U.S. cable and satellite TV providers have been buffeted in recent years by subscriber loss. Indeed, the only segment in the U.S. pay TV market in the past several years to routinely post net subscriber gains have been the IPTV providers—principally AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS. But the telco run of subscriber gains that marked […]
Archive | Digital Tech Consulting
Chinese video streaming market: How big can it get?
While the streaming video industry is focused on Netflix’s Q2 data—which was punctuated by the addition of 5.2 million subscribers—it might be a good idea to keep a closer eye on streaming service providers in China. Today, leading Chinese internet-based streaming services are believed to have more than 500 million active users, according to China […]
Can Google Make 3D Video Cool Again?
The fate of 3D TVs has become a cautionary tale about the perils of attempting to market technologies without adequate consumer demand. But there was a little known offshoot of the 3D TV phenomena that enjoyed an equally short-lived moment in the sun. Shortly after 3D TVs began hitting the market, several camera and camcorder […]
Wireless Video: Demand vs. Capacity
The forecast for internet video use from Cisco’s annual Visual Network Index continues to astonish. It estimates that, by 2021, 82% of all internet traffic will be video—up from an estimated 73% in 2016. That’s all internet traffic, both wired and wireless. Predictions for wireless video traffic are no less impressive: 78% in 2021 over […]
Sharp/Foxconn Undeterred In Bid To Reclaim Sharp Marketing Rights
Terry Gou, chairman of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry, the parent of electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn, is looking to expand the company’s global footprint using its recently acquired majority stake in Sharp Corp., but Hisense is standing in the way. In recent weeks, Gou’s companies have been the focus of almost daily news articles concerning […]
CES at 50: Lessons Still Not Learned
Gazing at faded black-and-white photos from the first CES, which occurred 50 years ago this week in New York, it’s tough not to laugh at the antiquated gear that was considered cutting-edge at the time—fat tube black-and-white TVs when 23 inches was considered “big screen,” giant wood console cabinet TV/record player/radio combos, “portable” TVs that […]
Hungry Mobile Video: Will Next-Generation TV Feed the Beast?
Bandwidth-hungry video is viewed as an insatiable beast by those who are delivering it over crowded networks. Better compression and mobile network advances have relieved some congestion but the flames of UHD and virtual reality are licking at the heels of cellular networks. TV broadcasters think they can help relieve some of that congestion with […]
Apple Makes Play for Video’s Future at WWDC 2017
The big news out of Apple’s recent developers conference wasn’t the new, more powerful iMac Pro or refreshed Macbooks. It was the news that Apple was embracing HEVC compression across its product lines. (OK, it was big news if you’re a video compression junky!) Apple threw both of its arms around HEVC at its World […]
Emerging Markets Have Different Ideas about the Latest Video Tech
Many of the new video-tech tools are delivering the latest premium viewing experience (Ultra HDTV) to consumers mainly in developed economies. You’d be forgiven for assuming that the latest compression technologies’ sole purpose is to enable the delivery of UHD video to high-end TV displays. This application of the new technology gets all the attention, […]
Amazon Is Building a Video Empire to Crush All Rivals
Amazon is a rather unique public company. Rather than redirect its profits (when there are profits) to shareholders, its founder and president Jeff Bezos famously prefers to re-invest its huge cash inflows into furthering the business and taking bets on the future. One of Amazon’s biggest bets is video. This year, the company is likely […]