A new study reported this morning on Mediapost.com (registration required) describes a study commissioned by ESPN to study the use of DVRs by non-early adopters. The report says that 57% of people given a DVR, ultimately returned the unit because they didn’t want it.
Of the 157 households that participated in the test, 90 returned their DVRs for a variety or reasons including: complaints about the installation process, the cost of DVRs, or the fact that the digital set-top devices clashed with or didn’t fit into their home furnishings.
Oh – the study also said that most of these people didn’t tend to fast-forward through commercials. Hmmmm. If anyone happens to have an extra Tivo Series 2 lying around after this test, please send it my way.
Meant to blog this last week – but Sam gets in the way of that sort of thing. Anyway, I got a pass from Amy to head out with some fellow geeks from work to catch the midnight showing of the Star Wars prequel, Revenge of the Sith. I’ve posted a bunch of photos on the moblog I shot of my fellow geeks that night, so check those out. Sounds like I added to what was really a phenomenal opening – surpassing Spiderman for opening weekend ticket sales. NPR this morning had a tidbit estimating that the sum loss of productivity from the ‘Wookie Hooky’ – people calling in sick on Thursday or Friday – at something approaching $600 million. Maybe Mr. Greenspan will be giving Mr. Lucas a call and asking for some help there…
It’s all over the web today – CNN.com has announced a new strategy with their video products. I’ve been working on some aspects of these for a while – nice to see the project out in the public eye. Here are some quotes from today’s coverage:
CNN.com will make its existing online video offerings available for free beginning June 20 as it prepares a new video package that will cost money to watch. The company said the premium offering would deliver multiple live feeds and provide access to CNN’s video archives. Susan Grant (executive vice president for the CNN News unit that oversees the Web site) would offer no other details on the premium service or on how the free video would differ from the current offerings, other than its placement on the home page.
As part of the June 20 launch, the CNN.com home page will spotlight ad-supported video news coverage as part of a broader restyling of the site….The change reflects the background of CNN President Jonathan Klein–who came to the Turner Broadcasting unit from the FeedRoom, a company he founded that builds broadband Web sites and streams online content–although the Web project is being supervised by Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.
We took advantage of my friend Paul while he and his family were visiting today to get our first ‘official’ family portrait. Paul, like me, was once a full-time photojournalist, but escaped that profession for the geekery that is internet development. Anywho, check out the image at right for a look at the photo.
