Access and Entertainment

Webcast: Opportunities for Service Providers in the Connected Home

According to Parks Associates research, 76% of North American broadband households use Wi-Fi as their primary connected technology , but in the past year, 37% of U.S. broadband households report that their Wi-Fi network seems slow. If operators want to compete effectively in the connected home, they will need to add value through premium CPE and a quality consumer experience. Parks Associates and Calix will discuss emerging trends for service providers in an upcoming webcast, The...

by Parks Associates | Feb. 26, 2018
Tags: broadband, home networks, Internet of Things, smart home, Webcast

Top Entertainment Trends from CES 2018

There was no shortage of key entertainment announcements and takeaways from CES 2018 last month in Las Vegas. Here are the top trends from the event impacting the connected entertainment landscape: Voice control continues to be the hot feature garnering consumer and industry attention. Pay-TV providers are considering their options (or, like Comcast, are already deploying voice controls), and manufacturers of set-top boxes, streaming devices, smart speakers, and remote...

by Brett Sappington | Feb. 12, 2018
Tags: none

Infographic: Smart Home Products Increase Home Network Demands

Approximately one-half of smart home device owners experience problems when setting up their devices, according to Parks Associates research. Consumers continue to rely on operators for the majority of home networking solutions and expect simplified user experiences across multiple interfaces from setup to daily operation. By addressing support issues, service providers can become the drivers of the connected home market. In the infographic below, Parks Associates highlights...

by Parks Associates | Feb. 6, 2018
Tags: home networks, Internet of Things, smart home, Whitepaper, Wi-Fi

Infographic: Communication Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Connected Home

The evolution of the connected home continues to create opportunities for communication service providers. Parks Associates research shows that 117 million households in North America have broadband, an 87% market penetration. 76% of broadband households use Wi-Fi as their primary connection technology. Operators are competing with a growing array of products that are staking a claim in the home with offers of an improved Wi-Fi experience, smart home controls, voice interfaces, and...

by Parks Associates | Jan. 31, 2018
Tags: home networks, Internet of Things, smart home, Wi-Fi

The Coolest Thing I Saw at CES 2018

Having seen a fair few products and services at CES 2018, one technology stood out to me as being particularly interesting from a consumer standpoint: cloud computing services for the consumer. Two companies in particular were showing off this technology on the show floor, NVIDIA and a smaller company called Shadow. These companies charge consumers a monthly fee to stream the processing power of a high-end PC to any broadband-connected computer, the selling point being that once you...

by Hunter Sappington | Jan. 11, 2018
Tags: CES, cloud services, digital content, gaming, streaming, Wi-Fi

Three Thoughts on Day Two at CES 2018

Another day of meetings and discovery at CES 2018. Here are a few additional thoughts on what I have seen at the show on day two. 8K is moving closer to reality. Yes. I understand. 4K is just gaining a foothold in the market, and HDR provides a visual pop at retail that may be more compelling than 4K alone. Yet, new 8K-based products are in evidence, with several slated for public release later this year. Samsung’s massive 146-inch “The Wall” TV (which is actually modular...

by Brett Sappington | Jan. 11, 2018
Tags: 4K, CES, connected CE, Google, operator, pay TV

Three Thoughts on Day One at CES 2018

The Consumer Electronics Show has become such a staple in the life of analysts and the consumer technology industry, I actually now find myself surprised that the dates for CES are not pre-printed on calendars, much like Presidents Day or Groundhog Day. CES veterans often the same dueling anticipations - new discoveries vs. travel hassles and big crowds. Ultimately, the hope of the former overshadows the dread of the latter, and we visit the booths, presentations, press events, and...

by Brett Sappington | Jan. 10, 2018
Tags: none

Unified Interfaces on the Mind at CES

Speaking from an entertainment focus at CES, nearly everyone I met with talked about being able to provide a single, unified interface for all the video products and services that consumers are using. And when you think about it, it makes complete sense why that is such a big deal. We have reached the point where using two or more video services is becoming the norm rather than the exception to a rule, and because users have to sort through the several different services they use to...