CES 2012: Dish offers week of prime-time shows on demand

The capacity of today's hard drives is so enormous, the average consumer might have a tough time figuring out what to do with it. Dish Network has an idea: How about giving TV viewers the chance to watch every prime-time program on the four major networks that they missed in the last week?

The satellite operator, which is the third-largest pay-TV provider in the United States, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday that its new Hopper digital video recorder will have an extra tuner dedicated to capturing all the prime-time programs broadcast by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. It also will have a 2-Terabyte hard drive, giving it enough room to hold on to all those recordings for eight days -- along with hundreds of hours of movies and shows chosen by each Hopper's owner.

It's a gimmick, sure, but a potentially useful one -- both for Dish and for its customers. Dish rival Time Warner Cable offers a "look back" service that enables subscribers to watch a broad range of prime-time programming from the previous three days, although the recordings are stored at the cable company's central office, not in subscribers' homes. Unlike a digital video recorder, however, the service doesn't let viewers fast-forward through commercials, which is one of the most appealing features of a DVR like the Hopper.

In addition, the Hopper helps close the gap between the time a show is broadcast and when it becomes available online through Hulu and other authorized sites. Networks routinely hold programs back until the day after they're broadcast; Fox delays them for eight days, although Dish subscribers can get those programs within a day. With a Hopper, there is no waiting.

The ultra-roomy hard drive also enables Dish to store a large supply of movies and shows for on-demand viewing, albeit not to the extent that cable operators can. On-demand service has long been cable's big advantage over satellite; cable is a two-way network that can send programming on request to individual homes, but satellite is a one-way system that broadcasts programming to entire regions.

Satellite operators have tried to overcome that technological disadvantage by teaming up with broadband providers to offer on-demand services through the Internet, and by caching programs on their subscribers' DVRs that can be unlocked for viewing on demand. The larger the capacity of the DVR, the larger the library of programs that can be cached.

The Hopper is designed to feed smaller set-top boxes, called Joeys, in other rooms of the home. According to Dish, a home equipped with a Hopper and three Joeys can watch four different recorded shows simultaneously.

RELATED:

CES 2012: What it's got, what it doesn't

CES 2012: Tobii technology enables your eyes to control computers

CES 2012: Rovi lets movie fans convert DVDs to digital files for a fee

-- Jon Healey

Healey writes editorials for The Times' Opinion Manufacturing Division. Follow him at @jcahealey.

Image: A Hopper digital video recorder. Credit: Dish Network

TV DVR units consume $3 billion in energy -- mostly while turned off, study says

DVR set-top boxes and the state of Maryland have another thing in common besides “The Wire”: Both eat up 27 terawatt-hours of electricity a year.

The 160 million digital video recorders, cable and other pay-TV boxes sitting in 80% of U.S. homes cost consumers about $3 billion in electricity costs, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Two-thirds of that cost comes from inactive boxes that aren’t recording or playing back shows.

The technology, which requires more power than an average new flat-screen television, sucks up the same amount of energy each year as is produced by nine coal-burning power plants. Read more at The Times’ Greenspace blog.

RELATED:

Plasma screen TVs: The next environmental threat?

State mandates power-saving TVs

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: TiVo Series3. Credit: TiVo

Sezmi charts a new path to competition with cable

Sezmi stunned subscribers in Los Angeles Friday night by telling them it would no longer be offering a package of popular cable networks as part of its pay-TV service. But the company isn't scaling back, co-founder Phil Wiser said in an interview -- it's switching technologies.

Sezmi positioned itself as a low-priced alternative to cable when it made its debut here about a year ago, offering a basic tier for $5 a month and a "Plus" package for $20. The basic tier consisted of local digital TV channels transmitted over the air to a high-tech indoor antenna, plus YouTube, podcasts and broad selection of video-on-demand programming delivered through subscribers' broadband connections. The "Plus" tier added 23 cable networks, which were transmitted over the air by local broadcasters who had agreed to share their spectrum with Sezmi. It was available only in Los Angeles; in 35 other markets, Sezmi was offering just its $5-a-month service.

Using local stations to deliver cable channels was efficient, but striking the necessary deals with broadcasters in each market was time-consuming and expensive. So the company decided instead to transmit that programming over broadband, expanding on the technology it had built for its video-on-demand service. "If we can deliver those signals over a broadband connection," Wiser said, "why would we go city by city? We would take the live signals, whether they’re cable channels or other live signals, and deliver them the same way we deliver on demand."

In other words, instead of being a hybrid of broadcasting, datacasting and online video, Sezmi is switching to a more conventional "over the top" model that combines local broadcasts with broadband. The Plus tier will return ...

Sezmi to scale back service in Los Angeles

Sezmi, a low-priced competitor to cable TV, plans to scale back its service drastically in Los Angeles -- the market where it was testing its most ambitious product offering.

In a notice to subscribers Friday evening, the company announced that it was shutting down its Sezmi Select Plus tier, a $15-a-month option that consisted of TNT, Nickelodeon and 21 other cable networks. Instead, it will stick with the $5-a-month offering that consists of local broadcast stations, a video-on-demand service and a (very) limited selection of video from the Web.

The idea behind Sezmi was to compete with other pay-TV offerings by offering not just a much lower monthly fee, but also a much different experience. Much of the service is geared toward enabling, even encouraging, people to watch programs on demand instead of channel surfing. The required $150 worth of hardware includes a high-capacity digital video recorder, which the Sezmi software tries to fill with programs that match the viewer's tastes. The service also provides access to a large library of movies and TV programs for purchase or rental.

That aspect of Sezmi won't change with the elimination of the Select Plus tier. Now, L.A. joins the 35 other markets around the country where Sezmi has offered only the basic tier. But with no access to any live cable networks, it will be hard for mainstream consumers to see Sezmi as a real alternative to cable or satellite TV. Instead, it seems more like a lower-priced competitor to TiVo -- an "over-the-top" offering that's built around broadcast TV, a DVR and Web-based video on demand.

Dropping Select Plus could make it easier for Sezmi to expand its footprint, though. The company's plan was to use local TV stations (and, to a lesser extent, the Internet) to broadcast cable networks, avoiding the enormous up-front costs of stringing wires to subscribers' homes. To do so, however, it had to strike airwave-sharing deals with multiple stations in each market.

Another challenge for Sezmi was adding major cable programmers to the Select Plus tier on terms that fit its model. Among the major missing pieces were ESPN, regional sports networks and commercial-free movie channels. The fees demanded by those channels would have forced Sezmi to collect more from subscribers -- possibly from all subscribers, as the owners of some of those networks resist being moved into niche tiers.

Not surprisingly, founders Buno Pati and Phil Wiser put the company's move in a more positive light in Friday's notice to subscribers:

In 2010, we have been pleased to see our vision for a value oriented TV alternative continue to accelerate. In fact, the pace at which we can deliver more TV and movie programming through the Internet has exploded. This ongoing change will enable us to deliver the Sezmi experience to a nationwide base of TV consumers faster than we could otherwise. We can also provide access to more programming with more flexibility in viewing as we expand our content offering over time. 

They can move faster, but can they persuade more people to sign up with less programming to offer?

-- Jon Healey

Healey writes editorials for the Los Angeles Times' Opinion Manufacturing Division.

 

How Sezmi stacks up

If digital cable and Verizon's FiOS are version 2.0 of pay TV, then Sezmi is version 2.5. It's a step in the right direction, but still a work in progress.

Sezmi is a hybrid of over-the-air, cable and online television services, combining more than 50 local stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties with 23 cable networks, hundreds of on-demand movies and TV shows (most of them available on a pay-per-view basis), YouTube and video podcasts. The local stations and cable channels are broadcast over the air to a customized indoor antenna that Sezmi supplies. The rest of the programming is delivered through a broadband connection, although the company plans to do some combined broadcast and broadband transmissions to boost picture quality (more on that later). Some of the local stations and on-demand programs are available in true high definition, while the cable channels and online video seem to be in various grades of standard definition.

Unlike Boxee, Sezmi doesn't try to bring much of the online video universe to the TV screen. There's no Hulu, no Revision3, no Netflix streams. But also unlike its "over-the-top" rivals, Sezmi tries to deliver a full-fledged alternative to cable at a much lower price. And it succeeds, albeit with some important caveats.

TiVo wins court ruling against EchoStar; stock soars

TiVo's shares soared more than 53% after the company announced it had won a key ruling in federal court in a long-running patent infringement case against EchoStar's Dish Network.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Eastern District of Texas paves the way for TiVo to potentially claim within a year as much as $300 million in damages and sanctions, a windfall for the financially strapped pioneer of digital videorecorders.

TiVo, in a statement, suggested that even more money could be forthcoming. The lawsuit covers violations up to July 1, 2009. But TiVo maintains that EchoStar's digital videorecorders continued to infringe its patents after July 1, entitling it to additional damages.

"We will also seek further damages and contempt sanctions for the period of continued infringement" after the period covered by the lawsuit, the Alviso, Calif., company said. Depending on how the damages are calculated, this could yield an additional tens of millions of dollars for TiVo.

EchoStar promised an appeal. "We are disappointed in the Federal Circuit's split decision," the Englewood, Colo., satellite TV company said in a statement. "Therefore, we will be seeking en banc review by the full Federal Circuit."

Only a fraction of cases requesting an en banc review, which would involve all of the federal appeals court judges within the circuit, are granted each year, and only to cases that have broader legal implications. EchoStar has until March 18 to file a request.

Analysts are skeptical of EchoStar's chances of winning a review. "That will lead to another two-week delay, but is very likely to go in TiVo’s favor," Tony Wible, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott, wrote in a note to investors. "After this process, we believe Dish would have 30 days to land a commercial deal with TiVo or risk having its DVR's deactivated."

For now, EchoStar said the ruling does not affect its 14 million satellite customers.

TiVo has struggled to reap the benefits of the technology it helped pioneer 10 years ago when it introduced a digital videorecorder that let viewers record and pause live television shows. The popularity of TiVo's features spawned numerous copycats. Cable and satellite companies, including EchoStar, rushed to integrate similar features in their own set-top boxes, rather than license TiVo's technology.

TiVo's shares climbed $5.46 to $15.67 in midafternoon trading after the announcement of its legal win.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

TiVo unveils next-generation box, promises to reinvent television watching (again)

TiVo, the company that claims to have reinvented the way people watch television, is now reinventing itself.

A decade after the company shipped its first digital video recorder, causing panic among TV executives who feared what the 30-second fast-forward button would do to their ad sales, TiVo is launching a new box and a revamped look and feel (this time, triggering far less hand-wringing from broadcasters).

First, the boxes themselves will feature beefier hard-drives -- the better to store all that high-definition video. Its standard "S" device will have 320 gigabytes of storage, or about 45 hours of high-quality video, and retail for $299. And the premium "XL" version will sport a 1-terabyte drive, enough for 150 hours of HD video, and cost $499. Both are slated to be out in early April.

But the second and more interesting change is a complete redesign of what viewers see on the screen from their TiVos. The Alviso, Calif., company characterized the new design as its first new software platform in 10 years.

In fact, it's a culmination of how TiVo has worked to reinvent itself over the last three years -- by folding in every channel of content imaginable, including YouTube, Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix Instant Watch. Throw in 42,000 hours of cable and broadcast content piping into every home every day, and you have a content tsunami.

In the past, TiVo's solution was to just record shows similar to what a user watched before. Users could give the shows a thumbs up or down and TiVo would adjust what it automatically recorded. Fast-forward a decade, and the feature loses its edge because of the influx of on-demand options and Internet video. (For one thing, most Internet video needs to be actively clicked on, not prerecorded in TiVo fashion.)

 "There is so much content coming to the TV from broadcast, cable and broadband that we needed a new way for consumers to make sense of it all," said TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers.

TiVo's answer: Give viewers more options and recommendations. The new TiVo, for example, lets users browse content related to a specific actor or director. It will automatically build recommendations based on themes, such as the Olympics or the Oscars. And it will pull video from the Internet into the mix, not just televised shows. Check out a sample screen for the new TiVo interface to the left.

"We're preparing for a world of infinite choice," said James Denney, vice president of TiVo. "When choice is overwhelming, we want to help you find the things you like. Part of it is making TV more fun, and part of it is helping you to discover new things to watch."

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Google teams up with TiVo to give advertisers a clearer picture

Google and TiVo have been responsible for a good deal of anxiety within cable and network television circles. Put both together in the same sentence, and you have the potential need for some serious psychotherapy.

Yes, the two Silicon Valley companies are teaming up. Google, which sells television and online ads, today said it agreed to subscribe to TiVo's user data.

Here's where the fear and loathing come in. Google promises that advertisers pay only when their ads are seen. But TiVo lets viewers fast-forward through commercials. Now, with TiVo's data, collected from millions of digital video recorders across the country, Google can tell exactly which of those commercials are being bypassed. If all the commercials are being skipped, the channel gets no money. It's easy to see why TV executives get heartburn over this.

Google currently has an agreement with EchoStar to sell ads on its Dish Network and collect similar data from the satellite TV company's subscribers.

Information is the stock and trade of Google, which distinguishes itself by its ability to tell advertisers how often their ads are seen. On the Internet, that's a relatively trivial trick to tally up "clicks" or "impressions." But that's harder for television.

"In general, the feeling is that TV needs more accountability for the audience it is delivering to advertisers," said Todd Juenger, vice president of TiVo's 4-year-old audience research business, said in an interview. "Right now, TV is kind of fuzzy. It is such a powerful medium, but it suffers from a lack of tools to measure its impact. We help to provide those tools."

Today, the 800-pound gorilla is Nielsen Co., whose TV show ratings determine how much networks can charge for ads on certain shows. But Nielsen focuses on how many people watch a given show.

Google, however, wants second-by-second feedback on whether people are watching ads and who is watching them. Through its deal with EchoStar, Google already processes more than 1 billion channel clicks a day to determine whether a client's ads are seen, at least by satellite TV customers.

"Now we have TiVo data to add breadth and depth," said Mike Steib, director of emerging platforms at Google.

Steib and Juenger are cautious to add that the data are "anonymized," so Google and advertisers cannot trace viewing behavior back to any individual.

They also argue that networks have little to fear. About 3 in 10 companies that buy TV ads through Google have never advertised on TV before, Steib said. "Our system makes it easy for people to buy TV ads," he said. "We're lowering the barriers to entry, which has the effect of growing the market."

Juenger delivered a similarly soothing message: "More and more marketing dollars are being directed to Internet and search largely because of the accountability those mediums offer. If you are confident that you’re getting what you’re paying for, you’re more inclined to pay. To the extent that we can do that for TV, that ought to stimulate demand."

In this economy, TV executives are likely to embrace anything that stimulates demand. Even Google and TiVo.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Image courtesy of Dan Hontz.