t just an opportunity for the digital cognicente to look at new gadgets. It’s also a chance to brush up on the latest industry jargon. Don’t let it throw you. If you know the following words and concepts, then you should be able to easily hold your own in a conversation with someone returning from the annual consumer electronics spectacle in Las Vegas:

Ultrabooks: These are what you get when you cross a laptop computer with a tablet, and they’re grabbling the lion’s share of attention at the 2012 International CES. Ultrabooks are thin and light; most use solid state hard drives instead of the traditional storage drives built around a rotating disc. Intel is leading the cheerleading squad for ultrabooks, which it hopes will reenergize the laptop computer market. Read More »

Comments (2)

Dish CEO Says He Doesn’t Know Whether Broadcasters Will Object To DVR Auto Record Features

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday January 9, 2012 @ 3:05pm PSTTags: Blockbuster@Home, Dish Network, DVR, Joe Clayton, Univision

Dish Network CEO Joe Clayton says that ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC shouldn’t have a problem with his company’s just-announced PrimeTime Anytime DVR feature that automatically records the networks’ primetime shows, holds them for a week, and also streams them on-demand to computers, tablets and other mobile devices. But he doesn’t know. “I haven’t personally talked to every single one of them, but I’m sure they’re aware of it,” he says. He adds that Dish shouldn’t have to worry that it’s treading on their right to license TV Everywhere rights, or look-back VOD service to cable operators and online destinations such as Hulu. “This is no different than an opt-in for any DVR,” he says. I’m told that lawyers for the networks are reviewing the Dish service to see whether there’s a problem.

Clayton was in a buoyant mood, though, as he officially disclosed the news that had already leaked about his company’s powerful new DVR product — called Hopper — and Dish’s corporate makeover. Read More »

Comments (0)

CES: Will Broadcasters Balk At Dish For Its New Auto-Record DVR Feature?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday January 9, 2012 @ 3:00am PSTTags: Blockbuster, Dish Network, DVR, Google TV, iPad

Dish Network is looking to make a splash at this week’s 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — but one announcement, which leaked out prematurely, could raise the ire of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Tech trade publications Dealerscope and TWICE broke news embargos tied to Dish’s press conference later today regarding a multi-room DVR called Hopper: It will have three tuners and a huge storage capacity of 2 terabytes. Hopper will make it possible for users to stop watching a recoded show in one room and resume where they left off in another, reports blogger Dave Zatz, who saw a posting of the TWICE article before it was taken down, and Multichannel News, which caught the one yanked from Dealerscope. But it also includes a feature called Primetime Anytime that will automatically record primetime broadcasts from local stations for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC and retain those shows for a week — in effect turning Hopper into into a catch-up VOD service. Broadcasters have been licensing catch-up rights to Hulu and cable VOD. The TWICE article also notes that Dish is dropping the word “Network” from its name as it focuses more on technology. Read More »

Comments (11)

AT&T Agrees To Pay TiVo $215M To Avoid Jury Trial In Patent Infringement Dispute

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 3, 2012 @ 3:29pm PSTTags: AT&T, Dish Network, DVR, TiVo

TiVo shares are up 11.4% in after-hours trading following its latest victory in its campaign to demonstrate that it controls the patents behind some of the most popular features for DVRs — including the ability to watch one program while … Read More »

Comments (5)

CBS Research Chief Says Broadcasters Will Recapture Ad $$$ From Cable: UBS Confab

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday December 5, 2011 @ 8:15am PSTTags: CBS, DVR, Internet TV, Modern Family, NCIS, Network TV Advertising, TV Advertising, VOD

Nobody delivers the pro-broadcast network message more effectively than CBS Chief Research Officer David Poltrack. But he was far more bullish than usual today at his yearly industry forecast during the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference. He … Read More »

Comments (2)

TiVo Shares Up As Investors Look For DVR Patent Case Settlement With AT&T

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday October 14, 2011 @ 7:01am PDTTags: AT&T, DVR, TiVo, Verizon

TiVo popped 7.9% in early trading after it prevailed late Thursday in a Texas court ruling that involves its DVR patent infringement suit against AT&T — even though the ruling curiously didn’t say anything about the other part of the company’s … Read More »

Comments (1)

Did Investors Miss The Real Story In Court Decision For TiVo?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday April 20, 2011 @ 2:00pm PDTTags: Dish Network, DVR, TiVo

It’s easy to understand why so many media and technology watchers are riveted by TiVo’s bitter patent infringement court fight with Dish Network. TiVo says it owns most of the processes that define the DVR — including the ability to watch one show while recording another. If TiVo can persuade the courts tha… Read More »

Comments (6)

Court Awards TiVo $200M Damages From Dish/EchoStar In Long-Time Patent Case

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday September 4, 2009 @ 10:39am PDTTags: Big Media, Courts, Distribution, DVR, Law, Satellite, Tech, TV

dish_tivoTiVo just issued this statement regarding the contempt sanctions ordered by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, in the lawsuit against EchoStar and Dish: “We are pleased by the Court’s ruling to impose contempt sanctions of approximately $200 million … Read More »

Comments (8)