Kaleidescape bowed the Alto movie player, which it called the first movie player to import all of its locally stored content from the cloud, by way of the Kaleidescape Store. The Alto brings the entry point of a Kaleidescape system down to $2,495, available through the company’s integrator dealer network. The Alto stores up to 100 movies in Blu-ray quality or 600 movies in DVD quality and can be combined with other Alto players to create up to four viewing zones, the company said. In a Thursday news release, Kaleidescape dealer Franklin Karp, COO of Audio Video Systems, Plainview, New York, said with Alto, the Kaleidescape Store delivers high-quality Blu-ray and DVD movies with support for Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio multichannel soundtracks, something that “streaming devices and services fall well short of.” Kaleidescape’s content library -- numbering 8,500 movies and 1,600 TV shows -- includes titles from Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Sony and Warner, and is compatible with the UltraViolet solution that enables consumers to stream their purchased video libraries to mobile devices. Kaleidescape didn’t comment about content additions to the Store or the possibility of a direct-to-consumer retail model.
Amazon will announce the 4K video stream of Cheek to Cheek: Live, performed by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, "in the coming weeks,” said an update Tuesday from LG, which sponsored the event that was recorded at New York’s Lincoln Center in July. LG will launch Cheek to Cheek: Live on LG 4K Ultra HD TVs equipped with the webOS platform, it said. WebOS is “optimized for 4K streaming” with an interface that “makes it easier to find and transition between content options at speeds similar to regular channel changing,” LG said. The concert will be available on all LG smart TVs after the initial launch through a software update, an LG spokeswoman told us. LG doesn't have a jump on other TV makers, though, which will have access to the Cheek to Cheek 4K concert stream at the same time as LG's webOS TVs as part of LG's "contribution to the 4K world," she said. The 4K stream will have “subtle” LG branding, and Amazon will promote the LG-sponsored concert in its concert carousel for 4K devices, LG said. For retail demos, LG will incorporate exclusive 4K behind-the-scenes clips and 4K Cheek to Cheek concert footage during its next in-store “refresh" due “late this year,” the spokeswoman said. Demos using Cheek to Cheek content will run through early 2015 with timing varying by retailer, she said. Amazon didn't immediately comment.
Samsung and Barnes & Noble broadened the line of Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook tablets Wednesday with a 10.1-inch, 16 GB version selling for $299. The companies called the $299 tag a “special introductory price” that includes access to $200 in free content from the Nook Store. The Barnes & Noble website showed the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 Nook for $169 with an instant $30 rebate, and the 10-inch version with a $50 rebate. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 without Nook software was also selling for $299 Wednesday at Best Buy and Amazon, while the 7-inch version sold at Amazon for $163. Customers buying the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook will receive new Nook software via an over-the-air update from the Google Play store that began Wednesday, the companies said. The update is said to include a cleaner visual design and user interface, new navigation tools to provide quick access between the shopping experience and other sections of the device and support for portrait and landscape modes. The software update will be available for the 7-inch model in November, they said.
Avi-on Labs launched its Simple Bluetooth Home system Wednesday, announcing a line of GE-branded lighting devices made by Jasco as its first branded products (http://prn.to/1t5pew). Avi-on uses CSR Bluetooth mesh networking to manage and control traditional household plugs inside and outside of the home as a Bluetooth Smart-based alternative to Wi-Fi-based connected home systems. Backed by a crowdfunding effort, Avi-on showed products last week at the Bluetooth NYC Media & Demo Event in New York (see 1410150091) but had not yet named GE as its brand. Avi-on pitches Simple Bluetooth Home as an easy-to-use platform that’s inexpensive and doesn’t require a hub. Consumers can control and manage a virtually unlimited number of Avi-on Bluetooth Smart-enabled products, including lamps, fans, small appliances, music systems and outside lights, the company said. The system allows users to turn lights on and off, dim, put them on schedules, or group them into scenes, the company said. Avi-on allows users to control home devices “with either one click of a light switch or one tap on the app,” said CEO Eric Miller. The suite of GE Bluetooth Smart products available at launch includes a light dimmer, light switch, indoor plug, indoor dimmable plug and outdoor plug, all under $40, the company said. Bundles are available for up to 25 percent off for a limited time at the Avi-on.com website, the company said.
Outerwall subsidiary Redbox and Verizon signed a withdrawal agreement Oct. 19 in which Redbox withdrew as a member of Verizon and Redbox Digital Entertainment Services, according to an SEC filing (http://bit.ly/10oGHp1). Under the agreement, all of Redbox’s rights under the joint venture’s operating agreement will be extinguished and all outstanding amounts including expense reimbursements will be settled in exchange for a payment of $16.8 million to Redbox. Outerwall has made total cash capital contributions to the venture of $77 million and has received total cash totaling $70.5 million, including revenue attributable to DVD and Blu-ray rentals, the filing said. Redbox Instant by Verizon ceased consumer operations Oct. 7.
21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management agreed to create a global multiplatform content provider. The companies will jointly manage the group, with each owning 50 percent, the companies said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1yiaGN7). The group’s businesses will have creative operations in more than 30 markets, “with a diverse portfolio of over 600 formats ... coupled with digital, gaming, and distribution operations,” it said. The agreement brings together Core Media, Endemol and Shine Group, it said. Those three companies will continue to operate as separate companies upon the transaction’s completion, 21st Century Fox and Apollo said.
Liberty Global got regulatory clearance from the European Commission for its public offer to shareholders of cable company Ziggo, Liberty said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1sudnrJ). Liberty Global offered commitments to address the European Commission’s competition concerns, the release said. Those concessions included divestment of Liberty’s Film1 business in the Netherlands, minimum IP transit capacity and “behavioral commitments” connected to contracts with broadcasters, the release said. To comply with U.S. regulatory requirements, Liberty Global may reduce the minimum acceptance level condition of the offer to 65 percent of Ziggo’s “aggregate issued and outstanding ordinary share capital,” the release said. The deal “will benefit consumers and businesses across the Netherlands given our commitment to investment and innovation in the Dutch market,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries in the release.
XO Communications sought FCC authorization to discontinue services that provide narrowband, dial-up Internet access, due to “a limited number of customers,” in a Section 63.71 application (http://bit.ly/1uRQ77J) posted in docket 14-168 Friday. Affected are consumer dial, corporate dial, wholesale dial, enterprise dial and managed modem services, the company said. The services are expected to be discontinued Nov. 24. They are offered in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and the state of Washington, the application said.
Google has received nearly 145,000 requests for information removal since it started accepting requests May 29, after the European Court of Justice’s right to be forgotten ruling (WID May 14 p5), said a transparency report released Friday (http://bit.ly/1snEpBQ). From those requests, Google has considered 497,695 URLs for removal, ultimately removing 41.8 percent of them. Facebook has had the most URLs, 3,332, removed from search results, followed by data crawler ProfileEngine.com, Google’s own YouTube and popular European social network Badoo.
Net neutrality advocates lauded President Barack Obama for his remarks Thursday during an innovation town hall meeting in Los Angeles. “I was opposed to it when I ran,” Obama said of paid prioritization deals. “I continue to be opposed to it now.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “knows my position” but Obama “can’t just call him up and tell him exactly what to do,” Obama said, noting that the FCC’s an independent agency. “But what I've been clear about, what the White House has been clear about is, is that we expect whatever final rules to emerge to make sure that we're not creating two or three or four tiers of Internet.” Obama said he’s “unequivocally committed” to net neutrality and “we don’t want to lose that or clog up the pipes” of the Internet. Free Press President Craig Aaron issued a statement arguing that Wheeler has “lost political support” from Obama for his net neutrality proposal, which Free Press and some others believe would not ban the prioritization deals Obama mentions opposing. Aaron called for Title II reclassification of broadband. Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal said “anything short” of reclassification is now “a betrayal of Internet users, of free speech and democracy, and a violation of the President’s expressed wishes.” Internet Association President Michael Beckerman lauded Obama for his support for “enforceable net neutrality rules” that keep consumers free from Internet slow lanes. That group’s members include AOL, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Yahoo.