CEO Schmidt: Google TV service to start this fall

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told journalists at the IFA trade show in Berlin that the company planned to roll out its Google TV platform-which melds traditional television viewing with full Internet functionality-this fall in the United States and expand it worldwide during 2011. Schmidt said Google would seek to work with content providers but was unlikely to produce content of its own.

Sony’s Google TV-powered television makes a splash at IFA in Berlin

Sony-which is partnering with Goolge and Logitech on the development of Google TV–says it will roll out a 46-inch, Goolge TV-powered connected television in the U.S. this fall, and is demonstrating a set running on the Android OS at the IFA show in Berlin. Sony says the first set to hit the U.S. market will be a 46 inch HDTV, with a 1.2 GHz Intel Atom CE4100. Google’s brand name, and the strength of its partners, could help it step into the space aggressively

Apple introduces revamped Apple TV device

Apple unveiled its newest iteration of Apple TV yesterday, introducing a $99 device that’s roughly the size of a wallet and bears little internal resemblance to its predecessor. The set-top box-not, by the way, called iTV as rumored-is designed to stream video content from Apple’s iTunes store, eliminating the need for storage or syncing and is capable of 720p output. Jobs said the new Apple TV would be available in about four weeks. The device is powered by the A4 processor, the same Apple-produced chip that is in the iPad, and a big upgrade from previous model that relied on the Intel Pentium M processor. Although Apple didn’t say if Apple TV is running on iOS or OS X, it did say the Apple TV initially won’t have apps to run, so it’s essentially a moot point.

A Look Back: Lessons learned from TV Everywhere a year after deployment

By Marty Roberts For nearly a year now, thePlatform has been supporting some of the largest TV Everywhere initiatives to date. In that time, we’ve encountered some surprising–as well as anticipated–challenges while helping our customers architect TV Everywhere. The following is a glimpse at some of the most interesting lessons learned so far in working with programmers and service providers to bring their TV Everywhere initiatives to market. Authentication and authorization really do provide a seamless user experience One of the biggest misconceptions about TV Everywhere is that the log-in process is prohibitively complicated for subscribers to cable, telco, or other TV service providers.

Apple, Amazon and Sony join race for VOD prize

Repeat after me: Change is good, change is good… You might as well get comfortable with it, because after today there’s very little about the over-the-top delivery space that isn’t going to get some major tweaking.

Amazon.com joins race for VOD market dominance

Add Amazon.com to the growing list of digital retailers looking to increase their share of the video-on-demand market. The company has been shopping a subscription version of its existing Web-based on-demand rental service–which already is built into a plethora of connected TVs, Blu-ray players and other devices–to studio executives with the goal of having it in place before the holiday season. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that the e-retailer has had talks with General Electric, which owns NBC Universal, Time Warner Inc, and media conglomerate Viacom. The plan Amazon is offering would include TV episodes and movies, and apparently is centered on older content, which is seen as less erosive to studios’ revenue. Amazon is far from alone in hoping to expand more deeply into the living room

Amazon working on Netflix-killing streaming video service?

According to the Wall Street Journal , Amazon.com has been pitching media companies on a streaming video subscription service that would compete with Netflix. Amazon has talked to NBC, Time Warner and Viacom about a service that would work on the Web, on mobile devices, and on Xbox 360 consoles. The service could launch in time for the holidays, and there’s talk of bundling subscriptions with Amazon Prime accounts. No content providers have been confirmed for the subscription service yet, though, so that timeline is far from a sure thing. The WSJ couldn’t get an official comment from Amazon, so we’ll just have to watch and wait.

Google, Arcade Fire deliver amazing, HTML5-powered music video from the future

It takes a lot for a music video to grab my attention anymore. Arcade Fire’s HTML5 collaboration with Google , however, does a pretty damn good job. Head over to The Wilderness Downtown, punch in the address of the home where you grew up, and watch the magic unfold. The “experience” is definitely one of the most interesting demos to come out of Google’s Chrome Experiments thus far. It’s a fantastic showcase of what HTML5 and modern browsers bring to the table

Report: Justice Dept. dialing in on Comcast-NBCU deal

The other shoe finally has dropped in Comcast’s bid to acquire NBC Universal. While the FCC has been taking a hard–and public–look at the deals impact on the burgeoning online video industry, The Wall Street Journal reports that the Department of Justice also has been combing through the details of the $13.7 billion deal for the past eight months. Its focus: Whether Comcast is part of a cable and satellite effort to box out Internet video players from getting access to television programming rights. The agency’s focus reportedly is on whether Comcast–once it acquires NBCU–will make it more difficult for Internet companies to compete.

Moderating Webinar At 2pm ET Today: "How To Develop Your HTML5 Strategy"

Today at 2pm ET I’ll be moderating another StreamingMedia.com round table webinar entitled ” Developing Your HTML5 Strategy “. With many organizations embracing HTML5 to deliver video to the iPhone and iPad, there has never been a better time to learn how and why adding HTML5 to your video strategy can improve the video experiences you deliver.

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