Technology360

Cable seeks customers on demand

Cable seeks customers on demand. When Comcast Corp. rolled out its long-awaited video-on-demand system in Denver and Aurora last week, the cable giant promised subscribers an opportunity to change the way they watch television. ¶ Maybe so, but it likely won't happen overnight. ¶ Video-on-demand, also known as VOD, allows users to watch certain TV shows, sporting events, entertainment programs and movies at their leisure by accessing an on-screen menu. ¶ Viewers can even fast-forward, rewind and pause the programs using their remote controls. [Rocky Mountain News]

Long, winding road ahead for digital radio

Long, winding road ahead for digital radio / More stations are broadcasting it, but few listeners own receivers that can get better signal. A year ago, classical music station KDFC-FM began broadcasting a digital radio signal that gave listeners audio that sounded as sharp and crisp as a CD. One year later, only five other Bay Area radio stations have gone digital. ¶ The problem is, the advent of digital radio has come off like the proverbial tree that falls in the woods. There was barely anyone around to hear it. That's because the special receivers equipped to tune in the digital HD Radio technology weren't being sold in any Bay Area stores. ¶ But, in recent weeks, the Good Guys electronics chain has begun selling a $400 Kenwood HD Radio car stereo receiver. And this month, radio stations KFOG- FM and the Bone, which began broadcasting in digital earlier this year, are planning some system giveaways to help promote digital radio. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Projectors Offer Cheaper HDTV

Projectors Offer Cheaper HDTV In the pricey world of high-definition TVs, digital projectors -- once reserved for business presentations and high-end home theaters -- now offer an unlikely combination of virtues: enormous, flat screens at relatively cheap prices of around $1,000 each. ¶ These tabletop digital light processing (DLP) projectors work like film projectors, throwing a moving image onto a wall or screen at sizes from 20 to 200 inches, as measured from corner to corner. (DLP technology is also used in pricier rear-projection HDTVs; in those sets, the image is projected toward the viewer and onto a regular glass screen.) [Washington Post's TechNews.com]

Internet ads no longer a bust

Internet ads no longer a bust. Internet advertising has rebounded from the dog days of the dot-com bust and is on track this year to eclipse the record $8.1 billion in revenues it took in four years ago. ¶ The Internet finally appears to be living up to its promise of becoming a viable advertising medium. Although advertising on Web sites remains but a tiny fraction of the overall U.S. advertising market, it is one of the fastest-growing segments. ¶ Experts say the Web's share of total ad dollars will continue to rise when the Internet becomes more ubiquitous and the media marketplace more fragmented. [San Francisco Chronicle in SeattlePI.com]

APCO endorses Media Bureau DTV plan

APCO endorses Media Bureau DTV plan. Public safety remains committed to the idea of a hard 2007 give-back date for TV broadcasters to relinquish their analog spectrum. But if that is not realistic, the public-safety community would support an FCC Media Bureau staff proposal that would make spectrum available in 2009, according to a letter sent Thursday by the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials. [RCR Wireless News]

Bringing Young Men Back to TV

Bringing Young Men Back to TV. The case of the missing younger male viewers, which has vexed Madison Avenue during the most recent television season, may be nearing resolution, agency and network executives say. But like dogged detectives from "77 Sunset Strip," "Moonlighting" or "Without a Trace," they cautioned against declaring the case closed just yet. [New York Times]

Study: DVRs 'Recapture' 96% Of TV Ad Zapping

Study: DVRs 'Recapture' 96% Of TV Ad Zapping
. Digital video recorders (DVR) typically are seen as the ultimate threat to TV advertising, giving consumers unsurpassed control over what they choose to watch or not watch on their TV sets, including TV commercials. And while it is true that most DVR subscribers do fast-forward through TV commercials when watching programming in replay mode, new research indicates that the net effect of DVRs actually increases the likelihood that viewers will see a TV commercial not decrease it. ¶ The report, "Demystifying Digital Video Recorders," jointly published by InsightExpress and MediaPost, was based on multiple online surveys of DVR and non-DVR adopters, and finds that DVRs create incrementally higher opportunities for viewers to watch TV advertising than those viewers who do not use DVRs. The main contributors to this incremental boost are the fact that DVR subscribers have a higher satisfaction level with TV and typically spend 24 percent more time watching TV during an average week. [MediaPost]

Why XM is a better pick than Sirius

Why XM is a better pick than Sirius. Which would you rather buy: Shares of XM Satellite Radio at more than $25 a share, or shares of its biggest rival, Sirius Satellite Radio, at $3.14 a share? ¶ For investors who think that the stock with the less than $5-a-share price must be a deal, remember the old adage that you must always pay up for performance. After all, XM has a track record of steady revenue and subscriber growth, and it consistently meets Wall Street expectations. ¶ Surprise! Sirius (SIRI: news, chart, profile) shares cost 50 percent more than XM, based on 2005 price-to-sales on fully diluted shares. Sirius trades at 26.2 times projected sales. XM (XMSR: news, chart, profile) trades at 17.5 times projected sales. That means Sirius might have to take in an extra $90 million above the $182 million in 2005 revenue Wall Street already expects, just to be as good a stock deal as XM. ¶ XM appears to be as much as a year closer than Sirius to turning a profit and generating free cash flow that can be reinvested, distributed as dividends, or used to buy back stock. Yet it is the comparative bargain. [CBS.MarketWatch.com]

FCC Looks to Unclog Radio Spectrum

NPR : FCC Looks to Unclog Radio Spectrum. Watch the cars jockeying for position on any busy highway, and you'll get a picture of what radio-wave traffic would look like if you could see those signals. When two cars are in the same place at the same time, you get a wreck. The same is true for radio signals created by the growing number of wireless gadgets, from cell phones and WiFi devices to GPS devices. ¶ The Federal Communications Commission has opened a new facility it hopes will help avoid the equivalent of road rage among users of the radio spectrum. The new anechoic chamber, located at the FCC labs in Columbia, Md., is outfitted with specially absorbent tiles that ensure no radio waves can enter from the outside world. The FCC says that makes the chamber the perfect place to test devices that use parts of the radio spectrum -- and develop strategies for reducing interference. NPR's Larry Abramson reports. [NPR]

Digital Radio Mondiale, the Other IBOC

DRM, the Other IBOC. Amplitude modulation, the workhorse of LW, MW and SW broadcasting for nearly a century, has long been subjected to attempts to improve its performance using specialized analog techniques -- most of which have never quite met expectations. Even so, years of research and development in AM MW/SW digital transmission now promise to change perceptions about these narrow bandwidth radio broadcast mediums. The fruition of those efforts is manifested in two similar, yet distinctly different AM digital broadcast technologies: Ibiquty's AM HD Radio, designed primarily around the needs of U.S. broadcasters, and Digital Radio Mondiale's (DRM) systems multiple implementation approach. While the Ibiquity system has received most of the attention in the states, DRM has been building support worldwide as a replacement technology for both international and domestic broadcasters overseas. [Radio Magazine]