THE FCC will start the highly anticipated 700 MHz spectrum auction this Thursday, January 24th. On the block are some of the nation’s most valuable radio waves, which Chairman Kevin Martin calls “the building blocks for the next generation of broadband services.” This is expected to be the most lucrative auction ever conducted by the FCC. The Commission will be posting the anonymous bids daily at auctions.fcc.gov.
COMCAST will begin marketing its TiVo DVR software upgrade to the general public this week in Boston. TiVo is the first tru2way application running on the Comcast network. The initiative sputters to the starting line after multiple delays and with the broken promise of providing TiVo’s most forward-looking features – online video downloads, podcasts, home networking and more. These are all absent from the Comcast release. In addition, early adopters on TiVo forums have been complaining of incredibly slow software performance.
NBC has chosen YUME NETWORKS to deliver ads for NBC Direct. The company will provide NBC with a full range of advertising services, including ad management, campaign management and dynamic insertion of ads into downloaded content. NBC Direct is expected to begin offering its free ad-supported download service later this quarter.
HD DVD is having a rough start to 2008. Sales of the doomed format were just 15% of the HD disc market for the first full week of sales, after averaging 35% for all of 2007. Not one top ten HD video was on the HD DVD format. In January the format has seen eroding studio support, player prices falling through the floor and now depressed sales figures. Happy New Year!
VERIZON has filed suit against COX for eight counts of patent infringement related to VOIP technology. The telco is seeking to block usage of the patents and to collect monetary damages. Verizon recently won an infringement settlement for two of the patents against Vonage and will receive up to $120 million in damages in that suit.