Welcome to today's broadband and cable news roundup.
Cablevision Systems Corp. has joinedNetflix Inc.'s Open Connect, a private content delivery network (CDN) that will help Cablevision deliver Netflix streams, including higher bit-rate "Super HD" and 3DTV content, to its cable modem subscribers more efficiently. Other ISP members include Virgin Media Inc., BT and Telus Corp.. Cablevision says the arrangement gives it a higher-quality, direct local connection with Netflix, which it hopes to play as an advantage against competitors such as Verizon Communications Inc. Netflix, by the way, ranks Cablevision as the fifth-best U.S. ISP for video streaming performance.
Netflix is offering Super HD, encoded in 1080p, to its Open Connect partners, and is offering a few titles in 3-D format. The new Super HD and 3-D formats are "more challenging to deliver than our other video streams," which is why Netflix is offering them only to Open Connect members, company VP of Content Delivery Ken Florance said in a statement. ISPs can get on board with Open Connect for free, Netflix said.
Netflix and Cablevision are getting friendly amid earlier network neutrality complaints by Netflix that Comcast Corp. gives special treatment to video streams that are delivered to the Xbox 360 via the MSO's own Xfinity TV app.
Dish Network Corp. has baked a Slingbox into a new generation of the Hopper, a whole-home DVR that lets users automatically skip the ads in recorded prime time programming from the nation's big broadcasters. The Hopper with Sling comes with 2 terabytes of storage and includes a new "Transfers" feature that lets users load recorded shows onto iPads for on-the-go viewing.
Cox Communications Inc. used this week's Consumer Electronic Show to provide a glimpse of a new second-screen app developed with Cisco (via NDS) that streams a subset of the MSO's live TV lineup and can control the company's Trio guide for tru2way set-top boxes. The first version of the Personal Video Experience app will initially launch on the iPad in May, according to Multichannel News.
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