Thursday, October 23, 2008

Internet TV Appliances

NetFlix and Tivo provide ability to access over the top Internet TV using video appliances.

The Samsung BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 Blu-ray DVD players now provide access to streamed content from NetFlix. NetFlix offers more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes as part of this service. These two devices are available for $400 and an upgrade is available for current owners.

Jaman has opened up its library of mostly independent, foreign, and documentary films for rent on TiVo DVRs. Jaman will provide indie titles such as The Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as Bollywood and anime films, with pricing starting at $1.99 per title.

CinemaNow will offer TiVo users new and classic films from Walt Disney, including downloads of titles such as Dumbo and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Pricing starts at $2.99 per rental.

The new content from Jaman and CinemaNow will be available on Series 2, Series 3, and TiVo HD DVRs.

Tivo also has a deal for digitally downloadable content from Amazon.com Amazon Unbox service and with YouTube that would make user-generated content available through its Series 3 or TiVo HD DVRs.

Support for over the top Internet TV in consumer video appliances provides a real threat to the Telco IPTV and cable TV services. The Telco IPTV providers and the other Pay TV providers need to incorporate this type of content into their services to maintain its dominance of the TV market in the U.S.

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