Blockbuster Movie Pass Illustrates Streaming Business Model

For those of you wondering about the business model for streaming video services, the launch of Dish Network's new Blockbuster Movie Pass suggests one important fact. The actual revenue model for an online streaming service might be another business with a significant revenue stream. In the case of Dish Network, the business model is subscribers to linear video services.

As with the case of "TV Everywhere" services offered by cable subscribers, the revenue model actually is that the service provider attracts and keeps customers for a linear video service.

The Blockbuster streaming content adds Starz, Epix, Sony Movie Channel, and Encore to Dish’s on demand library that includes Fox, TBS, TNT, Discovery, AMC, CN, DIY, HGTV, FOOD and History. The combined content can be streamed only from DishNetwork.com. Blockbuster also will integrate DVD by mail offers as well.

The service launches next Saturday, October 1,2011, and is available for $10 a month only for Dish Network subscribers.

This service requires a Dish Network satellite TV package and is not available separately, in other words. New subscribers who buy Dish’s "Top 200" programming package for $39.99 a month will get Blockbuster Movie Pass for free for one year.

The Blockbuster service will be billed with the Dish Network TV service, on one bill.

Blockbuster Movie Pass

Can HP Afford to Abandon Consumer Markets?

As the new HP CEO, Meg Whitman faces a difficult situation, as have all recent HP CEOs. HP has a strong set of enterprise and consumer products, with a brand that is known both in consumer and business markets.

One might argue HP should give up on the consumer markets. But that might be as dangerous as straddling the market. Consumer technology is strongly shaping enterprise computing and application trends. If HP gives up its consumer focus, it might be at a disadvantage.

Virtually nobody thinks HP can afford to give up its enterprise focus, so that isn't an issue. The issue is how strategic a consumer focus of some sort might be, for success in the enterprise markets.

HP: Keep PCs, consumer units

Google+ has 43 million users?

There is a wide divergence of opinion about how well Google+, Google's new social network, is doing. One issue is that available methods of tracking traffic do not capture all, or much, of Google+ engagement, since the service is designed for more-private communications between users.

If the algorithms are all working right, Google+ has continued to grow at a rapid rate. Google+ “unofficial statistician” Paul Allen believes that Google now has over 43 million users. Allen, whose name you might know as being the founder of Ancestry.com has a method whereby he estimates the total number of users on Google based upon uncommon surnames.

In the past, according to PlusHeadlines, Allen has been startlingly accurate:

July 4th – 1.7 million users
July 9th – 4.5 million users
July 12 – 10 million users
September 9th – 28.7 million users
September 22nd – 43.4 million users

Google+ traction matters because most brands investing in social networks do not have unlimited time and resources. As Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn already are getting attention, Google+ success means a fourth network to support, or a hard choice about refocusing attention formerly given to other networks.

Google reportedly passes 43 million users

Creators of "Angry Birds" as Angry Birds

Global Internet Speed Study

The average worldwide download speed is 580 Kbps. Average U.S. speeds are about 616 Kbps. South Korea has an average speed of 2.2 Mbps. In the United States, Verizon Internet Services provides the fastest service, averaging 1 Mbps.

In Great Britain, Virgin Media is the fastest choice with average speeds of 612 Kbps while Dacom Corp. takes the top spot in speedy South Korea with an average of 5.2 Mbps.

Over time, such measurements will have to reflect widespread use of wireless broadband, with generally slower speeds, though.

The study was based on 27 million downloads by 20 million computers in 224 countries from January through June 2011.

Global Internet Speed Study

Is Meg Right for H-P?

LightSquared Comments at Communacopia

Michael Montemarano, LightSquared CFO, and  and Frank Boulben, Chief Marketing Officer, talk about the company at the Goldman Sachs 20th Annual Communacopia Conference. The executives provided an overview and update of the LightSquared business a well as a recap of yesterday’s announcement of the company’s solution to GPS interference issues. You can listen to the presentation here: LightSquared presentation

Facebook Launches "Timeline"

It's more visual, and historical.

 

Was Einstein Wrong?

Scientists at CERN say they have recorded subatomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light, a feat that Einstein said was impossible.

If the findings are proven to be accurate, they would overturn one of the pillars of the "Standard Model" of physics, which explains the way the universe and everything within it works.

Einstein's theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claim they have recorded neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometres) per second.

Proof that something had travelled faster would pose major questions about our understanding of the laws of nature because, for example, something that travels faster than light would in theory arrive before it left.

Speed of light 'broken' by scientists

Google Wallet Launches

Right now, Google Wallet only works with Citi-Mastercards and the Google Prepaid Card. Visa and Google announced a worldwide agreement to support the Visa payWave app, but it will still be up to the financial institutions and banks to add support.



Google Wallet

DOJ Antitrust Chief: AT&T Merger Lawsuit Not Negotiating Tactic

The Justice Department's chief antitrust enforcer flatly rejects speculation that the agency's lawsuit to block the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile USA is a negotiating tactic.

"I wouldn't call it a preemptive lawsuit of any kind," Sharis Pozen said. "The department's antitrust objections to the $39 billion deal "couldn't be clearer."

AT&T Merger Lawsuit Not Negotiating Tactic

Mobile website optimization now factors into mobile search ads quality, Google says

In 2010 Google began to limit ad serving on high-end mobile devices if they pointed to landing pages with Flash-heavy content. This was an initial step taken to improve the experience for mobile users. Google now says it will, n the coming weeks, introduce the mobile optimization of a website as a new factor of "ad quality" for AdWords campaigns that are driving mobile search traffic.

As a result of this change, ads that have mobile optimized landing pages will perform better in AdWords. They will generally drive more mobile traffic at a lower cost.

Mobile website optimization now factors into mobile search ads quality

Meg Whitman HP’s new CEO?

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will likely be named the new full-time CEO of Hewlett-Packard after markets close on Sept. 22, 2011, according to All Things D.

  H-P has had management and many would say board turmoil for some years. One wishes her well, but wonders why she wants the headache. HP has had seven different CEOs since 1999.


Meg Whitman will likely be named HP’s new CEO

Netflix to Merge With Amazon?

Netflix created separate DVD by mail and streaming units so Netflix could be sold to Amazon, argues Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. Netflix formed Qwikster so it can be spun off, allowing Amazon to buy Netflix, he argues.

"In our view, Amazon has always wanted to be in the streaming business, and has been constrained from buying Netflix due to tax considerations," says Pachter. "The split up of Netflix’s business addresses the state sales tax issues raised for Amazon."

If Amazon were to acquire only Netflix’s streaming business, it could triple the size of its content library, and gain traction as an industry leader.

Netflix split to set up Amazon streaming merger?

New Sprint Hotspot Data Cap of 5GB

Sprint has been tightening its belt in a number of other ways, including killing off its Sprint Premier upgrade program and raising upgrade fees.

Now it appears Sprint will dramatically revise its mobile hotspot plans. Sprint customers new and old get hotspot data cap of 5GB

Sprint will start capping data used by phone hotspots to 5 GBytes per month.

Even existing customers won’t be exempt from the new cap, and will be migrated to a new plan enforcing the limit after a friendly reminder from their carrier.