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Steve Ballmer Microsoft CEO believes that only IP-delivered media will survive.
“In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down. There will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network.”
“If we want TV to be more interactive, you’ll deliver over an IP network,” he said to Washington Post.
He reveals that he watches this favorite TV program, “Lost”, on the Internet, despite it comes with the four 20 seconds of ads. He does not DVR it or buy it from iTunes.
Narrowstep sold for $19 Million
Onstream Media Corp, a Florida-based digital media communications and applications company, has bought Narrowstep, a UK-born provider of Internet TV and IPTV services, in a deal worth up to $19 million.
Onstream will immediately execute a restructuring plan designed to significantly reduce or eliminate substantial costs related to Narrowstep’s facility leases and other costs. Then Onstream will be able to offer a single platform.
Narrowstep’s customers include ITV, Fox International, Outdoor Channel and Torque TV. For 2007, Narrowstep posted $6 million in sales and a net loss of $7.1 million.
TiVo’s way to compete to DVRs
Another expansion of TiVo’s feature set. TiVo will soon allow subscriber to automatically record the recommendation of the Chicago Tribune’s TV critic. This service will be available only to the roughly 100,000 TiVo subscribers in the region surrounding Chicago.
Doing so, TiVo continues to seek to differentiate their product relative to what they’re calling generic DVRs that cable or satellite customers receive from service providers.
In March, the company introduced downloads from YouTube and other Internet video.
Now TiVo is in talks about similar partnerships of Chicago Tribune with other print media outlets. The service, if extended to other markets, could create new relevance for local television critics, whose numbers have shrunk in recent years as papers cut expenses.
Wal-Mart launches free classifieds
Wal-mart.com has quietly launched a free classified service, powered by Oodle.com. The service has about 30 million items. The company says something it may sound silly.
They say that their big-name can attract newspapers around one technology and one classified portal. Are they taking on Craiglist?
