Sezmi Personal TV Service now available, LA Best Buy Stores

First-ever all-in-one service integrates live TV, on-demand movies and programs, and web video; breakthrough pricing starting at less than $5 a month

Sezmi announced an introductory release of its all-in-one television service, available in the greater Los Angeles area exclusively through Best Buy. The first-of-its-kind personal TV service seamlessly integrates live television, on-demand movies and television shows, and web videos in an easily self-installed system that automatically records, recommends and organizes the favorite shows of each individual member of the family.

The Sezmi System can be purchased for $299 and includes an HD Media Recorder that automatically organizes live, recorded, on-demand and online content and can store up to 1,400 hours of programming. It also includes an advanced indoor television reception system for receiving local HD broadcast channels and Sezmi’s programming lineup of cable channels. Finally the system includes a remote control featuring personal “mi” buttons for each member of the family to quickly discover and enjoy the programming they care about most.

For more information, visit www.sezmi.com.

Boxee to Offer a Device to Put Web Video on TV

Boxee is trying to bring the boundless selection of Web video to the living-room TV. Boxee compiles music and videos from the Internet (Netflix, MLB.TV, Comedy Central, Pandora, etc.) and transposes it to a user friendly format that reflects a TV directory. Although Boxee has forged its own relationships with Web video sites, any company can make its videos available through the service. They are also facing an increasingly crowded market with more Blu-ray players, video game consoles and HDTVs having Internet capabilities.

Boxee has tried to bring network television shows into its service offering; however, TV networks prefer people are not able to watch their shows via Web videos because of missed advertising value. As a result, Hulu has largely blocked Boxee from adding its videos. Boxee says it is currently working on a Web browser, based on open-source technology from Firefox's Mozilla, so its users can manually go to any site and watch the video there.

To read more on Brad Stone's NY Times article, click here.

Will online sites take over pay TV?

At CONNECTIONS™, we often have to address questions regarding the direction of different digital living markets, the trends, opportunities, and potential pitfalls. Parks Associates research, conducted throughout the year and surveying tens of thousands of consumers, forms the foundation for these discussions. Our analysts combine their industry and consumer knowledge with our speakers’ market experience to provide attendees with a comprehensive understanding of the new opportunities.

Digital entertainment is one area that will get plenty of attention at CONNECTIONS™ in 2009. The past two years have witnessed tremendous growth in online video viewing, particularly for premium content such as television shows. In a 2008 study, Parks Associates found that more than 26 million U.S. adults with home broadband access watch TV shows on the Internet through services such as Hulu, Joost, Veoh Networks, or network portals.

So, CONNECTIONS™ will tackle the key question – will consumers begin to see their pay TV services as expendable, since so much television content is available online free of charge (and with many fewer advertisements)? Today, the number of “cable cutters” is negligible. TV 2.0: The Consumer Perspective found that 0.6% of U.S. broadband households don't pay for TV service but are watching or downloading TV shows over the Internet. That would be around 400,000 households.

Despite the popularity of Internet video, cable VoD services retain a tremendous advantage in terms of quality-of-service and the quantity of high-definition offerings. In sizing the potential market for both broadband video and pay-TV VoD services for the next five years, we see significant revenues coming to the operators for these transactional services.

These calculations do not take into account revenues from ad-supported free VoD content, though. To succeed in the free VoD space, operators will have to fine-tune their content management systems and advertising relationships in order to capitalize on nonlinear advertising revenues. Cable operators will likely follow a model similar to the Comcast Fancast development by providing a broadband VoD service that can spur advertising sales and ties back to the existing digital cable service through applications such as remote DVR programming and personal online content features. Cable operators that can develop seamless user experiences between the broadband and cable TV worlds will have an edge on their competition.

Finally, Parks Associates’ data indicate that even among active Internet video users, their likelihood of cancelling pay TV services is no higher than for all respondents. Access to live news, sports, and other exclusive programming, as well as more content in on-demand and high-definition formats, will continue to attract consumers to pay TV services. Parks Associates will track these trends throughout the year, both U.S. and worldwide, and CONNECTIONS™ sessions will feature the latest data and expert analysis on these figures and how they might change over time.

Next-steps for Video: The Consumer’s in Charge!

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA

The role of video providers is evolving rapidly. This panel discusses emerging technologies and business models for video delivery through a variety of networks.

Mary Coller Albert, CMO, Movielink, Inc.
Mark Bowles, VP, Business Development and Corporate Marketing, Staccato Communications
Patrick Harr, President, Streamload
Keith Kocho, Founder, ExtendMedia, Inc.
Ed Lee, Vice President of Business Development, Akimbo
Jim Taylor, Chief of DVD Technology and General Manager, Advanced Technology Group, Sonic Solutions
Moderator: Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

Summary of this session:
Hollywood studios, television networks, and aggregators of user-generated video content have made significant strides (and news) in experimenting with Web-delivered video content. Kurt Scherf discussed these trends in his opening remarks, stressing the following points:

• The television networks have realized that the Web is a friend – and not a foe – in their efforts to build and retain primetime audiences. They have not experienced cannibalization from their regular audiences, and online content can supplement their ad revenues.
• Download-to-burn will be a key area to watch as Hollywood considers whether to take a full-fledged leap into digital distribution. This distribution method still keeps content on tangible and copy-protected DVDs but is more efficient for retailers and the studios.
• Parks Associates is watching key trends in this space, including convergence between Web video and social networking, mobile content as a complement to both traditional and Web video content, and the role of aggregators, including such TV-on-Internet companies as Brightcove and Joost.

The panel represented a broad spectrum of actors in the online video and value-added services space. Mary Coller Albert from Movielink discussed the continued push by the studios to embrace online distribution. Mark Bowles from Staccato Communications indicated that wireless personal-area networking solutions such as ultra-wideband will increase consumption of mobile video content. Patrick Harr at Streamload predicted that 70% of all data kept by consumers will be user-generated content, making storage an important issue. Keith Kocho from ExtendMedia indicated that the costs to deliver video over the Internet have dropped tremendously, fueling the growth of online distribution. Ed Lee at Akimbo said that they have been surprised by the lure of niche content, including anime and other culturally specific programming. Tim Hogan from Sonic Solutions stressed the importance of secure delivery of content. The panelists agreed that user interfaces will change radically as content and service providers deploy a wider array of video offerings.