zeebox, the social TV app that combines programme guide, Tweets and friend connections on the second screen, was the overall winner at the Connected TV Awards 2012 today.

The company also walked away with the Companion Screen Prize at a ceremony at Connected TV Summit. The winners of the ‘Outstanding Connected TV Service’ category were BBC iPlayer, BBC News connected TV app, and JAZZTEL’s JAZZBOX. The three winners of the ‘Outstanding Technology Innovation’ category were DIRECTV & Samsung RUI Client/Server Solution with RVU, Accedo Application Sphere and TV App Agency Engine.

There were 75 entries in the annual awards, reflecting the dynamism and innovation around the Connected TV and second screen space. Justin Lebbon, Conference Director at Connected TV Summit, which organises the awards, comments: “The Connected TV market is evolving very quickly and is changing the way television is being delivered, and that is reflected in these awards. The judges were looking for services and technology solutions that were innovative and which met market needs, and there was fierce competition, so our congratulations to the winners.”

read more here

While pundits prefer to focus on phone hacking, News Corp’s part-owned UK pay-TV operator BSkyB is buying further in to internet TV.

Last Wednesday, the operator quietly acquired Acetrax a service that offers on-demand paid movie rental and purchase to internet-enabled TVs and other devices, according to Wednesday’s earnings disclosure.

Its Sky News UK TV channel will also become available in the U.S. and Canada for the first time via Livestation for $2.99 a month, the pair announced separately.

• BSkyB already delivers its live and on-demand TV programming, including on-demand movies, to devices including Xbox and iPad.
• And by the summer it will launch Now TV a new brand for carrying movie, sport and entertainment bundles to viewers over a similar range of devices on a more flexible, one-month contract.

“The (Acetrax) acquisition will support the continued development of Sky’s OTT activities and further strengthen relationships with connected device manufacturers and content providers,” BSkyB’s earnings report says.

This shows Sky is now serious about online distribution in the post-satellite era…

Zurich-based Acetrax already has apps on Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Toshiba internet TVs; laptops and tablets from Samsung, Lenova, Acer, Asus and Toshiba; and is even embedded on chipsets from Realtek, Awox and Sigma.

Acetrax is hoping to have 60 million apps embedded by 2015. And it operates in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Ireland, as well as the UK.

It is understood the Acetrax brand will remain in operation.

It’s unlikely Sky would have hit many roadblocks in rolling its new service out to new devices. But the deal could mean significantly easier carriage, even at the system level, for either BSkyB’s Sky- or Now TV-branded services.

“Through the acquisition, Sky will add to its experience and expertise in online video streaming, to help complement its expanding OTT activities, which include Sky Go and the forthcoming Now TV service,” a BSkyB spokesperson tells paidContent.

“In addition to Acetrax’s existing platform, Sky will also build on the existing relationships the company has established with connected device manufacturers and content providers.”

BSkyB says Acetrax gross assets as at December 31, 2011, were £2.3 million. Acquisition price was not disclosed.

read more here

Hoping to spark both the suddenly sagging U.S. TV market and Google’s struggling Android-based TV platform at the same time, consumer electronics maker LG has confirmed that it will release in the U.S. two new smart TV models based on Google TV software later in May.

Priced at $1,699 for a 47-inch model and $2,299 for another measuring 55 vertical inches, LG’s so-called “G2 Series” televisions were unveiled in January at the international Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and represent the first products from the second generation of Google TV devices.

The 3D-capable TVs will come with a Marvell dual-core chip set operating at 1.2GHz, allowing users to blend PC-like Google experiences–such as searching the Web and watching video on YouTube and Google Play–with watching good old-fashioned live TV. For its nifty new sets, LG has also developed a Wii-like gesture-based remote controller that comes with a QWERTY keyboard.

New Google TV devices are also expected from Samsung, Vizio and Sony later this year, with Sony expected to expand the platform into Europe in September.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is hoping that Korea-headquartered LG, which is the second biggest manufacturer of TVs, can help kickstart its Google TV platform, which saw one of its two initial hardware partners, Logitech abandon the technology after disappointing early sales last year.

LG, meanwhile, is hoping that connected TVs based on the popular Android software architecture will boost TV sales.

read more at

http://paidcontent.org/2012/05/01/lg-set-to-roll-out-google-tv-models-later-this-month/

Netflix may be getting out of the DVD business sooner that previously predicted, if Wednesday’s fourth quarter financial results are any indicator. The company now has close to twice as many streaming subscribers as DVD subscribers in the U.S., and it lost some 2.76 million DVD subscribers in the last quarter alone.

Netflix had 21.76 million subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter, which is 220,000 more than in the previous quarter. Internationally, it now has 1.86 million subscribers. The number of DVD subscribers shrunk to 11.17 million, down from 13.93 million in the third quarter. That means for the first time ever, streaming plans outperform DVD rentals by a ratio of close to 2:1.

The good news for Netflix is that even with its steep decline in DVD rentals, the overall number of customers is growing again. Netflix lost 81,000 US subscribers in the third quarter as a result of its unsuccessful attempts to spin off the DVD business into a separate company, as well as a price hike earlier in 2011. In the fourth quarter, that combined subscriber number once again grew by 610,000.

Netflix executives have long said they see the company primarily as a streaming video provider, with DVDs being part of a legacy business that will decline over time. However, the accelerated rate of decline could spell trouble for Netflix’s bottom line: The company has been using the shrinking but very profitable DVD rentals to finance its international expansion, which it put on hold until international profitability returns after launching in the UK and Ireland in January. With DVD customers canceling by the millions, that could now be further away than previously estimated.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote in a letter to shareholders that he expects DVD subscription cancellations to level off this year, with an expected 1.5 million customers saying good-bye to the iconic red envelopes in Q1 of 2012. From the letter:

“While contribution profit from domestic streaming will grow sequentially, it will not be sufficient to offset the sequential decline in DVD profits (~$50 million), and the sequential increase in our international losses (~$50 million), as well as cover our global G&A and Technology & Development costs. As a result, we expect modest quarterly losses, as well as losses for the calendar year.”

In other words: Netflix won’t enter any other territories in 2012, and might have to work on making more money with streaming if it wants to keep expanding in the future, because DVDs may not be around for much longer.

Source http://gigaom.com/video/netflix-streaming-vs-dvds/

BSkyB will use its new Internet TV service to target a wider audience for its content, with the aim of attracting traditionally non-Sky homes to start watching at least some Pay TV programming and movies. The new service, scheduled to launch in the first half of 2012, will have its own subscription or pay per view options and will be independent of having a Sky satellite subscription. It will be available over any broadband connection.

BSkyB already provides the option to subscribe to its services online only, through its multi-screen Sky Go offer, but has never seriously marketed the fact because the positioning for Sky Go is really about adding value for existing customers. In contrast, the whole point of the new service is that you can start watching Pay TV content without the traditional package, removing the requirement for a satellite dish or set-top box.

Sky is the UK’s largest Pay TV operator with over 10 million satellite subscribers and a rapidly growing base of broadband and voice customers. The company also has rights to some of the most popular pay content and has been building the profile of its own channels like Sky 1, Sky Arts, Sky Living and Sky Atlantic (offering exclusive HBO content). It is also investing heavily in original production. It has negotiated multi-screen rights for much of what it shows, including movies and sports, and now it wants to make the best possible use of these rights by making the content available as widely as possible. Sky Movies will be available from launch and the new service will expand to offer sport and entertainment soon afterwards.

With broadband speeds increasing and the rapid penetration of connected devices, the company thinks this is a good time to target a wider audience using OTT (over-the-top) delivery. The Sky brand is strong in the UK and the company is confident that in many non-Sky homes consumers are aware of what it offers, like the look of Sky products but are just not ready for the commitment required for a full satellite package. So a key part of the strategy is that the new service will have a more flexible bundling and pricing structure. Though there are few details yet, Sky has announced that there will be no minimum contract and there will be a variety of pricing options. For example, people will be able to pay monthly for unlimited access to Sky Movies or rent a single movie on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Read more at http://www.v-net.tv/