Streaming Media West is in full swing and with 150 speakers and 40 sessions it’s a real gift that all the videos will be posted at StreamingMedia.com. (I’ll be reviewing the ones with Hot Topic, and HBO Broadband). The video to my Commonwealth Club Smarter TV event from earlier this week with IKEA, CBS, TiVo, Roku, Boxee, ZillionTV and Yahoo! Connected TV will soon also be available on FORA.tv. Since between the two events, there was much discussion about the features (entertainment, social, commerce) of the connected devices and their ability to serve as monetization platforms for indie content, the following is a snapshot of what was discussed and a quick overview of the market offerings.
Xbox
- 16mm consoles in North America, $33mm worldwide
- starting at $199 plus subscription to Xbox LIVE
- Content via Netflix and Zune Marketplace
(Paramount, Lionsgate, Disney, ABC, CBS, NBC, TBS, MTV, WB, MGM..)
- Indie game developers get 70/30 split on XBLA via creators.xna.com/en-US
- Xbox platform has not opened to indie content producers yet
- The Guild, their chart-topping show, was a direct deal
- Best path to get indie content on Xbox is likely via a Zune aggregator
- Magical friending features, virtual sofa sharing, FB photos, Twitter integration
- Xbox is working toward a remoteless future with Project Natal
Ps3
- 29mm consoles worldwide
- starting at $299 includes Blu-ray player, no charge for access to Net
- 10,000+ hours of downloadable content, 14,400 TV shows, 2,300 movies
- 40 partners incl Netflix, Lucasfilm, Cinetic FilmBuff, ContentFilm Intl, Image Ent, MPI Media, New Video
Showtime, Starz, G4, E!, Summit Entertainment, Weinstein, HD Net, VIZ Media, FUNimation, Magnolia,
- Best path to get indie content on PS3 is likely via New Video who also distributes to iTunes, Hulu, TV.com..
- Social integration with Facebook games
Wii
- 56mm consoles worldwide,
- Japan video service: original branded programming only
- no US movies or TV yet, Netflix maybe never
TiVo
- 3.5mm subscribers
- $249 + $129/year (also bundled with cable/sat packages)
- awesome DVR and universal search
- 50,000+ VOD movies/tv via Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, Disney,
YouTube, Rhapsody, Music Choice, Live365
- Thousands of video podcasts which indie producers can add to at:
www.tivo.com/rssvideo
- Indie producers can also get on TiVo Amazon VOD via CreateSpace.com
- in-show purchasing with remote related to specific ad campaigns
Apple TV
- 1-6mm units sold, now starting at $229
- 50,000 tv episodes,175,000 podcasts, 2500+ movies
- Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony,
Touchstone, Universal, Disney, WB, YouTube…
- Best path on to iTunes is via an aggregator like E1 or New Video
Boxee
- 700,000 downloads, expect to be at 1mm by CES
- Boxee box – TV, Blu-ray plug and play is on the way
- 180 partners incl Netflix, MLB, Pandora, Last.fm, Flickr..
- Open SDK for indie producers to put up a channel: developer.boxee.tv
- Integrating payments platform to allow for monetization
- See friends activity
Roku
- 400,000 give or take a few hundred thousand units sold
- starting at $79
- Netflix, Amazon, MLB, Revision3, Twit.tv, Blip, Mediafly
- Open SDK enables any indie producer to launch own channel
- no social integration, no merchandising
Vudu
- 100,000 units sold starting at $150
- now licensing to LG, Mitsubishi, Vizio
- On-Demand TV/Movies, Pandora, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa..
- Select video podcasts, RSS Feed not accepting indie content yet
Yahoo! Connected TV
- Available on Samsung, Sony, LG and soon Vizio and Toshiba
- Partners incl CBS, Y! Finance, eBay, Flickr, USA Today, Twitter
- Widget SDK: http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/developer
ZillionTV
- Licensing to Telcos and OEMs
- 60+ content partners including major media players:
Fox, Sony, Universal, NBC, WB, Lionsgate, Paramount
- VISA partnership to allow in-show purchasing with remote
- Best path onto ZillionTV is to pitch content@zilliontv.tv
Sezmi
-Just landed $25mm, starting a trial in LA
FLO TV
- Bought Channel 55 spectrum in digital transition
- Now able to broadcast TV without broadband capacity issues
- Focusing on mobile, personal tvs and auto-entertainment
- 3″ PTV is $249, $10/month (first 6m free with purchase)
- Branded content and indie content
- Path for indie content on to FLO TV incl MyDamnChannel
- Not sure what’s to stop FLO TV from offering 20″ as alt to cable
- FLO TV might be integrated in nexgen iPhone, stay tuned
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