televisions

Plenty of would-be buyers have been named for social news site Digg, but one we haven't heard much about: Current Media, the cable and Web news channel that was launched by former vice president Al Gore.

It's one of the juicy tidbits detailed in BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy's book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0, which hits bookstores on Thursday. In an excerpt posted to TechCrunch, Lacy writes about how executives Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose turned down a $100 million offer from … Read more

For the vast majority of Americans, analog TV sets aren't supposed to go black as part of the switch to all-digital broadcasts until February 17, 2009. But federal regulators are expected to announce Thursday that Wilmington, N.C., has volunteered to make the transition several months early as part of a last-minute test of sorts, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The waterside town of about 100,000 plans to cut off its analog broadcasting as soon as September 8, according to the Journal and confirmed by a source familiar with the matter. North Carolina is Federal Communications Commission Chairman … Read more

After a dramatic rise to the top of the LCD TV market last summer, Vizio seemed to have gotten a taste of reality as it settled back down to the No. 3 spot through the end of the 2007.

But it appears Vizio is ratcheting up the price pressure again on its closest competitors, according to new figures from iSuppli, a market research firm that monitors the LCD industry.

For the first quarter of 2008, the top vendors' share of unit shipments, led by Samsung with 13.9 percent of units shipped, and followed by Sony (13.7 percent) and … Read more

We're constantly hearing that seamless integration of television and broadband video is fast approaching, but nobody's gotten it right yet. That hasn't stopped new companies from jumping into the mix.

Enter Sezmi, the latest start-up hoping to capture the market: on Thursday, the venture-backed company unveiled a piece of hardware that it claims will be able to handle broadcast and cable TV, as well as streaming and downloaded Internet video content.

Currently in testing, Sezmi has already inked partnerships with a number of broadcasters, content companies, and broadband service providers. The ambitious company hopes to start putting … Read more

Some people love their Macs so much that they want to do everything with them. Actually, let's qualify that--we're talking about watching TV. And if you're a Cupertino loyalist who isn't quite sold on an Apple TV, there's a convenient way to get basic reception on the computer.

Equinux has released its "TubeStick," a hybrid tuner that comes in the form of a USB key that includes two receivers for HD broadcasts and digital or analog cable signals. It was announced earlier this year but is now for sale at $129.

Also included … Read more

Panasonic has been tapped to pinch-hit for Pioneer.

The two television makers said Wednesday they had come to an agreement in which Panasonic will produce the panels for Pioneer's plasma televisions.

The news comes a month after reports surfaced that Pioneer was pulling out of the plasma business. When Pioneer confirmed it would be finding someone who could make the panels more inexpensively than it could, there was a sense of dismay and disappointment among fans of its Kuro technology. Pioneer plasma TVs are generally regarded by experts--including CNET Reviews' David Katzmaier--as having the blackest black levels … Read more

The Landlord on FunnyOrDie.com

To the list of comedians trying to cash in on the Web, add The Groundlings, the revered Los Angeles improvisational comedy troupe.

The group, which helped launch the careers of Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, and Lisa Kudrow, announced Wednesday that it has agreed to produce 50 Webisodes over a year. The clips, which will be distributed by Sony Pictures Television, will appear on the Internet as well as mobile phones.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Comedy clips have proven a good fit for the Internet. Sites like CollegeHumor and Funny or Die have attracted plenty … Read more

By now, you've probably seen at least one of those televised public service announcements--or maybe even read on this very Web site--about how the U.S. government is forcibly cutting off analog TV broadcasts starting next February. And if you're a cable, satellite, or Internet-based TV subscriber, you probably already know that you shouldn't have to make any changes, and if you rely on over-the-air broadcasts, you may have already requested a taxpayer-funded coupon for a converter box.

Well, it seems your elected representatives on Capitol Hill don't have a lot of faith in the … Read more

CBS Television Stations has launched a new program to get its local news headlines onto blogs and social-media sites, the CBS division said Monday.

Called the CBS Local Ad Network, it's a way for participating region-focused blogs to pull in extra cash by embedding CBS news widgets on their sites and splitting the revenue of accompanying ads with CBS.

On Monday, the program was launched in a selection of the TV network's regional markets: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Within the next few weeks, CBS has said, the CBS Local Ad Network will come to … Read more