Are you thinking about advertising your business on prime-time network TV? It might be a good investment, but for the price of just a single ad on one show, you could treat yourself to a very expensive, maxed-out electric vehicle. [More]
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Can Dateline NBC Just Run Your YouTube Clip Without Permission?
By 7.23.14
Dateline NBC (aka “The Murder Show”) recently aired an episode about a California farm manager who was killed by an explosive device that used a spring-loaded rat trap as part of its triggering system. Thus, the show featured numerous YouTube clips of rat traps doing all sorts of awesome and violent things (no actual killing of rodents, thankfully) — some of which turned up in the browsing history on one of the suspect’s home computers — but Dateline didn’t identify the creator of those videos. [More]
Broadcasters Using Aereo Ruling To Try To Shut Down Dish’s Streaming Service
By 6.30.14
The fallout from last week’s Supreme Court ruling against streaming video startup Aereo continues, with broadcasters arguing that the SCOTUS decision bolsters their legal efforts to shut down Dish Network’s Dish Anywhere service. [More]
Comcast One Step Closer To Slapping Its Logo On Top Of 30 Rock
By 6.13.14
Comcast may have its global HQ inside the world’s tallest thumb drive here in Philadelphia — and it’s even building a huge middle finger right next door to reaffirm that Philly is Kabletown USA — but the real real-estate cherry in its portfolio has yet to be adorned with the Comcast logo: 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. [More]
Comcast Signs $7.75B Deal To Broadcast Olympics Through 2032
By 5.7.14
Bob Costas fans rejoice! The International Olympic Committee has only chosen venues for its summer games through 2020, but that hasn’t stopped the IOC from quietly striking a nearly $8 billion deal with Comcast to grant NBC exclusive U.S. rights to Olympics broadcasts through 2032, meaning children conceived in the afterglow of Team Canada’s dual Curling wins at Sochi will be adults before they even have the chance to see the games broadcast on another network. [More]
NBC Says It Stopped 45,000 Instances Of Video Piracy During Sochi Olympics
By 2.27.14
When there’s a $775 million broadcasting investment on the line, you better believe that a network like NBC is going to go after video pirates just like Peter Pan and his gang in Neverland. In this case, Neverland was the Winter Olympics in Sochi, an event that NBC says it protected its rights by busting 45,000 instances of illegally posted videos or pirated streams. [More]
There’s A Secret Sochi Starbucks For NBC Staff Only, And It’s On Lockdown
By 2.21.14
NBC, the TV network with the exclusive rights to air the Olympics in the United States until about 500 years past Ragnarok, has a secret weapon as they cover the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. That amazing secret is a secret, free, staff-only Starbucks. [More]
Utah Court Issues Injunction To Stop Aereo Service
By 2.19.14
After a string of minor victories, Streaming video service Aereo, which is being sued by network broadcasters in numerous courts around the country, was dealt its first legal loss today with a federal court in Utah siding with broadcasters and issuing an injunction against Aereo from operating in the region. [More]
Comcast, NBC Won’t Let Lower-Tier Cable Subscribers Stream Olympics Online
By 2.10.14
If you don’t like the idea of watching pre-taped, heavily edited rebroadcasts of sporting events that happened eight to 24 hours earlier (and which have probably been spoiled for you by the Internet anyway), NBC is letting some viewers of most cable providers stream all the events live online. Unfortunately, those with the most basic of cable packages apparently don’t count as far as NBC is concerned. [More]
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Aereo Case; Ruling Could Impact All Cloud-Based Tech
By 1.10.14
The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it will hear the lawsuit filed by the broadcast networks against streaming video startup Aereo. How the court rules will have an impact not just on consumers’ ability to stream live network feeds online, but on all cloud-based media storage. [More]
Want To Watch NFL Playoffs Online? You’ll Need To Be A Cable Subscriber For Some Games
By 1.3.14
Streaming video technology and broadband speeds have improved to the point where watching live TV online can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing, which is one reason why many people have cut ties with their cable TV providers in recent years. But if those cord-cutters — or any DirecTV subscribers who happen to be away from home — want to watch all of the NFL playoff games online this month, they’ll need to get a friend’s cable company login. [More]
Cablevision: Broadcasters’ Attack On Aereo Doing More Damage Than Good
By 12.12.13
As you probably know, the broadcast networks have all been filing lawsuits against streaming video startup Aereo, which takes freely available over-the-air feeds and makes them available online to paying customers. While you’d expect a large cable operator like Cablevision to stand behind the networks in this fight, a new paper from the company expresses concern that the broadcasters are going too far and, if successful, may call into question the legality of all cloud-based technology. [More]
Comcast Wants To Insert New Ads Into Old Shows
By 12.2.13
I enjoy the regular watching of many TV shows, but I tend to let episodes of these shows build up on my DVR until they reach a critical mass (or wait until the episodes are about to vanish from on-demand) and I spend an entire Saturday in the Morran Cave (patent pending) binge-watching while skipping over all those old ads for movies/sales/TV premieres that have already come and gone. But if Comcast has its way, I’ll soon be skipping over completely new, more relevant ads. [More]
Comcast Wants To Be Hated Even More, Adding $1.50 ‘Broadcast TV Fee’
By 11.25.13
In a move that is both hypocritical and underhanded, Comcast is reportedly adding a $1.50/month “Broadcast TV Fee” to some customers’ bills in 2014, pretty much putting a lock on the cable giant’s appearance in the next Worst Company In America tournament. [More]
Flight Attendant Suing Jay Leno For On-Air Jokes About Her Close Relationship With A Pet Rat
By 11.19.13
Remember the American Airlines flight attendant who sued her employers over allegations that people claimed she smuggled her pet rat onboard in her underthings? She’s now claiming in a new lawsuit that the host of the Tonight Show, Jay Leno, and NBC defamed her by falsely accusing her of “engaging in bestiality and sexual misconduct with a rat.” So there’s that. [More]
Hulu Looking To Partner Up With Cable, Wireless Providers
By 11.13.13
In a move that could stem the tide of cord-cutting while also broadening Hulu’s subscriber base, the streaming video service is reportedly in talks with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and others to bring Hulu to cable customers through their set-top boxes. [More]
DirecTV, TWC, Charter Mulling Over Aereo-Like Services
By 10.28.13
While Aereo — the online service that transmits over-the-air network feeds to subscribers’ computers and mobile devices — is slugging it out with broadcasters in court, the operators of several cable and satellite services are reportedly looking to launch similar products of their own, setting the stage for an all-new TV war. [More]
Broadcasters Want To Fast-Forward To Supreme Court Decision On Aereo
By 10.9.13
When the broadcast networks first sued Aereo over allegations of copyright infringement, the TV-streaming service was only available in the New York City area. In the short time since, it has expanded to Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City, with plans to add around 20 more markets in the coming months. In a move that seems intended to preempt this growth, the networks are reportedly asking for their case to get Supreme Court attention ASAP. [More]
