Apple TV 4K
TiVo’s Vox
branding identifies voice control in its Bolt DVR and Mini client. “Show me movies with Scarlett Johansson.” See our review on page 64...
Samsung-Owned Harman
has joined WiSA, the Wireless Speaker and Audio Association. That suggests that WiSA-compliant wireless speakers from Harman brands may be on the way...
Toshiba Sold Its TV
business to China’s Hisense. The $113 million deal includes production, R&D, and a 40-year brand license...
AudioControl Added Dolby Vision
passthrough to its products. That includes the Concert AVR-7 and AVR-9 receivers and Maestro M5 and M9 pre/pros...
Denon and Marantz AVRs
have been updated with DTS Virtual:X. This provides simulated surround effects from encoded or legacy sources. See our review of the Denon AVR-X3400H on page 36...
Sony’s 2017 Android TVs
now have Google Assistant. The mic is built into the remote control...
Funai-Made Philips TVs
are the latest to add Roku as a feature. Roku TVs and players are being packaged with a free month of DirecTV Now with new subscription...
“Alexa, Talk to Best Buy”
is the opening line of a conversation you can now have with your Amazon Echo speaker. You can order a specific item or choose from a curated list of recommendations...
Sonos One’s Spotify
presentation has a new feature: Alexa voice control. We review the One on page 58...
Stolen Cable TV
service is in 6.5 percent of U.S. homes, according to Sandvine. Most do it with boxes or hardware designed to access pirated video streams...
Pay-TV Subs Dropped
below the 80 percent mark for the first time since the early 2000s, reports the Leichtman Research Group. Two-thirds of nonsubscribers are former subscribers...
TV Advertising
is “likely to shrink meaningfully” in the next decade, according to Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar, especially on cable and local TV. Cable networks, he says, are obsolete...
Millennials Spearhead
online viewing, with those 18 to 25 watching over seven hours per week, according to a survey by Limelight Networks. Those over 60 watch less than four hours...
Streamers Stream
more than ever, says Limelight. They’re up to 5.75 hours per week, a 34 percent increase from a year ago...
Amazon’s Video Streaming
service, with bundled broadcast and cable channels, is not to be. The company couldn’t figure out how to make money at it...
Streaming Disappoints
sports fans, who complain of buffering problems, delays, poor picture quality, and loss of service, reports Phenix. They may become the last bastion of pay-TV and broadcasting...
MSG GO
streaming and VOD via free app is now included in the price of MSG Networks on DirecTV. MSG previously struck a similar deal with Verizon...
Dish’s UHD College Football
is part of a larger plan to offer college basketball, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR in Ultra HD. Hopper 3 owners can find it on channel 540...
Facebook’s Watch
is getting NFL game recaps and highlights from all regular season games.
That will include the Super Bowl...
Comcast Xfinity Instant TV
has moved into nationwide beta with an $18/month skinny bundle boasting local affiliates, VOD, cloud DVR, and premium add-ons. In other Comcast news, the cable op now delivers Ultra HD to its X1 set-top boxes...
AT&T and TiVo
have signed an agreement to extend the former’s use of the latter’s technology through 2025, allowing TiVo magic to grace DirecTV, U-verse telco TV, and DirecTV Now streaming. With Comcast, TiVo is still negotiating—and litigating for patent infringement...
DirecTV Now’s
Just Right package delivers 85 percent of the “core channels” viewers want, says a study by TiVo’s Data Science Team. By that reckoning, it is the king of skinny bundles...
FX+,
already launched on Comcast, has now come to Cox. It includes in-season FX series for $5.99/month...
What Happened to Spike?
It’s been rebranded as the Paramount Network. Viacom would like to see it break into general entertainment like rivals TNT, FX, and AMC...
TV Panel Shipments
hit a new high in 2017, totaling 23 million units in August, says WitsView. Strong sales in China buoyed optimism...
Harman and Hisense
have jointly launched Hisense Laser TV, a DLP laser projector. It includes a 100-inch Screen Innovations screen, 2.1-channel sound system, and NTSC/ATSC tuner for $9,999. Our review is pending...
now switches display settings to match native frame rate and dynamic range. It was enabled via update...