by ·Comments Off on CES is still relevant, just not as much
At a booth at CES, man with his head on a table

I pity this poor guy. CES fatigue is real, but it normally takes a while to develop, and this was the afternoon of Day One.

The 2014 edition of the International CES is over, and all reports suggest that it was the largest yet. That’s true for automotive fans or health gadget followers, but for us satellite folks, it was a little disappointing.

Once upon a time, I could count on CES to show off the latest in satellite free-to-air equipment, the FTA in this blog’s name. That presence dwindled, and in 2014, there was absolutely zero satellite FTA at the show. Searching for “satellite” in the over 3200 exhibitors’ descriptions turned up only 15 matches, including “satellite offices” and companies that supply to satellite and cable providers. Even Dish Network’s “Be anywhere, watch everything” description didn’t mention that s-word; Dish just happens to deliver most of its content through geosynchronous whatchamacallits.

On the other hand, a few companies showed a renewed interest in over-the-air free TV viewing. I got to hold simple.TV‘s second-generation receiver, fresh off the boat. Tablo exhibited a OTA receiver that’s very, very similar to simple.TV’s but with a tablet-oriented interface. Even venerable antenna manufacturer Channel Master introduced its own OTA receiver, the DVR+, which will launch with no guide subscription fees. The DVR+ also won a CES Innovations 2014 Design and Engineering Award.

And most importantly, CES draws together all sorts of people to meet. I talked with technological innovators, iPhone case demonstrators, and some of the other folks who write about what’s new. I was even present for a friendly meeting of attendees from SatelliteGuys and DBSTalk at the Dish booth. There’s a lot of noise at every CES, but the connections make it worth it every year.

by ·Comments Off on 500 channels – something's on, but what?
image

iPhone cases, first in a series

Here at the 2014 International CES, I can see plenty of the usual suspects: iPhone cases, healthy living gadgets, iPhone cases, superb audio speakers, iPhone cases, nifty new electronic toys, and iPhone cases. But by searching carefully, looking in hidden corners, I can still find the kind of TV news that we care about.

One recurring theme is the issue of discovery. If you subscribe to Netflix, or Hulu Plus, or a zillion-channel pay-TV service, you’ve got thousands and thousands of viewing choices available. The trick is to make those choices easy to find when you want them or even when you don’t know what you want. Whoever solves this problem and gets the TV/video industry to line up behind the solution will control the screen.

At its press conference here, Sharp offered its version with a smart TV that can integrate all three of those services and several more besides. Two hours later, Dish showed off its latest Hopper version with a lot of the same features, displayed a bit differently. Those are just two examples; so far the only thing all these providers have in common is that they’re all trying to address the problem.

I wandered the exhibit floors and found more companies taking a stab at discovery. Yahoo’s smart TV was, well, another that looked like what the TV manufacturers were offering. One day, someone’s going to figure out an elegant solution, and until then, I’ll keep looking for it.

by ·Comments Off on Dish remaking itself as home entertainment hub

Super Joey plush toy at Dish press conferenceAre you an enthusiast? Since you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you are.

At its annual press conference at the International CES, Dish unveiled its latest, less revolutionary advances in its Hopper and Joey line of receivers. More importantly, it revealed its evolving focus on what it calls “enthusiasts” – tech-savvy customers who will embrace Dish for the ways it improves their viewing experience for a reasonable price. Recent partnerships with Southwest Airlines (free IP-based TV during flights) and Apple (free iPad to new Dish customers) illustrate the kind of people Dish hopes to attract.

Once upon a time, Dish positioned itself as the low-cost alternative, disrupting cable’s effective monopoly on pay-TV delivery. It isn’t as though Dish has renounced those low-end customers, but it’s clear that enthusiasts have more money and are more willing to spend it on whatever works for them. As a Dish shareholder, I’m happy to see Dish’s increasing emphasis on these upscale customers.

Dish CEO Joe Clayton said, “The American (video) consumer only cares about three things – Affordable, Available Anywhere, and Ease of Use.” Dish’s new receiver products, including the SuperJoey, Wireless Joey, and Virtual Joey for PS3, PS4, and LG Smart TV, are all aimed at improving ease of use for households with lots of TVs and TV viewers.

CES is chock full of incremental advances and only a few revolutionary leaps. Last year’s Hopper with Sling was one of those leaps; allowing subscribers to download recorded shows for offline viewing on an iPad is a compelling feature. This year, SuperJoey is merely incremental in comparison, a way to add two satellite tuners for households that want to watch four pay-TV shows at once.

For more on the details, check out coverage by Digital Trends or Variety or Streaming Media or even Dish itself. I’m heading back to the CES show floor to look for another revolutionary leap.

by ·Comments Off on Will Canada provide a test of a la carte?
The Honourable James Moore, Canadian Minister of Industry

The Honourable James Moore, Canadian Minister of Industry

Canadian Industry Minister James Moore made a bit of news over the weekend when he told The Canadian Press that the government plans to require cable and satellite TV companies to offer a la carte programming choices to their customers. “We don’t think people should be forced to buy bundled television channels when they’re not interested in watching those channels and those shows,” Moore said, according to a story in the Edmonton Journal.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates TV in Canada, had already nudged the industry in that direction in 2011. Rogers, one of the country’s largest cable operators, responded by offering London, Ontario viewers a “skinny basic” package with extra channels available as add-ons, and that plan proved very popular there. But many other companies resisted such plans, which were optional, so Moore said the government needs to step in.

“It’s not a command economy, we’re not going to put in place onerous regulations. We’re a government of deregulation,” Moore insisted. “But from time to time, we think that the best interest of consumers need to be enforced in the marketplace.”

Now there are plenty of people who will tell you that a la carte pricing is not in the best interest of consumers. At the CEDIA Expo last month, I was fortunate to share a table with Bruce Leichtman, brilliant president of the Leichtman Research Group. Our conversation about various topics was always friendly, but when I mentioned a then-recent a la carte news story, Leichtman launched into an impassioned lecture on the naivety of a la carte’s supporters and the widespread collapse of TV programming that would result if a la carte were ever implemented in the US.

I respectfully disagree. The vast majority of broadcast and pay-TV channels in the US are owned by just six corporations. These corporations routinely pad their packages with extra channels filled mostly with reruns from other channels they own. These extra channels serve to occupy space on cable and satellite operators’ finite channel bandwidth, blocking potential competitors and often eventually rebranded as ready-made launch platforms for completely different channels. If viewers actually had to pay 10 cents for H2 or MTV2, those programmers would probably throw them in for free with something else.

In an a la carte system, some current channels might die. Many others would experience profound changes. ESPN is getting around $5 per month per subscriber. If viewers could save $5 by opting out, ESPN would lose a lot of cash, but then what? Disney, ESPN’s owner, would be intelligent enough to set its price to achieve maximum overall profit. Considering that its advertising revenue is based on number of viewers, I think that ESPN’s price would stabilize at a point where any sports fan would want to buy it.

Even if some channels died, that would make room for new channels, and they’re out there. Just check out the continuing growth in digital sub-channel networks broadcasting over the air. These are networks that aren’t getting a dime of retransmission money, but they keep popping up. Maybe there’s something to this advertising-supported TV model.

For a long time, I’ve talked about Canada whenever the topic of a la carte came up. Canadian satellite TV companies Shaw Direct and Bell TV (and their predecessors) provided basic programming packages and a lot of small bundles of channels that were available to add on to those packages. Maybe it’s the smaller Canadian market, but this system hasn’t precipitated programming apocalypse. Even though channels such as Slice aren’t in every core package, they somehow survive.

Nobody really designed cable TV to be a bundled system; the technology at the time of cable’s origins demanded it. Nobody really knows exactly what would happen if each viewer were now allowed to choose individual channels. Some media companies would probably lose profits in an a la carte system, but maybe it’s something worth trying anyway. We’ll see what happens in Canada.

by ·Comments Off on You can learn a lot from CEDIA

“Whether we like it or not, we’re a proving ground for the masses.”
– Dave Pedigo, CEDIA Senior Director of Learning and Emerging Technologies

Virtual golf booth at 2013

One of four virtual golf products I saw at CEDIA Expo 2013

At first glance, the CEDIA Expo, held in Denver last week, might not look all that relevant to those of us who are more interested in finding new ways to watch TV than in where to buy rows of theater seats. Pedigo, speaking at a panel discussion sponsored by Dish Network, summed up the counterargument in that sentence. Today’s 4K video upconverters are tomorrow’s $40 Walmart DVD players. Okay, maybe day after tomorrow.

CEDIA stands for the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. These are the people who assemble and install wonderful entertainment goodies in the houses and mansions of clients who can afford the very best. They’re the type of folks who think that a $4000 Kaleidescape movie server would be a good fit for their home theater project. As a rep at the Dish booth told me, “This is not our typical customer.”

Pedigo’s statement also contained another truth – today’s new tech standard might be tomorrow’s Betamax. Already buzzards are circling around 3D TV, the tech darling of 2010. (I think that 3D will come back strong once it works out glasses-free, big-screen displays, but it’s not here yet.) Standards and technologies that are only recently available will be what we live with 10 or 20 years from now.

“Good design is about removing complexity from users’ lives.”
– Zean Nielsen, President of Bang & Olufsen America

Bang & Olufsen announced at its CEDIA press conference that it will be the first to launch a product certified by the Wireless Speaker & Audio (WiSA) Association. According to the WiSA site, it’s “an industry group dedicated to promoting the adoption of WiSA-compliant wireless audio technology.” That should give you a good hint about the nature of that product, for which I’m under an NDA until October 30.

I mention that announcement as another good example of what’s going on here. Companies line up behind different standards, and some of those standards are destined to be ubiquitous in a few years. Sure the prices are not those experienced by the median Dish customer. (A Sound & Vision magazine distributed at CEDIA Expo raved about the “crazy-affordable” Fluance XL7F speaker system, available at the “unbelievably low price” of $800.) But their wave of influence will reach that average Joe eventually.

“Convenience is Number One for consumers. Give them the best product so they won’t look elsewhere.”
– Vivek Khemka, Dish Senior Vice President of Product Management

SonyBlurWhat more can I tell you? Here are more of my notes:

  • More than 470 exhibitors and 17,900 attendees from 84 countries attended CEDIA Expo this year. That’s about an eighth of the International CES’s numbers from January. In almost every way, CEDIA Expo resembled a scaled-down CES, except that its training sessions seemed a lot more down to earth. Teaching real installers how to work with different technologies is useful no matter where you are.
  • Sony held its press conference in its 4K demonstration theater on the CEDIA Expo exhibit hall floor just as the show opened. Around 35 guys crowded into a black room designed to seat 20. As the Sony reps began to show off their newest and most dazzling products, the convention’s announcer’s voice boomed around us that CEDIA 2013 was underway. Even as the screen in the dark room showed the amazing glitter of the Carnaval in Rio (captured to the best of my iPhone’s ability here), we heard the swarms of conventioneers passing within a few feet of its walls. It felt as though we were taking cover from a hurricane in a packed storm shelter.
  • Dish Network opened the APIs for its Hopper, and that effort began to pay off as it announced its upcoming integration with Control4, one of the leading home automation and control companies. Dish promised that it will be working with more partners soon. As a Dish shareholder, I’m glad to see it go after this high-end market.
  • Only one exhibitor even mentioned over-the-air TV. Veteran satellite and OTA antenna manufacturer Winegard had a small booth to promote its new FlatWave AIR outdoor amplified antenna. On the other hand, TiVo was promoting its Roamio line of DVRs. Unlike the TiVo models that I fell in love with a decade ago, the Roamios have no OTA inputs.
  • On a related note, Bruce Leichtman of Leichtman Research Group pointed out that those early TiVo models, which were so influential and game-changing when they were introduced, never reached more than 2 percent of TV households, while today over half of households use a DVR. The lesson there is “consumers like it better when it’s incorporated in their receiver.” Personally, I can just imagine the sea change once a serious over-the-top service gets integrated with a standard pay-TV receiver. Dish Anywhere and Roku are closing in on this idea from different directions. Who will be the first provider to include include dozens of OTT-delivered channels in its receiver’s live TV guide?