[Bert] (I didn't know that Microsoft was in that fray too. It has a very nice Windows Media Center available with Win7, which I don't believe require any special deals with anyone.) [Kilroy] Our little known TV hobby is 70MM XBoxes that tune Comcast TV Everywhere, BBC, HBO, most other cable networks, Hulu, Netflix, XBox Live PPV movies and TV, etc. The "extender" function will also display networked PC applications like Windows Media Center TV broadcast and PVR, music, photos, personal videos, etc., since the XBox is always connected to a TV and the PC usually isn't. More time is spent watching video on XBox these days (on average) than playing video games. Tuning OTA broadcast on Windows Media Center is great if you can receive the unreliable 8VSB signal and don't have cable, which will or has shut down analog and requires considerable pain and suffering to configure and pay for a CableCard system, and sucks with an external cable box. The EPG also includes a modest number of Internet TV channels but has been left to languish. Media Center isn't included in Win8, but can be downloaded and installed. The Windows division took an enterprise-centric turn a few years ago about the time it killed Windows Media and Apple picked up media and built an entertainment service and device business larger than Microsoft. The XBox division slowly took on the TV concession. A unified app model and tablets starting with Win8 may bridge some of those business barriers. Kilroy Hughes -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Manfredi, Albert E Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 3:59 AM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Re: Apple TV No IPhone as Talks Bog Down With Media Companies Monty Solomon posted: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/apple-tv-no-iphone-as-talks-bog-down-with-media-companies.html May I say "I told you so"? Reading this article, does anyone come away with the impression that "all Apple wants to do" is compete with Scientific Atlanta, merely to build a better proprietary STB for a given cableco? On the contrary, what it says is: "Apple is vying with the likes of Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to make TVs the digital hub of people's lives in an industry projected to reach $200 billion worldwide by 2017." (I didn't know that Microsoft was in that fray too. It has a very nice Windows Media Center available with Win7, which I don't believe require any special deals with anyone.) Also another quote: "Unlike negotiations with music companies and book publishers, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was never able to strike a comprehensive media deal to create a product fitting that vision before his death last October. He regularly told Apple executives that unless the company can get more content, especially live broadcasting, Apple's impact on television wouldn't be disruptive, said two former Apple managers." Apple is looking to have TV content, including live content, on the same basis as it has other iTunes content, in a OTT type of service, or "walled garden" arrangement, similar to Amazon's. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.