Guest Blog by Sarah Evans, Social Media Correspondent

Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) is the chief evangelist at Tracky and owner of Sevans Strategy, a public relations and new media consultancy. She’s the author of new book, [RE]FRAME: Little Inspirations For A Larger Purpose (published by SlimBooks). It’s her personal mission to engage and employ the use of emerging technologies in all communication that connects her with a rapidly growing base of more than 120,000 people. A “for good” advocate, Sarah worked with a local crisis center to raise more than $161K in three weeks via social media and is a team member of the Guinness Book World Record holding #beatcancer. Sarah can be seen in Vanity Fair’s Americas Tweethearts, Forbes’ 14 Power Women to Follow on Twitter and Entrepreneur’s Top 10 Hot Startups of 2010.

For the past few days I’ve had the privilege of serving as entertainment services provider Cox Communications social correspondent at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and working very closely with the Cisco team promoting the personal TV experience. TV is everywhere at CES. And it’s right on par. Nielsen says that Americans are actually watching more TV than ever – about 34 hours per week, in fact.

Cox and Cisco have been working very closely this week with joint announcements on the personalized television experience. Working with Cisco, Cox evolved their video services platform to deliver more personalized video experiences, offering their customers more of what they enjoy. While Cox customers have been able to watch 90 channels of live, linear TV on an iPad for more than a year now, this new app – powered by Cisco’s Videoscape Unity software and technology – expands the service to iPhones and iPods, adding significant improvements in navigation. Learn more about the announcement here.

It’s hard to miss the focus on hardware at CES, specifically on size and sharpness. However, I think the real story about TV at CES is what’s happening on the backend. And what’s the big innovation? The personalization, synchronization and socialization of video, with personal on the forefront.

To keep the buzz around TV going I moderated a #CoxCiscoTV Twitter chat to talk more about the idea of #PersonalTV with Cox Communications and Cisco executives. Our Twitter lineup was made up of:

• Len Barlik, EVP of Product Development, Cox Communications (@Cox_PR)
• Martin De Beer, SVP of Video and Collaboration Group, Cisco, (@MartinDeBeer)
• Nick Thexton, CTO, Service Provider Video Technology Group, Cisco, (@CiscoSPVideo)

Read More »

Tags: CES, CES 2013, consumer electronics show, cox communications, customers, Instagram, Personal TV, photo contest, service providers, tweetchat, twitter, Twitter chat, video, videoscape, videoscape unity

By Joe Chow, VP, Connected Devices, Cisco Service Provider Video Technology Group

Today Cisco announced the launch of a UL-certified, all-digital, wireless-based home security and automation service with AT&T Digital Life. Cisco built and will provide the Digital Life control panel and back-office provisioning and applications life-cycle management system, which allows customers to monitor, protect and manage their homes using a smartphone, tablet or PC. It launches in eight markets in March, and up to 50 by year-end. While broadband provider agnostic, the service uses AT&T’s nationwide wireless network.

The Digital Life controller uses five radios to control and manage appliances, lighting, and HVAC; remotely lock or unlock doors; even detect water leaks. In addition to the five radios, the controller includes an Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi) software framework, Home Plug AV (to communicate with connected IP devices over the home power network), 24-hour backup, and advanced diagnostics. Read More »

Tags: AT&T, Cisco, Digital Life, Service Provider, video, videoscape

Today at CES in Las Vegas, Cox Communications took the wraps off of a slate of expansions to second screen TV today, during a private press reception at the Wynn Hotel. Working with Cisco, Cox evolved their video services platform to deliver more personalized video experiences, offering their customers more of what they enjoy.

While Cox customers have been able to watch 90 channels of live, linear TV on an iPad for more than a year now, this new app – powered by Cisco’s Videoscape Unity software and technology – expands the service to iPhones and iPods, adding significant improvements in navigation.

This builds on Cox’s “Trio Program Guide,” which Read More »

Tags: cable operator, cable provider, Cisco, cox communications, mobile app, Service Provider, television, tv, video, videoscape, videoscape unity

If the start of a New Year is the best time to create new resolutions, then we’re defining our resolution for 2013 to be unity in video experiences. Now that our SP and media customers have deployed services to tablets and IP devices in addition to TVs, the next step is to unify and innovate the video experiences delivered across all screens. Today at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, Cisco introduced Videoscape Unity, the new and expanded Videoscape platform designed to do just this – unify and innovate video experiences. .(We hosted a press conference, carried live across the Internet. If you missed it, a replay is available after 3 p.m. PST by clicking here.) We demonstrated the types of experiences Videoscape Unity can deliver in service provider environments today, and provided a future-looking view of what we are doing to make these even more immersive and engaging.

As an added feature, Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco’s Video and Collaboration Group, hosted a panel of our customers to talk about and share their visions for “The Future of TV: Above and Beyond TV Everywhere.” Panelists included:

• Len Barlik, executive vice president, chief product officer, Cox Communications
• Bill Bradford, senior vice president, Digital Media, Fox Broadcasting
• Joe Inzerillo, senior vice president, Multimedia and Distribution, Major League Baseball Advanced Media
• Balan Nair, executive vice president, chief technology officer, Liberty Global
• Andrew Olson, director of product planning and design, BSkyB

So what is Videoscape Unity exactly?   Read More »

Tags: announcement, bskyb, Cisco, cox communications, Fox, liberty global, major league baseball advanced media, news, Service Provider, video, videoscape, videoscape unity

Only a short time ago, consumers had limited choices for accessing professional video content.

Today, a smorgasbord of options continues to multiply—from premium cable and DVDs, to online choices such as Apple, Netflix, and Hulu. Hardware options are equally dizzying, as traditional TV gives way to PCs, smartphones, and tablets. As portable devices meet the cloud, more consumers expect to view their favorite content anywhere, anytime.

The London Olympics this year were a case in point. NBC statistics reveal that more than 57 million U.S. viewers streamed Olympic events online. And over 7 million unique visitors per day accessed the BBC’s online Olympic sites, with nearly half of them watching on mobile devices.

Clearly, media consumption has evolved. Given the complexity of choices, it is essential for all players in the video value chain to understand what consumers need and want. To gain greater insight, the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) studied the trends and behaviors of 1,152 video consumers in the United States in 2012.

Chief among our findings? Streaming is going mainstream—and if the quality, variety, and delivery of streaming video are held to a high standard, consumers will be willing to pay
for it.

Streaming Is Going Mainstream

Seventy percent of U.S. broadband users are watching professionally produced Internet video every week, with an average viewing time of more than 100 minutes per week. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, viewership rises to 94 percent. Overall, streaming video is ahead of downloading and about even with DVDs and Blu-ray Discs (see Figure 1). Read More »

Tags: cable, Service Provider, streaming, television, video, Video On Demand, video streaming, videoscape, VOD