TV

If you enjoy watching Glee, Raising Hope and New Girl on your TV lift cabinet, then you will be happy to know these three sitcoms have been renewed by Fox.  All three shows will be renewed for another year.

According to Kevin Reilly, Fox entertainment president, “New Girl has become the hottest new appointment series for young adults”.  It is currently ranked No. 2 among young adults.  Raising Hope’s quirky sometimes offbeat humor earns it another year’s contract, while Glee is still a top 10 favorite among young adults.

Recently, newspapers across the country have been featuring a deceiving ad that looks more like a news article about Clear Cast’s “Razor thin” indoor digital HDTV antenna.  Clear Cast claims their antenna will allow consumers to enjoy up to 900 shows on their TV Lift Cabinet.  This new invention is being offered to consumers for only $38.  Once consumers purchase satellite antenna they will never have to pay for television again.

Is this too good to be true? Well, yes and no.  Sure with the indoor antenna consumers may be able to get basic television, but this “new invention” isn’t really new.  The satellite antenna is no different than the “bunny ear” antennas our grandparents used on their televisions.  The only new adaptation of Clear Cast’s antenna from grandma’s antenna is that their antenna can be suction cupped to a window.

Google search results show cheaper antennas can be found at Radio Shack and Wal-Mart for under $10.  While antennas can work, the success rates vary.  Consumers who live in cities will have better success than those who live in remote places.  For consumers who wish to go old school and try antenna, it is best to stick with a cheaper antenna and test results first, then to buy with Clear Cast.  It is essential the same technology.

Samsung just unveiled its latest 5^th generation Smart TV at a press conference in NY 24 hours before Apple was to announce their latest innovations. The new Samsung Smart TV, which will work beautifully within a TV lift cabinet, has all the latest user interface technology.  The Smart TV allows the user to operate TV using their voice, hands, or face.

How does each work?  The voice command is programmed to recognize your voice.  Simply tell TV to “open Skype app” and the TV will open Skype onto the screen. For users who wish to be remote free, they can gesture with hands to operate the TV. They can wave hand over an app and squeeze hand to click on the app desired.  This will open up app. The Smart TV can also setup individual user profiles for each family member and store profiles in the TV’s memory.  The family member can activate their profile with their face.  The family member simply stands in front of TV, lets the TV scan face, and voila!  The family member’s profile appears with favorite apps ready to go.

This smart technology will be offered in Samsung’s LED edge-lit ES8000 LCD series this month starting at $5,099 for 65” TV and priced as low as $2,999 for 46” TV.  Samsung’s perfect timing of its release of this Smart TV in front a room full of reporters, has definitely made it impossible for another company to claim “prior use” on these features.  While everyone was focused on Apple, Samsung quietly was able to sneak in and steal the show.  Samsung = 1, Apple = 0.

Intel Corp. has announced its plans to offer an Internet-based television service to consumers in the United States.  Intel has been pitching to media companies their plan to create a virtual cable operator that would offer U.S. TV channels over the internet as a bundled service.

Intel is just one of many in recent months that have announced plans to offer internet based program service in the U.S.  Netflix, Inc. paved the way for internet video streaming service back in 2008 offering Starz Play, where their subscribers could watch Starz Entertainment movies and television shows on their TV lift cabinets.  Now Hulu Plus, Amazon, Google, and Apple all are fighting for a piece of the pie in the online television market.  Some are following Netflix’s model and adopting to purchase video content.  Others like Intel are trying to push to offer live television through internet.  It is clear these companies all see television channels and video content being broadcast through the internet in the future and are rushing to be the first ones in line to offer this service to consumers.

However, all these companies face the same two hurdles – high price of TV programming and lack of quality video content.  Media companies are fighting to hold their rights over their programs and are reluctant to switch over from cable and satellite programming to internet-based.  Right now all major players have met resistance from media companies.  While Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon have made some progress in obtaining TV content deals it is still mostly “B” rated or lower content shows.  Also these content deals are not cheap.  These companies are paying billions just to build up their online libraries.

While the way of the future for television points in the direction of being broadcast via the internet, it may take some time to overcome hurdles.  If media companies continue to blockade progress, then Intel and the others may be forced to start producing their own television shows.

In order for Apple Inc. to carry out Steve Jobs’ TV vision to have Smart TVs available for TV Lift Cabinets, they need to secure TV content.  However, they aren’t getting the streaming video content they need.  The reason is they are not playing nice with TV content providers.

Apparently, Apple wants to call all the shots and dictate the price they pay for premium content.  TV content providers are not feeling as generous.  One executive complained that Apple wants “everything for nothing”.  Already TV content providers have blocked others from streaming video content.  TV networks blocked Google TV from streaming video on their website and Netflix lost Starz content this month.

TV content providers hold the higher hand.   If Apple wishes to bring the Smart TV to every living room, they are going to have to be a little lenient on their wish list and bring more cash to the negotiating table.

We knew it was only a matter of time before cable companies offered video streaming services.  As cable prices skyrocket, Americans have been turning to online video streaming companies to meet their television needs.  Online video streaming companies such as Netflix have been stealing thousands of customers from cable companies forcing the cable giants to reconsider their service packages.

To meet this new challenge, Comcast has launched its own online video streaming service called Xfinity Streampix.  This new subscription video service will offer customers the opportunity to view television shows and movies on demand.  Right now, Comcast is working with Warner Bros., Sony and Universal for content deals.  Comcast customers can add Xfinity Streampix service for an additional $4.99 each month.  Customers can stream Streampix videos to their TV lift cabinets, computers or mobile devices.

Unfortunately, this service is currently only being offered to existing Comcast customers.  It is questionable whether the added-value service will be of much benefit to existing cable customers.  If you already pay a premium for cable television service, why would you need Xfinity Streampix?  Perhaps for the customers who are traveling and wish to stream content to their phones this will be of use, but for the typical Comcast customer will this service be necessary?

Comcast would be better positioned to compete with Netflix and Amazon by offering this service to new customers.  After all, the reason most defected to Netflix and Amazon in the first place was because they could not afford cable packages.

DirecTV and TiVo are now launching their new TiVo HD DVR across the United States.  The partnership that started in 2008 between DirecTV and TiVo has finally created a strong product to offer to DirecTV subscribers.  The new TiVo HD DVR (THR22) can fit into all TV lift cabinets, record up to 100 hours of HD programming or 400 hours of standard definition shows.  The THR22 also has the ability to record two shows at a time and can access 7,000 movies on demand.

The two companies did a soft launch of the THR22 in December to select markets for its trial period.  The trial markets included New York, Denver, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.  Now after two months of test trialing, both companies feel comfortable with releasing the TiVo HD DVR to the rest of the United States.  Clearly, the trial period produced positive results.

The biggest game of the year is right around the corner. Super Bowl XLVI will go down this Sunday in Indianapolis in a contest between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. So fire up the grill, grab a cold one and gather around the TV lift cabinet. Here is a round-up of Super Bowl predictions going into the weekend of the big game.

The Giants last won the Super Bowl in 2007 in a heated battle against their current foe, the Patriots. In the third biggest upset in betting line history, the score was 17-14. This time, who do the Giants have on their side? ESPN.com, CBSSports.com and FoxSports.com to name a few. Going into the game, the Giants appear to be heavily favored.

On the other hand, New England had a better record this season and they are perennial contenders. Not to mention, vindication for Super Bowl ’07 is on the line. Will the Patriots get revenge on Sunday? According to Boston.com, the Miami Herald, San Jose Daily News and Boston Globe seem to think so.

Tune in to NBC at 6:30pm on Sunday to check out all the action of the game as well as the much anticipated Half Time Show featuring Madonna.

We give you another reason to turn on your TV Lift Cabinet this Sunday.  Madonna is scheduled to perform at the half-time show at the Super Bowl!  For those “Material Girl” fans out there, her show is sure to be her usual over the top performance.

For twelve minutes Madonna will be performing with the help of M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj.  She will be singing four songs total.  We don’t know what all four of her songs will be, but we do know one of the songs will be from her new album MDNA called “Give Me All Your Luvin”.  The other three songs will be from her older hits.

Also after the game, be sure to head to your local movie theater and check out the new Hunger Games movie.  The Hunger Games movie is based off of Suzanne Collins’ first book of her Hunger Games trilogy, and is already receiving great reviews.  This futuristic story takes place in Panem, where the countries of North America once existed.  The Capitol, a highly affluent city, holds absolute control over its twelve districts.  The Hunger Games were created to punish the districts from rebelling against the Capitol.  One boy and one girl from each district ages 12 to 18, are selected through a lottery to compete against one another in a televised battle.  They are competing to survive as only one of them can live.

Sunday is looking like a very exciting promising day to watch great entertainment.

Is Netflix making a comeback?  Netflix, Inc. saw its stock go up in value yesterday after the company was able to secure more U.S. based subscribers than expected in their fourth quarter.

Netflix has suffered in recent months after they announced an aggressive price increase which split its DVD mail-service from its streaming video service.  The price increase outraged many of their existing customers causing 600,000 subscribers to cancel their plans and its stock to plummet.

It looks like the company is slowly climbing its way out of the hole.  It is reported that the company added 610,000 new subscribers in the United States, increasing revenue by 47 percent to $876 million. Netflix’s plan is to offer more content for customers to stream to their TV lift cabinets.

Analysts doubt that Netflix will be able to return completely to their glory days as there is now too much competition in the market with Amazon and Hulu Plus gaining momentum.  Netflix casually dismissed their competition but it should be interesting to see which way viewers will sway.  Ultimately the winning company will be the one that has the best streaming content to offer customers.    With this in mind, Netflix is spending their money wisely to acquire more relevant movies and TV programs to their streaming business.