Comcast and NBC Put Money, Marketing Into a Social TV App: Zeebox Lands in the U.S.

There are lots of “social TV” apps out there, and none of them have any real traction. But here comes another one, armed with a significant advantage: A big push from one of TV’s biggest programmers.
Zeebox, which has garnered a lot of attention, and some users, in the U.K., has landed in the U.S. And if you stop reading now but turn on an NBCUniversal channel later this year, you’re going to end up hearing more about it, anyway: The cable and broadcast programming giant, along with its corporate cousin Comcast Cable, has invested in the start-up, and says it will give it a huge marketing push...

from All Things Digital

UK's "YouView" is Important New Digital Platform for Scottish TV

Another Blinkx Next Big Thing that's too late...

Late, Expensive And Probably Redundant: YouView Finally Launches UK Digital TV Service

 

Two years after it was meant to go live, and with a list of backers that includes the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Arqiva, BT and TalkTalk, YouView today finally crashed the UK TV party. Available by the end of July with a selection of major retailers, the service is based around an all-in-one set-top box that you can use without a subscription, which includes 100 digital TV and radio channels, catch-up and on-demand services, as well as the ability to record programs.
But with a price tag that will begin at £299 ($469) without the required broadband thrown in, and competing against a host of existing services, is this a case of too-little, too-late?

from TechCrunch

_________

from July - and I've still no sign of YouView STBs actually being sold... 

 

Blinkx Reinvents Itself Again, Adapting to the Future of Video

I’ve rarely run into a company as adaptable, even Protean, as Blinkx. I’ve been following it since it spun off from Autonomy in 2004 with the mission of finding applications for Autonomy’s search and indexing technology. The first area that founder and CEO Suranga Chandratillake explored was desktop search for Macs and PCs, but within a year the company pivoted into video search. Since then it’s reinvented its approach to the video market every couple of years...

from Xconomy

----------------

The usual smug, self-regarding, self-satisfied fuckwittery form our late, unlamented CEO. The man's self-delusion and arrogance is breath-taking: to read that interview you'd think Blinkx was already another Google, instead of a company which has totally lost the confidence of investors and the markets and seems to lurch from one crisis to another (and, incidentally, whose share price is only slightly above the IPO price 5 years after float).

Chandratillake mentions in that interview that he thought about leaving Blinkx. Christ, I wish he had. Not that he should have been given the choice: his sorry ass should have been fired after 5 years of failure to deliver products and shareholder value...

Telefonica picks HP's Aurasma for augmented reality expansion

(Reuters) - Telefonica said it has picked HP's Aurasma technology to expand its mobile advertising offerings in one of the largest deals yet in the emerging market for augmented reality.
Augmented reality, or AR, overlays text or graphics on images viewed on smartphone, tablet and PC screens or through dedicated glasses, enabling features like image recognition.
The boom in smartphones led by Apple Inc's iPhone, which has location capabilities, cameras and sufficient processing power, has enabled people to try out AR technology for themselves.
The technology, which has been a feature of science fiction books and movies for decades, is expected to move into the mainstream in the coming years as chipset vendors have begun to incorporate it into products and large mobile firms like Telefonica pick it up.
Telefonica said it will use Aurasma's technology across its operations in some 25 countries, starting with Britain. The value of the deal was not revealed, but the companies said it was the largest-ever deal between an AR company and a telecom operator.
"We see this as a tipping point. This is the first time when a telco of its size is backing AR," Matt Mills, head of global partnerships at Aurasma, told Reuters.

from Reuters

Partnership with SNTV

Blinkx Plc

Partnership with SNTV

RNS Number : 0331M

Blinkx Plc

12 September 2012

 



blinkx Partners with SNTV for Captivating Sports Coverage

From pulse-pounding plays to insightful athlete interviews, the latest sports videos can be found at www.blinkx.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - September 12, 2012- blinkx, the world's largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced a partnership with SNTV, the world's leading television sports video news agency, to give blinkx users a front row seat to even more premium sports content. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will place contextually relevant advertising against these videos and share resulting revenue with SNTV.

From cycling to soccer, SNTV has developed relationships with all of the major rights-holders, enabling in-depth coverage of the majority of the most prestigious sporting events around the globe. SNTV's crews are present at all major sporting events worldwide, covering stories at the scale and magnitude of the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, but also bringing consumers news of the novel and niche - competitions like wife-carrying and snail racing. blinkx and SNTV will deliver the best and broadest content in the most concise format, allowing casual viewers and sports fanatics to keep up with all the latest game-winning goals and record-breaking races.

"We're delighted to partner with SNTV, known for their high quality and immediate sports coverage, to bring videos of world famous and up-and-coming athletes alike to our audience," said Brian Mukherjee, CEO, blinkx. "SNTV got its reputation as the essential guide for sports fans for a reason, and we are very pleased to make their constantly growing library of sports footage fully searchable on blinkx.com."

"At SNTV we aim to provide the best, most relevant, comprehensive and fast sports news service there is, which means covering dozens of sports on a day-to-day basis," said Martin Kay, Managing Director, SNTV.  "By partnering with blinkx, with its vast video-viewing audience, the fans of these various athletic events will be able to search out and discover the best sports footage from around the world."

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has signed more than 800 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - the growing amount of TV and user-generated content on the Web means keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to-and even see-video on the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

About SNTV

SNTV is the world's leading television sports video news agency whose mission is to deliver the most relevant sports news to its customers, in the most useful ways. SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media, the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, with more than 40 offices worldwide, and The Associated Press, the backbone of the world's information system

Press Contacts for blinkx

Tim Turpin
Sparkpr
+1 (415) 321 1894
tim.turpin@sparkpr.com

Nicole Love
Marlin PR
+44 207 869 8328
blinkx@marlinpr.com

Charles Lytle
Christopher Wren
Citigroup Global Markets Ltd
NOMAD and Broker for blinkx plc
+44 207 986 4000

Press Contacts for SNTV

Gary DoubleIMG
T: +44 20 8233 7425 gary.double@imgworld.com
McCormack House, Hogarth Business Park,
Burlington Lane, Chiswick,
London W4 2TH

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

END