NFL deals come with digital rights
When the National Football League yesterday struck a trio of eye-popping deals with big TV networks, the focus was rightly on just how valuable live sports have become to broadcasters today.
But buried in the press releases heralding the agreements (which will bring the NFL $24bn over nine years) was some rather revolutionary news: the TV networks also secured the digital rights to the most popular sport on television.
Over the last few months, AU Optronics, the world’s third-biggest flat-panel maker, had the dubious honour of being the last major independent flat-panel maker in the world. The Taiwanese company Thursday, however, made it clear that it agrees with its rivals: vertical integration is the way to go.
Unlike its rivals who are each allied to just one brand, however, AUO is casting its net wide by partnering with a number of Chinese TV brands. On Thursday AUO said it would add two more of its clients to this list by establishing TV assembly joint ventures in China with both Haier and TCL Multimedia.
Over the past few years, putting together desktop and notebook computers has not been enough for the Taiwanese contract manufacturers that actually produce the vast majority of the world’s PCs.
Companies like Compal, Wistron and Hon Hai – relatively unknowns names that brands like HP, Dell and Acer rely on to do the actual manufacturing – have all looked towards TV assembly as the next big driver for growth, particularly as Japanese brands like Sony and Toshiba are increasingly finding it too expensive to manage their own manufacturing operations.
US web use down, TV viewing up – Nielsen
A family argument over whether that was John Barryman on Desperate Housewives last night was resolved with a quick search on the turned-on laptop by our side (I won!).
Unlike John Barryman’s appearance, this is not a rare occurrence apparently – web-surfing is not replacing TV-watching but supplementing and even boosting it, according to research from The Nielsen Company.
So what happened to Sony’s 27″ OLED television?
In May 2008, chairman and chief executive Sir Howard Stringer said that, within the next twelve months, Sony would launch a 27″ television based on OLED – organic light emitting diode – technology.
More than twelve months later, with no 27″ version released and Sony showing only 21″ prototypes, it’s time to ask what happened.
Not another VODdy TV service!?
Amazon has found itself another route to the television and Roku another use for its set-top box under a partnership announced today.
The internet retailer has been exploring ways to widen access to its Video on Demand service beyond the computer and has already made it available through Tivo digital video recorders and Sony Bravia TVs.
Sony sees Flip is no flop
@CES, Las Vegas – Flip camcorders from San Francisco’s Pure Digital were Christmas best-sellers in the US, but electronics giant Sony has hit back in January with its own take on the low-priced point-and-shoot video cameras.
It unveiled a new line of camcorders called “Webbie HD” at its press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday evening, with the MHS-PM1 (pictured) paying homage to the Flip’s design and features.
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