Tuesday’s Readings
Today we have lots of readings in hardware, deals, and e-commerce. Let us know what you like on Twitter @socialtvdaily.
Tonight’s TV
TV picks for Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, include “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC, “The Mindy Project” on Fox and “Parenthood” on NBC.
Read the article, via Seattle Times http://seattletimes.com/html/television/2019769996_tvpicks27xml.html
- Deals
Cable ONE Selects TiVo to Provide Next-Generation Advanced Television Experience
Cable ONE will offer Tivo to its customers in the first half of 2013, Tivo announced today.
Read the release http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-11-27&val=757597&cat=business
- Hardware
Nintendo sells 400,000 Wii U units Thanksgiving week
Nintendo sold more than 400,000 units of its new Wii U console in the United States last week, its first time on sale.
That essentially sold out the available inventory, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimes told Reuters, as avid fans quickly bought up Wii U’s at retail stores and online.
Read the story, via LA Times http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nintendo-wii-u-sales-first-week-20121126,0,7478466.story
TV chip output predicted to rise 9%
IC Insight, a market research firm, yesterday forecast a 9-percent increase in the output value for TV chips next year.
The market research firm forecast this year shipments for digital and analog TVs alike would total 236 million, a growth of merely 1.2 percent compared to last year.
Yet the firm is still optimistic about the growth of TVs due to strong demands from emerging markets, especially the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Read the article, via China Post http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/business/2012/11/17/361221/TV-chip.htm
Desperately Seeking Siri
I could not possibly be less interested in an HDTV from Apple. I like my TVs and if the various rumors we’ve read for more than a year now are to be believed, I’m not convinced television hardware from Apple would offer any real advantages over market leaders like Samsung (005930) and LG (066570). What I am very interested in, however, is Siri.
Read the article by Zach Epstein on BGR.com http://bgr.com/2012/11/27/siri-tv-analysis-apple-tv/
Boxee TV Review: Not Ready For Primetime
The Boxee TV isn’t the one-size-fits-all solution I’d thought and hoped it would be. That doesn’t make it bad, though–as a component of a larger cord-cutting scheme, I think it has a lot of merit. What does make it bad is that the thing is nowhere near ready for retail. It performs like an early alpha–as it stands, it is not usable. Boxee has done this kind of thing in the past with the Boxee Box, which was also basically broken at launch and was slowly fixed with firmware upgrades, but that doesn’t make this acceptable. Boxee TV is in stores now, and in its current form, I can’t recommend anyone buy it. I’ve been chatting with Boxee as I test the unit, and they keep telling me firmware updates are coming, but that’s not enough. You can’t buy a product with the hopes it’ll work later–it has to work when you give someone money for it. So don’t give anyone money for it, not now.
Read the article by Dan Nosowitz of Popular Science http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-11/boxee-tv-review
- Financials
Corning Raises 4th-Quarter View of Glass Sales
Corning credited stronger-than-expected demand in China and North America for a raised view of sales of television panels and handheld specialty glass in the fourth quarter.
Corning attributed the brighter sales view to stronger-than-expected TV sales in North America. Demand in China has also held up as that market’s supply chain gears up for the Chinese New Year holiday.
Read the article, via NASDAQ http://www.nasdaq.com/article/update-corning-raises-4th-quarter-view-of-glass-sales-20121127-00709#.ULTjgORJMlo
NBCUniversal Retransmission Deal Grants TV Everywhere Rights To Verizon FiOS
This agreement shouldn’t come as a surprise after NBCUniversal struck a similar deal early this month with Cablevision. The cable and phone companies are engaged in the business equivalent of hand-to-hand combat in the tri-state area around New York City. Early next year Verizon FiOS subscribers will be able to watch programming from all of NBCU’s broadcast stations and cable networks both live and on-demand, and both in and out of the home. NBCU EVP Matt Bond says that the mobile streaming will work “on any device.”
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/nbcuniversal-verizon-fios-tv-everywhere-retransmission-consent/
The Dodgers New TV Deal with Fox Could be Worth More Than $6B
The proposed deal the Dodgers and Fox are discussing would be worth $240 million per season. In 2013, the Yankees will make $85 million for their rights, nearly a third of the Dodgers deal. Even contrasting the Dodgers’ potential new deal with that of the Lakers, the Dodgers have an extreme financial advantage. The Lakers will make $120 million this year, the first of a 20 year pact with Time Warner that will average $180 million.
- E-Commerce
Online sales jump on Cyber Monday, eBay shines
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Online sales jumped on Cyber Monday, sending e-commerce retailers’ shares higher and suggesting strong growth from earlier in the holiday shopping season is continuing for now.
Sales on eBay Inc’s online marketplace were particularly strong and Amazon.com Inc continued its rapid holiday shopping season growth, according to early Cyber Monday data released by e-commerce firm ChannelAdvisor.
Read the article, Reuters via Chicago Tribune http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-26/business/sns-rt-us-usa-retail-cybermondaybre8am0tl-20121123_1_online-sales-online-marketplace-online-retailers
