Netflix has taken connectivity issues by the scruff of the fibre in a deal with the US’s largest cable provider, Comcast, which is aimed to ensure that its content is streamed faster and more seamlessly. The multi-year interconnection deal, shifts the streaming picture into what could become a bigger trend.
Netflix is buying what Comcast brands as “non-transit" access which gives Netflix direct access to Comcast's subscriber network. The deal does not cover access to Comcast's network for routing general Internet traffic, which is its "full transit" option.
Australia’s war on internet piracy has re-ignited sparking angst among many of the affected factions and little room for resolution.
Attorney-General George Brandis has put the issue back on the hot list agenda and is considering adopting the “three strikes” system that has been introduced in New Zealand and many European markets . However, while the regulation has been viewed as effective in countering piracy in sophisticated offshore digital markets, ISPs are largely against the proposal as it put the administrative onus on them.
Hollywood has been urged to ramp up the pace and redesign its content strategy to keep up with technology. Addressing the annual Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) technical conference and exhibition in Hollywood, Thomas Gewecke, chief digital officer and executive VP for strategy and business development at Warner Bros. Entertainment, said: “this is no longer science fiction. The technology is there; the product is not.”
By all accounts CES 2014 took the relationship between screen and technology to a higher frequency. The beaming star of the show was the much hyped and heavily invested platform 4k and Ultra HD TV sets. CES featured 4k sets of every variety, from curved LED 4K sets from LG to Samsung’s malleable, bendy 85U9B LED set. The emphasis was on premium, high octane viewing experience and downward price pressure means that the consumer is winning, but the industry is struggling to make its 4K break. According to the CEA there will be 450000 UHD unit shipments in 2014.
Australia’s most significant industry event for AV and Systems Integration professionals, Integrate will be hosted in Melbourne in August. The conference and exhibition is partnering with InfoComm International and CEDIA to attract over 5,000 industry players. Australian companies like CombiTel, which specialise in IPTV and digital signage solutions will exhibit and use their presence to meet with buyers and distributors and showcase their latest technology. CombiTel MD Eugene Razbash said, “the CombiTel Group exhibited last year and it was a very successful show for us. We are very excited about taking part in the exhibition in our home city of Melbourne.”
The era of analogue television officially ended on December 10th in Australia, heralding the new dawn of digital only viewing. In what is anticipated to be a boom for retailers and electronics manufacturers, the switchover also promises to rapidly shift the appetites of the general consumer to more varied methods of digital consumption whether via IPTV, mobile or subscription TV options.
