AllThingsD » Boxee

Roku Plays Nice With Cable Guys

Lauren Goode — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:36:38 +0000

Roku is one of the cord-cutter’s favorite tools, because its devices make it easier to get video on your TV without paying for a cable subscription. But as Roku plans to more than double the current number of apps on its platform, it is putting a particular focus on cable apps — ones that will still require users to keep those cable subscriptions.

Roku’s founder and chief executive officer, Anthony Wood, has said that Roku users can expect to see more cable apps from providers like Comcast, Verizon, and others working on the platform, as the Saratoga, Calif.-based company ups the number of apps running on its devices from 400 to around a thousand by the end of the year.

Currently, content from HBO GO and Epix plays on Roku boxes — provided that the user is paying for and can authenticate the apps through cable services like AT&T U-verse, Charter, Cox, RCN and Verizon FiOS.

And on the cable side, providers like Comcast and Verizon have introduced their own apps, which, as my AllThingsD colleague Peter Kafka has pointed out, allow subscribers to stream channels to their iPads while they’re in the home — and not too far away from that cable box.

You’ve probably heard a lot about cord-cutting in recent years — though the data on this trend is still somewhat contradictory. With cable companies launching streaming apps, and streaming device makers looking to cable content, both sides of the TV-content coin are acknowledging the same thing: We’re not entirely sure yet that cord-cutting is a real phenomenon, there’s evidence that consumers want both cable TV and Internet streaming options, and the industry could stand to experiment a little bit while it all shakes out.

But for Roku, which brought the first Netflix-centric device to the market and has since sold around two and a half million boxes, it also means trying to take a greater stake on the hardware side. Basically, Wood said, his idea is that users will be able to get most if not all of their cable needs through a Roku product.

Roku also recently announced a cordless “streaming stick,” which is meant to enable Internet video streaming on a non-connected television set. Despite predictions that “smart,” Internet-connected TVs are set to take off over the next couple years, Wood is taking a long-term view with the streaming stick, targeting the consumers who initially won’t be looking to buy new smart TVs. He has also said that the stick, a flash-drive-sized device that plugs into the back of a TV set, will allow for easier, regular software updates to TV apps.

“While we can’t necessarily compete with gaming consoles, we see it as less likely that a family would have an Xbox paired with every TV in the house. But they might have a Roku device with every TV in the house,” Wood said, referring to Roku’s relatively low cost structure.

Wood’s assertions arrive as the Federal Communications Commission is considering a rule change that would require consumers that patch into low-tier or basic cable channels to use some sort of cable set-top box to do so, rather than access cable wires directly (and for free). One start-up, Boxee — which makes the video-streaming Boxee Box and just threw its efforts behind a Live TV stick that’s meant to provide users with basic cable channels — has openly opposed the potential change, saying that it would harm innovation in the set-top box space.

It’s unclear if or when this ruling will come to pass, though VentureBeat reports that it could come within a few weeks.

But Roku’s strategy to bring more cable apps aboard its platform is a different tack than the one Boxee is taking, since Boxee has marketed itself explicitly as a cord-cutting tool, whereas Roku is eyeing the idea of a holistic TV-watching solution.

Roku to Launch Cordless Streaming Stick for TVs

Lauren Goode — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:59:16 +0000

Roku, maker of competitively priced set-top boxes that stream Web video on TVs, is introducing a new device it thinks will offer a simpler option for Internet connectivity than some “smart” TVs.

Today, the company is unveiling plans for its Roku Streaming Stick, a flash-drive-sized dongle that plugs into the back of television sets to enable the same streaming capabilities as a Roku box.

The Streaming Stick will deliver HD streaming video and feature Wi-Fi capabilities, a processor and upgradable software. The Stick won’t require any cables or a separate remote. It will, however, work only on TV sets with HDMI ports that are enabled for Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL).

Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood said the company plans to continue making Roku set-top players. But as the television industry shifts more toward smart TVs that connect to the Internet without use of an additional device, Roku wants to be the solution that TV manufacturers look to in the interim.

The connected TV category is forecast to grow at a 30 percent compound annual rate between now and 2014 — up to more than 123 million shipments, according to a report from DisplaySearch earlier this year. The report also predicts continued complexity in the market, with a variety of streaming video services available to consumers, and tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft — in addition to smaller companies like Roku and Boxee — offering boxes for streaming Internet media.

Wood points out that despite the growing number of smart-TV shipments, Roku believes the actual connectivity rate on those TVs is still relatively low. Consumers, he said, are still looking for devices that can be easily upgraded when it comes to getting the Internet on their television sets.

Roku hasn’t yet determined the price of its Streaming Stick, but Wood said it would likely cost between $50 and $100, and will ship in the second half of 2012. While Roku hopes to partner with television manufacturers to bundle the dongle with TV purchases, the Streaming Stick will at first be sold individually, as well as alongside Insignia brand TVs from Best Buy.

California-based Roku launched in 2008 with the introduction of the first Netflix streaming player. Its lineup of devices now includes the Roku LT, the Roku 2 HD, the Roku 2 XD and the Roku 2 XS, which have around 400 channels and apps, including Netflix, Pandora, HBO GO, Vimeo, Hulu Plus, and Amazon’s streaming video service. The Roku 2 XS also offers Angry Birds, which can be played using a Roku XS remote.

Wood said sales of Roku players are up 300 percent over last year, with around 2.5 million Roku devices sold. He added that the company has been focused recently on casual games, with the introduction of Pac-Man and Jeopardy game apps on Roku, in addition to Angry Birds. Roku is also broadening its retail presence to more than 13,000 storefronts across the U.S.

Roku isn’t the only small set-top box maker shifting its strategy to adapt to the growing market for smart TVs. Boxee, maker of the Boxee Box, recently said it would offer a Live TV dongle for watching TV programming through the Box. Shortly afterward, the start-up also said it would be releasing its last software update for its PC-based application, as it focuses more on TV-compatible devices.

Boxee to Release Last Software Update for PCs

Lauren Goode — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:32:50 +0000

Boxee, creator of the Boxee Box, a D-Link device that streams live video to your television set, is getting ready to deploy updated software for PCs and Boxee Box devices.

An expected software update on a slow day at the end of December is hardly big breaking news. But for start-up company Boxee, it signals a shift away from its software for PC browsers and a focus on Internet-connected TVs: The company says version 1.5 of the software will be its last Boxee update for PCs, Ubuntu and Mac computers.

It will be launched along with a Live TV dongle for the Boxee Box later in January.

Version 1.5 of the downloadable software on the Web will include better file support, a new onscreen display, search functionality, HTML5 WebKit-based browser, and will support multiple languages. It will run on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit), Mac OS X 10.6 and higher, Linux Ubuntu 11.10, and will be available on Boxee.tv through the end of January.

And for those who would rather develop their own software for Boxee: The company is also releasing an open source version of its software.

The update won’t, however, offer PC users access to the same apps that are available on the Box, such as Netflix, Pandora and VUDU.

Boxee first launched in January 2010 as a Web application for watching Internet video online. In November 2010, it launched its awaited Boxee Box device, which came with a nifty Qwerty-style remote and offered a variety of apps — but it launched amid a growing market of Internet-connected TV boxes, including Apple TV, Google TV, Microsoft’s Xbox and the competitively-priced Roku box. At the time of the Boxee’s hardware launch, about 1.5 million people were using the Boxee software.

Boxee explained its shift away from Web software by saying it believes the future of TV will be driven by Internet-connected boxes, connected TVs and second screen devices like tablets. “While there are still many users who have computers connected to their TVs, we believe this use case is likely to decline as users find better alternatives,” Boxee wrote.

The company also said that the lack of premium apps on the downloadable version of Boxee was due to extensive DRM and certification requirements.

Boxee Sells Live TV (That You Already Get for Free) With a Big Dose of Cord-Cutting Rhetoric

Peter Kafka — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:07:02 +0000

Boxee has a new $50 gadget that makes it easier to toggle between broadcast TV and Web video options. CEO Avner Ronen has a blog post explaining/selling the doodad, but for me the rollout is a good chance to get Ronen to update us on the state of Boxee, and “over the top”/cable-free video in general. (Also, a good chance to say “dongle.” Always fun.)

Over the past few years, Ronen has flipped back and forth as he positions his company. Initially, he sold Boxee’s software as a way to help nerds watch video without having to pay for cable; then, as he attracted the attention — and ire — of many TV programmers he wanted to work with, he toned that rhetoric down.

Now he’s turned it back up. “This is a cord-cutting device,” he says in person, and the company’s marketing materials drive that home (see the image above).

Ronen claims that 2 million people a month use some combination of his gadget or his software. He says half of them have either cut the cord or never bought one in the first place — that is, they’ve never paid Comcast, Time Warner Cable or anyone else for a video subscription (though they’re almost certainly paying them for broadband).

Pitching yourself as the cord-cutter’s pal is an excellent way to attract attention, but it will make it hard to ever make headway with the big content guys who make a lot of money from cable.

Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that while Boxee announced it had a deal with Hulu a year ago, the video service’s subscription service has yet to appear on Ronen’s box. (Reminder: Hulu is still owned by a joint venture that includes Disney, Comcast and News Corp., which also owns this site.)

[ See post to watch video ]

Ways to Make Web Watching More Like TV, Less Like a PC

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:04:16 +0000

Some folks watch movies, TV shows and videos from the Internet on their TVs by plugging in their computers, using ugly cables, keyboards, or mice that seem out of place in the living room. That PC-to-TV experience is more like using the computer than leaning back to enjoy TV.

[ See post to watch video ]

So this week, I decided to try out three inexpensive set-top boxes that aim to make this process easier and neater. They are the $100 Roku 2 XS, the $99 second-generation Apple TV and the $199 Boxee Box from D-Link. The intent of the three products I tested is to do what a computer can, but in a simpler, cheaper and more TV-like manner—with easy setup, clear onscreen menus and small, simple remotes.

None of these boxes can handle your regular cable or satellite service. Typically, you plug these gadgets into a separate input on your TV and switch to that input to use them, just as you do when using your DVD or Blu-ray player. Nor do these boxes play discs.

Clockwise starting from the left: Roku 2 XS with ‘Angry Birds’ on the TV; the uniquely shaped Boxee Box with its remote; and the Apple TV box.

While all three products carry some of the same popular Internet video sources, such as Netflix, YouTube, MLB.TV and Vimeo, they otherwise have different offerings. Apple’s huge and popular iTunes video store is available only on Apple TV. But Roku and Boxee each have numerous sources that Apple lacks, such as Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video on Roku, and Vudu on Boxee.

Of the three, I’d recommend Apple TV primarily for people who frequently use iTunes, or who own an iPad or iPhone. I’d recommend Roku for people who aren’t hooked on the Apple world and crave simplicity, variety and a low entry price. I’d only recommend the Boxee Box for techies because of its complexity.

Roku 2 XS

This is the smallest of the three, a tiny black gadget about 3 inches square and less than an inch thick. It’s the high end of a lineup that starts at $60.

The Roku uses a large, simple menu of “channels” of content providers—some free and some requiring a subscription or a pay-per-view fee to the content provider.

In my tests, the Roku 2 XS set up easily on my 50-inch Pioneer Plasma TV, and provided sharp, clear high-definition TV shows, movies and other videos from a wide variety of sources. Menus were mostly consistent and clear. I was able to watch TV shows like “30 Rock” and movies like “Star Trek,” though the most recent movies aren’t available and the selection of newer TV episodes was spotty.

The newest feature of the Roku is casual gaming, notably the popular “Angry Birds.” However, the Roku can’t access video, photos or music from computers on a home network, though it can play content from a USB drive.

Apple TV

This small black box seems to have inspired the new Roku design, although it’s a bit larger. It allows you to rent movies and buy TV shows from the iTunes store. A new feature also allows you to stream, for free, any TV show you’ve purchased from iTunes, even if you bought it on another device.

Though Apple won’t confirm this, I expect this same free feature to apply eventually to movies as well.

In my tests, Apple TV delivered great video, even though its resolution isn’t as high as those on the other two devices. Its user interface is clean, simple and consistent, and its remote is tiny and very simple.

The selection of non-Apple Internet sources on Apple TV is very limited. It includes a few paid services and some free ones, but ignores most of the non-Apple video on the Internet. But Apple TV really shines in fetching video, photos and music from any PC or Mac on your home network that is running iTunes.

Apple TV is becoming even more useful as an adapter for an iPad or iPhone. Using a feature on those devices called AirPlay, you can wirelessly beam some videos to your TV via Apple TV.

And, with a software update due soon, you’ll be able to wirelessly mirror the entire display of an iPad 2 to your TV, and stream music and photos you’ve stored on Apple’s new iCloud service.

My main gripe with Apple TV, in addition to its limited Web content, is that the remote lacks a “home” and “back” button.

Boxee Box

This is a much larger device, with an unusual, angled shape that costs twice as much as the others. Even with a new software update, I found Boxee more confusing and geeky than the other two.

Boxee’s strongest feature is that it has loads of content, and can play almost any video format. But this content is presented in two very different ways. If you just select a movie or TV show, you may find yourself in a Web browser, trying to control the video with a cursor—a scenario I find annoying from 10 feet away. If, however, the content comes from an app, such as Netflix or Vudu, it’s presented in a TV-friendly fashion. Depending on how you navigate to the video, you may be surprised by which interface you get.

In addition, Boxee has the flavor of a techie device. For instance, it includes setup choices like Deinterlacing Policy, and watching content from your home network requires you to choose from a geeky list of options.

Boxee also is rough around the edges. It failed to play any of the standard-formatted songs on my home network, and it froze on me twice.

A free Boxee iPad app can fetch videos from social networks or bookmarked Web pages, and has its own method for sending videos to the TV via the Boxee Box. Boxee also claims to support Apple’s official AirPlay feature, but, in my tests, this failed more often than it succeeded. (The company calls this feature “experimental.”)

On the other hand, the Boxee remote is the only one with a built-in keyboard—on the back of the remote. With the others, you have to peck out letters on an onscreen keyboard when doing things like searching.

Bottom line: To watch Internet video easily on a TV, either Roku or Apple TV is the best choice for average consumers.

Netflix Delay on Boxee Box Gets "Awkward"

Lauren Goode — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:00:55 +0000

Despite earlier promises that Boxee’s fledgling web-to-TV hardware device, the Boxee Box, would offer a Netflix app by the end of last year, the startup company has faced another setback.

“We’re in a bit of an awkward spot at the moment,” Boxee wrote on its blog early Tuesday, and went on to explain that Boxee is still not offering a Netflix app on its hardware due to security issues.

“The [Netflix] app works. It’s been done for awhile now,” Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee, told Digits. “What we have not yet met is Netflix’s security requirement which requires sweeping changes to the underlying Boxee platform.”

He added that the company was “working to ensure that third party apps and developers can’t tamper with the Boxee Box to gain root access to the system or tamper with other apps.” Boxee has touted itself as an open-source system and says the company values the ability for anyone to build an application on Boxee.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Boxee Rolls Out Another Box

Peter Kafka — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:37:06 +0000

There’s already an “official” Boxee Box, but if the Web video start-up succeeds it will be by getting its software on lots and lots of devices. So here’s another one: A “Network Attached Storage” device–the equivalent of a very big thumb drive–from Iomega that will retail for $229 and up. For a reminder of what Boxee is trying to do, check out this interview with CEO Avner Ronen.

General Catalyst Heads West, to Find Some Young Men and Women to Fund

Liz Gannes — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:01:01 +0000

Go West, East Coast VC?

In fact, the 10-year-old venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners is moving out two of its partners from Cambridge, Mass., to Palo Alto, Calif.–just in time to avoid the Boston winter.

On Tuesday, I met up with Neil Sequeira, a managing partner at the firm, who arrived in town a few months ago and is focused on the social Web and new media.

Sequeira said his fellow managing partner Hemant Taneja, who invests in cleantech companies, will be joining him out here soon.

Sequeira’s kids are too young to be in school, he’s from the Bay Area and none of his portfolio companies are based in Boston, so for him it was a relatively easy move.

General Catalyst’s Palo Alto office will soon have 11 people, up from no presence whatsoever a year ago. Sequeira and Taneja account for about a third of the core partnership of the small VC firm.

Sequeira, whose investments include the Internet television delivery company Boxee and the social media marketing company Vitrue, recently had two of his companies sold–Hot Potato to Facebook and ScanScout to Tremor Media– so he’s looking to find a few more board seats to occupy.

He said General Catalyst was happy with its two-x return on selling Hot Potato to the social networking giant shortly after it invested. But to find the really big opportunities on the consumer Internet, the place to be is in Silicon Valley, he said.

I recorded a very quick interview with Sequeira in which he revealed he’s getting the hang of this Palo Alto VC thing pretty well: He’s already done a seed investment deal at the bustling Coupa Café, where we met up.

Here it is:

[ See post to watch video ]

Svpply Is a Social Shopping Site With a Funny Name, Good Buzz and a New Funding Round

Peter Kafka — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:00:21 +0000

One thing the first Web boom got right: Amazon, eBay and the other big e-commerce sites that made it really easy to buy stuff on the Internet.

But those sites are efficient places to get the things you know you want. They’re not good at finding cool stuff you didn’t know you wanted. The way that catalogs used to do, or that your friends still do.

This is the problem that Svpply is supposed to solve: It’s a social, online retail “discovery” site stocked with stuff you and your friends think are cool. Simple, right?

That’s the pitch, at least. And it’s been enough to get the year-old company a $550,000 seed-round investment led by Spark Capital and Founder Collective, along with high-profile angels like Ron Conway, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley and former Myspace co-President Jason Hirschhorn.

One reason the company gets a warm reception: It boasts Founder Collective’s Zach Klein as a co-founder. Klein, who helped start College Humor and later Vimeo, still has a day job as chief product officer at Boxee. But last spring he connected with Ben Pieratt, a Boston-based designer who started Svpply in late 2009.

If you take a look at Svpply (you pronounce it “Supply,” but the V is supposed to make it look Roman and/or cool), you’ll figure it out right away.

But in case you don’t click over: Using a browser-based “bookmarklet” (a la Instapaper), you tag images of stuff you own or like, along with a link that tells people where to buy it. And you look at images that your friends, or people you’d like to be your friends, have tagged, too. Apps for Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform are on the way.

When you do head over to Svpply, you’ll find that both the images and the stuff they depict are probably better-looking than you are. And while the company’s founders won’t come out and say it, that’s sort of intentional. Svpply is supposed to exude the same sort of digital cool, and attract the same kind of early adopters, that social Web hits like Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare did.

And like those networks, Svpply is based around the activity feed/stream concept–you can follow a few people or a lot of people. And if you don’t have anything cool to add yourself, that’s okay too.

The main thing is that everything there is supposed to be interesting and, well, cool. Anyone can set up shop at Svpply and show off their stuff, but if no one likes it, no one likes it. As Pieratt puts it: “People are very sensitive to being sold to.”

Of course, the reason people are funding Svpply is because it has such obvious potential for selling–by designers, by brands, by retailers, etc.

Which may be why it’s not the only start-up taking this approach. Poke around and you’ll see several sites doing something similar: Pinterest, Wanelo, etc.

One particularly notable competitor: Fancy, a project from ThingD, the semi-mysterious “Facebook of Stuff” that has super-high profile backers like Allen & Co. and is generating a lot of attention from Silicon Valley’s deal guys.

Another TV Guide for Web Video! But Shufflr Wants Your Friends to Do the Work

Peter Kafka — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:30:50 +0000

Smart people are sure that you’re going to watch more and more Web video from the comfort of your couch.

But if that’s the case, how are you going to decide what to watch? The world of Internet video is exponentially bigger than the 500-channel universe you already have, and usually ignore, via your cable box. Who’s going to help you navigate that?

Lots of people, it turns out. In fact, that’s one of the most popular ways to attack the Web video business: Try to create what will turn out to be the Web’s version of TV Guide, and make money by selling content or advertising once you’re big enough.

That’s really what Boxee is up to, if it can get scale. Ditto for Clicker. And Google TV and Apple TV, really. And really, if you think about it, that’s what Hulu would like to do, if Jason Kilar could get his way. Etc.

Here’s yet one more competitor: Shufflr, a newish start-up run by Bangalore-based Althea Systems. Althea has rounded up $3 million via a Series A round from Intel Capital, and is using the money to build out its product, a browser that works on laptops and, soon, phones running Google’s Android platform.*

Shufflr’s pitch is pretty simple: They sort through lots of video feeds–from everyone from YouTube to Comedy Central to Blip.TV–and offer up suggestions about what you’d like to see.

They’re based in part on what you’ve said you like on Twitter and Facebook, and in part on what your friends have said they like, by forwarding a link. And Shufflr plays the video for you–using the original distributors embedded advertising–on its own player.

It’s an interesting concept, but the problem with all of these machine-based recommendation engines is that they’re more clumsy than you’d like.

Shufflr, for instance, can figure out that I like “comedy,” but then it spits up everything that anyone has ever thought is funny. And there’s a whole lot of not-funny stuff there. At least in my humble opinion.

I think that’s not that much of a problem when you’re sitting on a laptop, idling for a few minutes between meetings and just want to watch…something. If you don’t like it, you flip away very, very quickly

But on your couch, which is the use case Shufflr is pushing here, I think your standards are higher. Or different, at least: I’m happy to flip through dud channels on my own, but if some software suggested stuff that I didn’t want to see, I’m not sure I’d stick with it very long.

And I’m sure that, statistically, I’m much more likely to enjoy something that one of my Facebook friends likes, or that someone I follow Twittered about. But that’s a very big group, and the truth is, I probably only care what a very small number of them say about what to watch on the Web. (I’m still angry at Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone, for instance, for raving about “Kick-Ass,” which I ended up renting on VOD. You owe me $4.99, dude.)

But that’s the problem that most recommendation sites and engines have, no matter what the topic is: You really don’t care what everyone you know says about everything–you care what a few people say about something very particular.

In any case, Shufflr is less than a year old, so they’ve got a bit of time to get better. But they’d best do it quickly: Plenty of other folks are trying to crack the same code.

Here’s a demo video, followed by a video Q&A I did with co-founder Rajnish (that’s his full name):

Shufflr – A Social Video Browser from Shufflr on Vimeo.

[ See post to watch video ]

*Shufflr runs on Adobe’s Flash, which is why it won’t be available on Apple’s iPad/iPod/iPhone platform for a while–the company will need to spend a little time porting its software into an Apple-approved version.

Why Boxee's Box Doesn't Matter–And Why It Does

Peter Kafka — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:43:02 +0000

I’ve seen lots of oohing and aahing about the new Boxee Box that rolled out Wednesday. I haven’t played with it yet, but for now I’ll assume it’s as cool as the gadget press says it is.

But let’s be clear about what the Boxee Box is, and what it’s not:

It’s not going to generate any significant revenue for the Web video company.
It’s not the way that Boxee imagines most people will end up using its software.
It is a starting point for the company.

Boxee’s real plan is both clear and a bit undefined: It wants to get its software on as many devices as possible–not just the Boxee Box but everything from Sony’s TVs to Microsoft’s Xbox 360s to Samsung’s Blu-ray players. And then it wants to build some kind of business based on advertising, consumer payments or both.

So Boxee isn’t trying to make money by licensing its software to hardware companies, any more than Netflix or Pandora is when they get their apps installed on different gadgets. It’s giving D-Link, the company that’s actually making the Boxee Box, its software for free. And it will do the same for other hardware companies.

Or put another way: Boxee competitor Roku is all about selling the Roku box. Boxee is all about getting its software in between video owners/distributors and video viewers, just like Google TV wants to do. The Boxee Box is important because, if it works, it will help Boxee convince other hardware companies that they need its software, too. (It might also help the company close its funding round, though I get the feeling it has investors ready to cut checks right now.)

For whatever reason, some of Boxee’s legion of fans–this is a company that packs concert halls for product rollouts–seem unclear about what the company is trying to do. So do some non-fans outside the company, like über-blogger Om Malik.

So yesterday, after Twittering about the topic with Malik, and then with Boxee investor Bijan Sabet, I got Boxee CEO Avner Ronen to stand in front of a Flip cam so he could explain the plan to all of you at the same time. We also touched briefly on Boxee’s relationship with Hulu. Ronen confirmed what I’d reported on Wednesday: Hulu Plus will come to the Boxee Box, but the free Hulu service won’t be available.

[ See post to watch video ]

A Web Video Truce: Free Hulu Goes Away From Boxee, Replaced by Hulu Plus

Peter Kafka — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:45:06 +0000

The Hulu-Boxee war is over! The terms of the truce: Boxee, which makes software that makes it easy to get Web video on TV, will remove links to Hulu’s free service–but will give users the ability to use the Hulu Plus paid service.

Boxee CEO Avner Ronen is scheduled to make the announcement tonight at an event celebrating the release of the Boxee Box, his company’s first move into the consumer electronics business.

The arrangement with Hulu, which is primarily owned by News Corp.’s Fox, Disney’s ABC and GE’s NBC Universal, marks the end of a conflict that dates back to February 2009. That’s when Hulu insisted that Boxee take down links to its service, then tried severing the connections itself.

Hulu said it made the move at the insistence of its network partners (an argument that outgoing NBC U boss Jeff Zucker said was not true). But recently it has stopped complaining publicly about Boxee.

And as I noted earlier this week, the big networks have warmed to Boxee in the last year or so. And with the appearance of Google TV, which offers something similar to Boxee, they appear to be more amenable to working with Ronen and company.

Boxee will also have other content partnerships to announce tonight, I’m told, including a deeper relationship with Netflix. More details on that, as well as timing of the Hulu move, as I hear about it.

UPDATE: Alas, no details from Boxee on either–just confirmation that Netflix will come to Boxee by the end of the year, and that Hulu Plus will come “soon.”

Boxee Goes Hunting for Big Bucks

Peter Kafka — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:00:24 +0000

Boxee, which makes software that makes it easy to watch Web video on your TV, celebrates a big milestone this week, when the first Boxee-branded hardware starts shipping to consumers. The start-up is celebrating with an event at New York’s Irving Plaza.

But the company’s next big move likely won’t happen in public view: Sources say Boxee is out trying to raise a significant funding round, likely in the $10 million to $15 million range.

I’m told that existing investors Union Square, Spark and General Catalyst, which have helped Boxee raise $12 million to date, all plan to re-up, and will likely pick up half of the round. No word on who the new money is, or how close the round is to closing.

CEO Avner Ronen will need it sooner than later, though. His two-year-old company now has a significant payroll–33 people, at last count–and very little revenue coming in the door.

The new Boxee Boxes shipping this week won’t change that. Boxee isn’t trying to succeed by charging manufacturers like D-Link, which is making the devices, big licensing fees.

Instead, it’s trying to build a significant audience by getting its software on lots of hardware–TVs, Blu-ray players, game machines, etc.–and figure out a way to turn that into money down the line. Boxee is at 1.4 million users now, but that’s not nearly big enough. It wants Pandora- or Netflix-like scale.

This is an interesting time for Ronen to be out pitching: The existing TV industry is ripe for disruption. And the idea that consumers will watch Web video on their TV is moving from science fiction to reality, spurred on by the likes of Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV and now Google TV.

But Google TV’s mission–to merge Web video with traditional TV on one screen–is pretty much the same as Boxee’s. If Google figures it out, it would seem to crowd out the competition.

On the other hand, TV programmers who are wary of Google’s dominance might very well welcome multiple competitors. Which may be one of the reasons that Ronen is supposedly getting a much warmer reception from traditional TV executives than he used to get.

YouTube Steps Closer to Your TV With "Leanback"

Peter Kafka — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:00:35 +0000

Love YouTube but hate the burden of pressing a key to play a video? Then this is for you: YouTube’s “Leanback” feature is now available.

Leanback is really supposed to help Google accomplish two connected tasks: Keep users on the site for longer stretches, and convince them that the site is something they’d like to look at on their TV.

So it’s really two products in one: The first is a stream of videos that are personalized for each user and that play automatically–tantalizingly, Google (GOOG) says the service can link up with Facebook, so you can see the same clips your online pals are watching. The second product is a user interface that requires minimum input from a keyboard and that works well on big screens.

The big screen part is important given the upcoming Google TV push, where Google would like to insert itself into your living room set. I assume that moving YouTube videos to TVs can be a tricky thing to pull off given licensing restrictions–see Hulu, Hulu Plus, Boxee, Popbox, et al.–but a YouTube rep tells me the only thing that won’t work on Leanback are captioned videos. So we’ll see.

I haven’t played with it myself, so for now I’m relying on YouTube’s description of the service. Here’s YouTube product guy Hunter Walk describing it at Google’s I/O event in May:

And here’s YouTube’s more polished description, released today:

For now, at least, Leanback exists in a separate corner of the site, at youtube.com/leanback. But Google plans on integrating it into its Google TV product when that rolls out this fall. And if it works anywhere near as well as advertised, it could be very interesting.

Meanwhile, it’s product rollout day at YouTube: Earlier this afternoon it showed off a new mobile site, designed, apparently, to replace the YouTube app on Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPads. It’s particularly good for bicycle kicks, it seems:

YouTube Steps Closer to Your TV With "Leanback"

Peter Kafka — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:00:35 +0000

Love YouTube but hate the burden of pressing a key to play a video? Then this is for you: YouTube’s “Leanback” feature is now available.

I haven’t played with it myself, so for now I’m relying on YouTube’s description of the service. Here’s YouTube product guy Hunter Walk describing it at Google’s I/O event in May:

And here’s YouTube’s more polished description, released today:

NBC Keeps Part of the Hulu/Boxee Story a Secret

Peter Kafka — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:36:58 +0000

Remember the kerfuffle when Hulu blocked Boxee last year? And remember the slightly smaller kerfuffle when the issue resurfaced earlier this year, during a government inquiry into the Comcast-NBC Universal deal?

It’s not going away. In response to questioning from the Federal Communications Commission, NBC has described its version of the incident.

But the GE (GE) unit doesn’t want everyone to see what it has to say. At NBC’s request, a large chunk of its statement has been redacted.

See for yourself, courtesy of MediaBistro’s Alex Weprin, who has been going through NBC’s filing (click image to enlarge):

The text that NBC hasn’t blacked out is relatively straightforward, and it’s consistent with NBCU boss Jeff Zucker’s comments in February: Hulu blocked Boxee because it streamed Hulu’s content without using Hulu’s wrapper.

And those comments still appear to contradict Hulu CEO Jason Kilar’s original position, which is that he blocked Boxee because his “content providers requested” that he do it.

So what about the rest of NBC’s statement, which we can’t see? Got me.

The bigger picture here is that both Comcast (CMCSA) and NBCU need to convince Washington that their proposed merger won’t consolidate enormous power in the hands on one company. Which is of course exactly what the merger is supposed to do.

But one way to appease lawmakers may be some sort of “hands off Hulu” pledge, whereby Comcast promises to leave access to the site unfettered. Question: Is that what NBC’s partners–News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox, Disney’s (DIS) ABC and Providence Equity Partners–have in mind, too?

UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times’ excellent Joe Flint notes that NBC has also revealed Hulu’s plans to launch a subscription service. And not surprisingly, it has blacked out that stuff, too. (Luckily, you can read about the broad strokes here).

Google TV Matters More Than You Think, Forrester Contends

Eric Savitz — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:19:28 +0000

Google TV could change the way people watch television. Really.

Forrester (FORR) analyst James McQuivey asserts in a blog post today that Google TV has a chance to succeed at redefining the consumer television experience in a way in which Apple (AAPL) TV, Roku, Vudu, Boxee and various other combatants have not been able to do.

“I have been amazed at how little people understand what’s really going on here,” he writes. “Google TV is a bigger deal than you think.” McQuivey asserts that TV matters “in a way that nothing else does,” driving $70 billion a year in advertising and a comparable amount in cable and satellite TV fees, plus another $25 billion in consumer electronics sales. He also points out that viewers watch TV on average 4.5 hours a day.

Google’s (GOOG) goal: to get a chunk of the giant pot of TV ad money.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Boxee, Roku Announcing Deals for Streaming Live Sports on TV

Lauren Goode — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:58:31 +0000

Watching live sports on television via the Web may have just gotten easier.

Starting Monday, Web-to-TV software company Boxee will distribute the National Hockey League’s Game Center Live online video content. In addition, the National Basketball Association is set to announce a similar partnership with Roku, maker of a digital video player that streams Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN) Video on Demand via the Web, for the distribution of NBA digital video content, beginning with some of this season’s playoff games.

The NHL’s Game Center Live streams approximately a thousand of the league’s 1,200 games per season, or any games that are not national exclusives on Versus or NBC, the league’s partner networks, for $19.95 a month. No additional fees will be applied for the streaming of NHL Game Center Live content through Boxee’s social-media enabled, web-to-TV platform. Since the NHL is currently wrapping up its 2009-2010 season, the new NHL content available through the Boxee platform is minimal, but a spokesman for Boxee says this should lay the groundwork for a continued partnership into next season.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Cablevision Promises to Introduce Your PC to Your TV

Peter Kafka — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:01:15 +0000

What if you could move the contents of your PC directly onto your TV? If you’re a tech-savvy reader, you may already be doing this. And if you’re not, you may wonder why you’d want to.

But Cablevision says it will let subscribers pull this trick off without extra cables or boxes and promises they’ll love it. The Long Island-based cable company will be testing the technology later this spring, under a clunky but accurate moniker: “PC to TV Media Relay.”

That means you can move anything you can put on your monitor or laptop screen–from streaming video to photos to word processing documents, if you are so inclined–to your TV. Audio, too.

Of course, that’s the idea behind plenty of services and gadgets, from Boxee to Internet-connected TVs to Apple’s (AAPL) not very successful Apple TV box.

And, of course, you can already do this without any of that stuff, and it’s not that hard to pull off. Time Warner Cable (TWC) even showed its customers how during its fight with News Corp. (NWS) over subscription fees for Fox and other channels.*

But the do-it-yourself version still requires at least a couple steps: Figuring out what kind of cord you need to connect your computer to your TV and then, actually connecting it. From a consumer’s perspective, Cablevision’s solution is more elegant, since it’s cable-free; the company says you’ll only need to download one piece of software.

But it’s quite a bit of work on Cablevision’s end, since the company has to port your stuff from your PC through its network and back down to your TV through a set-top box to a channel reserved just for your stuff.

Why go to all this trouble?

If you sort of squint at this for a while, it sort of looks like Cablevision’s version of the “TV Everywhere” idea that Time Warner (TWX) and cable players like Comcast (CMCSA) have been pushing. But in reverse.

TV Everywhere’s offer is that if you pay for cable, you can watch your TV shows on your PC. Cablevision lets you watch your PC on your plasma. But both ideas end up at the same place: They’re meant to give cable subscribers another reason to keep subscribing to cable.

Cablevision (CVC) says the service will launch by June in a “technical trial,” which likely means just a fraction of its three million New York-area subscribers will get to try it. And they’ll have to be Windows users; the cable company says a Mac version will be introduced later.

One thing Cablevision wouldn’t tell me is what it expects to hear from Hulu, the Web video joint venture owned by Fox, GE’s (GE) NBC and Disney’s (DIS) ABC.

Hulu’s attitude about people watching the TV programming it delivers via the Web on a TV screen has ranged from disapproving to downright hostile–just ask Boxee.

That’s partly because Hulu’s TV owners want to enforce the idea that Hulu is a complement to TV, not a replacement for TV. And it’s also because Hulu’s owners see Hulu on a big screen as a feature worth paying for.

In any case, Hulu will have a hard time complaining openly about Cablevision’s plan. Because unlike Boxee’s solution, Cablevision is literally just moving what’s on your PC to your TV.

But there may still be some interesting emails flying back and forth from Long Island to Santa Monica in the next few days.

*Now that its Fox fight is resolved, Time Warner Cable has yanked its cord-cutting instructions. But I have thoughtfully archived them for you. You’re welcome!

Boxee: Either Jeff Zucker or Jason Kilar Is Lying About Booting Us Off Hulu

Peter Kafka — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:21:31 +0000

Little Boxee, the much hyped Web video service, played a cameo role at today’s Congressional hearings on the Comcast (CMCSA)-NBCU deal. And as sometimes happens when Boxee and big media intersect, controversy ensued.

The short version: Rep. Rick Boucher, the Virginia Democrat who heads the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, asked NBC head Jeff Zucker about last year’s incident involving Hulu’s effort to bar Boxee from using its feed.

At the time, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said his actions were prompted by his “content owners,” which most people, including me, assumed meant GE’s (GE) NBC and/or News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox, the media conglomerates that had invested in the video service.

But today at the hearings, Zucker pointed the finger back at Hulu (full clip at bottom of this post):

This was a decision made by the Hulu management to, uh, what Boxee was doing was illegally taking the content that was on Hulu without any business deal. And, you know, all, all the, we have several distributors, actually many distributors of the Hulu content that we have legal distribution deals with so we don’t preclude distribution deals. What we preclude are those who illegally take that content.

In a blog post, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen points out the seeming inconsistency between the two statements–though he’s incorrect in saying that Kilar blamed NBC, because Kilar didn’t actually say that in his original blog post. That makes sense, because Kilar is one careful and cautious dude, which you have to be when you’re running a joint venture that’s now co-owned by three big media conglomerates.

Ronen also restates his general case–that Boxee is not much more than a Web browser, so it’s not taking anyone’s content at all, just displaying it, ads and all. And from what I can tell, that argument is gaining increasing traction among some big media players.

But while I’ve never been able to get a straight answer from Hulu or its owners about the Boxee incident, I do get the sense that it’s one issue that sticks in the collective craw of Hulu managers. So I’m not sure things are going to get resolved anytime soon at that site.

I’ve asked Hulu and NBC for comment and will update if I hear back.

Hot Potato Is Ready to Eat: Do Twitter, Facebook Users Want Another Real-Time Chatter Service?

Peter Kafka — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:25:03 +0000

Last month I told you about Hot Potato, one of the buzziest start-ups in the very buzzy “real time” sector. Now you can check out the service yourself. But not really.

The New York-based service opened its doors last week, but it won’t really kick into gear until Apple (AAPL) signs off on its iPhone app, and that’s taking a bit longer than the company expected. Founder Justin Shaffer still thinks he’ll be up and running on Apple’s platform in a few days, but until then, you can check out this video interview I shot with him yesterday, where you can get a sense of how the app will work.

[ See post to watch video ]

Or if you’re impatient, here it is in a nutshell: The service is supposed to let users converse in real-time about “events”–whether a football game, business conference or maybe even a really good house party.

You can already do that on Twitter and Facebook, but the pitch is that Hot Potato will help “curate” the chatter, so you will end up talking to both your friends and interesting people you don’t know–and that’s something Twitter and Facebook don’t do well right now.

If it works, there are some obvious advertising/sponsorship opportunities available for the service: The NFL could sponsor chatter about its games, for instance. Or someone who isn’t related to the football league could sponsor chatter about the games–since this is user-generated content in its purest form, Hot Potato isn’t required to get the go-ahead from anyone before it creates a conversational stream.

In any case, Hot Potato now has a pile of money to help it figure this stuff out. Last week, the company closed its first funding round of $1.4 million (I had originally reported that it was raising “about $1 million”), and in addition to VC backers First Round Capital and RRE Ventures, the start-up has an array of high-profile angel investors who have pitched in.

Here’s the roster: Super-angel investor Ron Conway; real-time start-up incubator Betaworks; Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer and his son Ben Lerer, who runs Thrillist; New York Observer owner Jared Kushner and his brother, Josh Kushner; ZelnickMedia’s Strauss Zelnick; Hunch and Founder Collective co-founder Chris Dixon; About.com co-founder Scott Kurnit; Facebook executive (and Apple vet) Dave Morin; Boxee’s Zach Klein; angel investor Allen Morgan; and entrepreneurs and investors Scott and Cyan Banister.

YouTube Says Popcorn Hour Is Over

Peter Kafka — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:53:29 +0000

Want to watch YouTube on your TV? There are plenty of devices and services that let you do that, with more on the way.

But starting next month, at least one gadget is getting its YouTube feed shut down. Syabas Technology, which makes a line of set-top boxes called “Popcorn Hour,” says Google’s (GOOG) video site has told it to remove YouTube content beginning December 2.

This one is a straight he said/he said: Syabas, via a blog post from COO Alex Limberis, says it has an agreement to use YouTube’s clips, but that YouTube had changed the terms of the agreement recently. YouTube won’t address that claim directly, but offered this statement:

Since July of 2008, YouTube’s Terms of Service has restricted implementations for televisions based on our APIs. YouTube has been in active discussions with various developers on how best to implement YouTube on set top boxes and TVs. There are several companies, however, that have deployed solutions, like video scraping technology, to circumvent the rules and violate YouTube’s Terms of Service. Companies that have negotiated agreements to use our APIs, like TiVo, Sony, Panasonic and PS3 are not impacted.

The first-gut reaction here is to draw a parallel between this move and Hulu’s attempt to prevent video software start-up Boxee from using its stuff.

But in that case, at least, Hulu was trying to restrict access to a data stream it was making freely available to the rest of the world. Here, both sides agree that YouTube requires a contract before it will release its API to commercial partners.

So, the real question is: Did the two companies have an agreement, and what if, anything, has changed recently.

Gentlemen?

[T-shirt image courtesy of Zazzle.com.]

Web Video Darling Boxee Gets Another $6 Million: Are Zero Revenue and Big Plans Worth $25 Million?

Peter Kafka — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:46:07 +0000

Yet another sign that revenue-free start-ups can still attract investors, given the right pitch: Boxee, the software company that makes it easy to get Web video onto your TV, has raised a $6 million B round led by General Catalyst. I’m told the new round pegs the company’s value in the $25 million to $30 million range.

Boxee has a small but passionate following of some 600,000 users, and it’s gotten a lot of attention this year, much of it via a fight with Hulu, which doesn’t want its video showing up on Boxee browsers.

But Boxee doesn’t have any revenue, or much of a concrete plan to generate any in the near term: The software is free for consumers, and while CEO Avner Ronen thinks there could be some rev-share possibilities with Web video providers down the road, they’re…down the road.

So what’s the appeal for company’s backers, which also include Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital, which put $4 million into the company eight months ago and participated in this round as well? It’s pretty straightforward: The $70 billion TV business is in the first steps of a massive reordering, and perhaps Boxee can play a role in it.

The chief appeal is that Boxee can function as an “over the top” alternative to cable TV, giving users the ability to get their favorite programs on a big screen without having to pony up to the likes of Comcast (CMCSA). Ronen wants to use some of his money to ramp up efforts to strike deals with consumer electronics companies like Sony (SNE) and LG, which are pushing Internet-connected TVs, and Microsoft (MSFT), whose Xbox game console is increasingly functioning as an entertainment hub.

But there are plenty of other players jockeying for similar positions, from services like ZillionTV to device makers like Roku, and even Apple (AAPL). And Boxee’s status as a potential disruptor has a downside as well: It’s the reason that Hulu, backed at the time by News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox and GE’s (GE) NBC, sought to prevent the service from accessing its shows earlier this year.

That said, there hasn’t been much saber-rattling from either side in recent months. Perhaps this has to do with Disney’s (DIS) ABC, which had previously enjoyed friendly relations with Boxee, coming aboard the joint venture.

Here are a couple interviews I’ve conducted with Ronen this year: The first one was taped at the Consumer Electronics Show show in January, when his start-up was soaking up the first wave of attention from the TV industry; the second was taped in March, after Boxee had attracted Hulu’s ire.

[ See post to watch video ]

Hulu: Watch Our Shows on a Big Screen, but not on a TV

Peter Kafka — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:13:25 +0000

Want to watch the season finale of “30 Rock” for free, whenever you want, on a big screen? Go for it, says Hulu–just don’t watch it on a TV.

Confused? Of course. So was I, when I checked out Hulu’s new “Desktop” app, launched today as part of the video service’s new “Labs” collection of experimental offerings.

Basically, it’s downloadable software that makes it easier than ever to watch Hulu’s shows and clips in the same way that you’d watch TV–on your sofa, remote in hand. But Hulu wants to make sure you don’t actually think it replaces TV.

Note how the company describes it: “A lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer” that will work on Macs and PCs with “standard Windows Media Center or Apple remote controls”–but not with Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Media Center machines or Apple’s (AAPL) AppleTV boxes. And it also isn’t designed to work with any other Web-to-TV software or boxes, like Vudu.

To spell this out: I’m writing this post from the “cave” that the All Things Digital team has set up for the D7 conference, and it’s full of gorgeous 22-inch and 30-inch Mac displays that are much nicer than anything that sits in my cramped Brooklyn apartment. Hulu is saying that they’d be A-OK with me watching Tina Fey and crew, via their service, on those monitors. But they don’t want me trying to get that show on an actual television.

Isn’t a screen a screen? Nope. Not to Hulu’s owners: GE’s (GE) NBC, News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox, and soon, Disney’s ABC (ABC). To them, it’s important to make the distinction between TV programming, which generates significant ad revenue and/or cable subscription fees, and online video, which generates very little at all. That’s why NBC CEO Jeff Zucker reiterated his opposition to Boxee, the software that makes it easy to move Web video like Hulu to TV sets.

Now all he has to do is convince tech-savvy entertainment consumers to play along. Good luck!

UPDATE: Several readers have suggested to me that Hulu and its owners aren’t as dumb as they seem, and that they do indeed intend to use Desktop eventually, as a Boxee-like product of their own–that is, they will use it to let people watch Hulu on TV. If so, that means that Jeff Zucker wasn’t being honest when he declared that “right now we’re committed to Hulu being an online experience, and that’s where our vision is today, and I think that will continue.”

But for what it’s worth, whenever I’ve talked to anyone at ABC, Fox, NBC or Hulu, all of them have been consistently mindful about not trying to disrupt the existing value chain that supports the cable and broadcast TV business–“the ecosystem” is the euphemism they prefer. So I don’t find Zucker’s comments so far-fetched.

Anyone want to weigh in? If you use your real name you can sound off in the comments below. Or you can drop me a line at peter@allthingsd.com.

Zucker: Hulu's Not Backing Away From Anti-Boxee Stance

Peter Kafka — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:15:40 +0000

Brief update from NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker re Hulu’s back-and-forth with Boxee, the software that makes it easy to move online video services like Hulu to your TV: Zucker says Hulu, the joint venture between GE’s (GE) NBC, News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox and soon, Disney’s (DIS) ABC, still doesn’t want Hulu on Boxee.

During his D7 interview with Kara Swisher today, Zucker was asked about the company’s stance on Boxee, which it is trying to keep Hulu-free, with limited success: “Right now we’re committed to Hulu being an online experience, and that’s where our vision is today, and I think that will continue.”

What does that mean? For now, it means that the cat-and-mouse game between Hulu and Boxee’s engineers will continue. I’ve heard rumblings that this could one day escalate to legal action, and I know that the Hulu camp believes that Boxee is violating its Terms of Service. But last I heard (as of last week) it hadn’t gotten to that point. Which is good for both sides, as a legal fight would be expensive and stupid.