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November 2007
- Now Cable is Watching You
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 25, 07 10:53 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Viewing data flashed from cable boxes is being used to monitor family viewing habits and then target advertising more selectively to cable customers. The Wall Street Journal reports the new process comes from Navic Networks, an interactive TV company in Massachusetts, comparable to technology used by Internet advertisers, and is undergoing tests with several different cable operators. More »
- Sliding Comcast Refocuses as Phone Companies Dial In
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 8, 07 12:23 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The face of cable television is changing as phone companies move in, offering high-speed Internet, high-def TV, and on-demand video, the Wall Street Journal reports. But cable giant Comcast, with the nation’s largest subscriber base, is fighting back, gaining 10 phone users for every video subscriber it loses and cutting into its competition. Nevertheless, its stock is hurting. More »
- Soon, Advertisers Will Get You Too
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 8, 07 12:08 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - With cable companies crowding the TV recording industry it once lorded over, TiVo has found a new revenue stream – selling advertisers info about commercial skippers. Already purveyors of minute-by-minute ratings for shows, TiVo will now offer demographic details to hungry advertisers, the Wall Street Journal reports. “I want to know which segments of my customers are skipping my ads,” one marketer said. More »
October 2007
- Netflix in Heated Race for Online Movies
  
  Washington Post | Oct 27, 07 3:10 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - They beat Blockbuster, but can Netflix outpace rivals in the race to show downloaded movies on TV? "It's like a three-act play, and we're in the opening minutes of the second act," said Netflix exec Steve Swasey. Act two is where startups like Vudu take on giants like Amazon to plug home TVs into the ‘Net—while Netflix tries to adapt before its DVDs hit the dumpster, the Washington Post reports. More »
- Google Partners With Nielsen to Tackle TV Ads
  
  New York Times | Oct 24, 07 12:21 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Google’s enormously successful advertising tracking system is making the move to television, reports The New York Times , in a partnership with television ratings expert Nielsen. With the growing popularity of digital video recorders and download services that allowstelevision watchers to time shift skip ads on their television sets, advertisers have grown increasingly anxious to know more. More »
- Getting the Word Out on Digital TV
  
  Associated Press | Oct 16, 07 4:33 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - What's on TV? Soon, it will be an unprecedented $697 million campaign to get the word out on the upcoming switch to digital broadcasting. Starting February 18, 2009, viewers without a digital set or special converter box won't be able to watch TV. The upcoming educational campaign "may be the largest volunteer effort in the history of television," says the National Association of Broadcasters chairman. More »
- DirecTV HD Rollout Forces Cable to Respond
  
  Wall Street Journal | Oct 11, 07 2:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - DirecTV is turning up the heat on the HDTV competition, claiming it will offer 100 hi-def channels by the end of the year, while current technology limits many cable companies to no more than 20-30. With 55 HD channels already available on the satellite provider, some competitors are trying to downplay the additions by asking whether there are many more HD channels worth watching. More »
- The Voodoo is Weak for Vudu Movie Box
  
  Wall Street Journal | Oct 10, 07 12:04 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Downloading movies to your TV might seem convenient in theory, but in practice the Vudu is bad magic, the Wall Street Journal says. Sure, its setup and interface are easy, and the picture quality’s good. But sparse selection, high prices and slow downloads sink the device. Vudu’s 5,000-title selection pales before Netflix’s 85,000, and popular movies are in short supply. More »
- New Deal Lets Users Stream Music Via TiVo
  
  Wall Street Journal | Oct 9, 07 9:57 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Rhapsody, the digital music arm of RealNetworks and Viacom, has inked a deal to allow its content on TiVo digital video recorders. Rhapsody allows users to access—but not download—an unlimited number of songs for a monthly fee, and today's agreement will allow users to stream that content into home theater systems, says the Wall Street Journal . More »
- LCD Flat Screens Get Flatter
  
  ComputerWorld | Oct 4, 07 2:33 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Much like modeling, electronics companies are now competing to make LCD TVs thinner and thinner, Computerworld reports. Sony is leading the way with its release Monday of the world's first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television, boasting a screen just 3mm thick. Competitors Hitachi, Sharp, and JVC are close behind, with new prototypes bent on shaving a few millimeters off. More »
September 2007
- Do Not Adjust Your Flat Panel TV
  
  Wall Street Journal | Sep 23, 07 5:06 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Wall Street Journal’ s Joe Morgenstern needs you to know that you’re watching your HDTV wrong. Next generation televisions are built for a 16:9 aspect ratio, he explains, so normal TV’s 4:3-formatted programming only looks right when bordered by black boxes. But TV owners who paid a premium for the big sets are stretching images beyond reason. More »
- Are We Finally Ready for 'Smellovision'?
  
  Associated Press | Sep 11, 07 12:19 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An olfactory entrepreneur is trying to revive "Smellovision"—the Edsel-era technology that pipes appropriate scents to movie audiences. Megan Dickerson has been showing "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" in an open-air theater outside the Boston Children's Museum, complete with the odors of blueberries and banana taffy. "There's been a crazy response to the movement," she says. More »
July 2007
- TV Networks Twitter About New Service
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jul 16, 07 9:36 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - TV networks, always on the prowl for new marketing ploys, are tapping into Twitter. Using the popular 140-word-or-less free instant messaging service, fans can receive (very) short updates and promotions from their favorite shows by text message or email. The twitter-sphere is still relatively small—there were only 370,000 users in June—but marketing execs say they're investing in early adapters. More »
May 2007
- TV Moguls Blast Web Rivals
  
  Reuters | May 9, 07 8:01 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A panel of top television executives at a Vegas conference yesterday went on the offensive against their digital rivals, blasting the perception that cell phones, the Web, and other digital formats are killing their business. Quite the contrary, pronounced Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons: "The Googles, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux Nation." More »
April 2007
- The Fall, And Rise, Of Television
  
  Wired | Apr 7, 07 11:11 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - TV executives are biting their nails over the future of their medium, even as conventional indicators suggest it's never been stronger. Wired reports that sitcoms and dramas are winning, not losing, audiences, but through financially amorphous pipelines like DVDs, iTunes downloads and even homemade web-casts. "Traditional TV won't be here in seven to 10 years," warns CBS producer Kim Moses. More »
- Google Scores First Deal to Serve TV Commercials
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Apr 3, 07 9:32 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Drunk with its success at dominating the internet ad business, Google wants to start serving up TV commercials, too. The first company to sign up is EchoStar Communications, a satellite TV provider which will announce today a deal with Google to broker commercials across its 125 TV channels. More »
March 2007
- Big Guns Battle Video Sharing With Free TV Shows
  
  Washington Post | Mar 23, 07 9:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - TV biggies NBC Universal and News Corp. are teaming up to hit YouTube with the full force of their their combined TV content, offered online for free. Starting this summer, AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and News Corp. subsidiary MySpace will hope to win over internet users (and the advertising that goes with them) with shows like 24 and Heroes . More »