JU N E 2 0 12 (Continued on Page 6) MSOs Team Up for Wi-Fi At the National Cable and T e l e c ommu n i c a t i o n s Association Convention (NATC), which was held last month in Boston, several major U.S. cable TV firms, including Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and Cox, announced they’re joining forces on a Wi-Fi initiative. This venture would allow the cable companies’ respective subscribers to access Wi-Fi in “public hot spots,” even if they are in an area that is not served by their local cable provider. Increasingly, cable companies have been offering their customers free Wi-Fi in public areas outside the home via their mobile devices. In fact, the cable companies taking part in this initiative already have over 50,000 hot spots. Additionally, Comcast revealed a number of other ventures, including an app allowing people to use gestures to control their TVs. The cable operator has been working on making hand-held devices like iPhones and iPads function as remote controls, and now an iPhone can be used as a remote control, and the keypad can be used to search for content by title as part of Comcast’s X1 cloudenabled TV platform, which stores content in a virtual file. The service will launch on Comcast’s Boston systems before reaching the rest of the U.S. Another endeavor is Comcast’s Project Dayview service, which can transform TVs into virtual planners featuring meeting schedules, TV schedules, emails and traffic reports. Project Dayview works on TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Finally, Comcast announced that it inked a deal to carry Outside Television, a cable network based on outdoor sports magazine Outside, on its systems in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Portland and San Francisco as part of a specialty tier of sports and lifestyle channels. NATC chief, Michael Powell, a former chairman of the FCC, the U.S. regulatory agency, warned that the government should not over-regulate the Internet because it is a developing industry. However, there is some concern among media watchdogs that the absence of government oversight or weak oversight could lead cable and phone companies that deliver broadband to have an advantage over other services. Ad-Skipper Flares U.S. Broadcasters Dish Network’s new Auto Hop feature, which allows its U.S. satellite TV subscribers to skip advertisements while watching recorded broadcast TV shows, is ruffling feathers at the major U.S. broadcast networks, and FOX Broadcasting, NBCUniversal and CBS Corp. have sued the satellite company. Although pay-TV subscribers with digital video recorders are already able to fast-forward through commercials, Auto Hopgoes one step further:Dishcustomers can record primetime programming for later viewing, and during commercial breaks, the screen blacks out, with the program returning within seconds. The service is only offered for primetime broadcast programming, not for cable programming, nor can it be used for live broadcast shows such as sports events. Thenetworksclaimthatthead-skipping feature violates copyrights and, according to a statement from FOX is, “destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcasttelevisionecosystem.”Although not all of Dish Network’s 14 million subscribers have access to Auto Hop, TV executives are worried the service could adversely impact their business model by keeping them from being able to charge premiums for their commercial time. The service was rolled out on May 10, around the time broadcasters began their negotiations with advertisers over the sale of commercial time for the 20122013 TV season. FOX, NBC and CBS filed their suits in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, while Dish Network countered with its own suit against FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC (which is expected to join the other broadcast nets) in U.S. District Court in New York. Dish does not believe Auto Hop violates any laws and is not convinced it will “substantially change established consumer behavior.” Years ago, the broadcast networks sued a similar service, ReplayTV, and won on copyright infringement grounds. V I D E O • A G E 4 Swiss Television Sales Office CH 6903 Lugano Switzerland Tel. +41 91 803 54 82 Fax +41 91 803 57 25 salesoffice@rsi.ch Our complete catalogue on rsi.ch/sales Documentaries Fiction Children Entertainment Classical Music Jazz - Pop - Rock Programs A DREAM SIGNED ROGER FEDERER (DOCUMENTARIES) 25’ EGYPTIAN OASES (DOCUMENTARIES) 6 x 12’ - 1 x 35’ CASH A film by Erik Bernasconi Sinestesia "Sinestesia" chronicles the vicissitudes of four young adults in two moments of their lives which are in turn linked to two dramatic episodes three years apart. The intervening years see the characters confronted by the usual joys and difficulties of everyday life. However, they also find themselves having to react to a destiny which, every now and again, places a crossroads in our way. Fiction- 2010 - 1h30’ 16/9 High definition Coproduction: Imagofilm RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera
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