Most interesting to me were the overwhelmingly positive comments on the LostRemote.com post. Users talk about the attractive price ($25/year or $0.99 daypass), access to CNN International in the off-hours, etc. Another commenter thinks out loud about the paid content model v. sponsorship, suggesting a sponsored model might make sense here; another applauds the lack of a playlist making decisions for the user about what to play next.
Ziff-Davis publication Publish (ah, how I loved that magazine back in the desktop publishing days of the early 90s) covers what they describe as the ‘beta of [CNN’s] new streaming news service, CNN Pipeline, to a select group of employees.’ They provide nine screenshots of the application, showing portions of an order path, the main feed, login, application live, on-demand, browse, mini and search modes. They also point out that there are two players, one web-based and another a PC desktop app. Gallery is here, story here.
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.
