Ominous sign that the UCentric/Voom press conference was canned, right after DirecTV and Ucentric announced their deal. Hopefully our intrepid CES reporters will bring us something soon... anything... please? 
Why was the press conference cancelled?
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YesDvlos said:
DIRECTV Debuts Home Media Center at CES Trade Show
Thursday January 6, 1:00 pm ET
Digital Network System Provides Seamless DVR in Every Room
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2005--DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading and fastest-growing digital television service provider, today introduced at the International Consumer Electronics Show an advanced new receiver and networked system, the DIRECTV Home Media Center, designed to be a whole-house entertainment solution that will allow DIRECTV customers for the first time to access content -- including digitally-recorded video, digital photos and digital music -- seamlessly from all television sets in a household. The DIRECTV Home Media Center, which includes the most technologically advanced DIRECTV receiver developed, has digital video recorder (DVR) functionality and also supports high definition (HD) and standard definition signals.
The Home Media Center will be comprised of a main unit, with smaller units located at each additional TV networked throughout the house, to provide DIRECTV customers with DVR service on all television sets. It also provides an integrated and common consumer experience on all television sets. For example, recordings can be scheduled and viewed from any room to any room.
"DIRECTV has been at the forefront of developing and bringing new television technologies to fruition since its inception and our new Home Media Center will take the DIRECTV viewing experience to a new level," said Mitch Stern, president and CEO of DIRECTV, Inc. "By integrating the television experience into a media center, we are providing our customers with the ability to have easier access to and enjoy a full range of content throughout the home. This product was developed in response to our customers' desire to expand their DVR experience to every television."
The DIRECTV Home Media Center, which will be available by the end of this year, will allow for networking throughout the house. DIRECTV customers with the Home Media Center will be able to share, move and view content from room to room.
The networked system's advanced middleware architecture will support additional functions via its broadband connection. Examples are support for personal computer connectivity, scheduling DVR recordings from the Internet, photos from wireless phones and video-on-demand. It is also MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compatible, and as with all DIRECTV receivers, the product software can be upgraded via satellite.
"Our goal at DIRECTV is simple: to provide the best television experience in the United States," said Stern, "And our new Home Media Center will help us get closer to that goal, as well as further distinguish DIRECTV from the competition."
DIRECTV is the nation's leading and fastest growing digital multichannel television service provider with more than 13.5 million customers. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design logo are registered trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of The DIRECTV Group Inc. (NYSETV - News). The DIRECTV Group is a world-leading provider of digital multichannel television entertainment and broadband satellite networks and services. The DIRECTV Group is 34 percent owned by Fox Entertainment Group, which is approximately 82 percent owned by News Corporation. For more information visit
That would be the beginning of the end for Dish IMO. Just a huge bandwidth advantage for D*Indy said:
Maybe D* will buy V* as a preemptive strike to prevent E* from doing it. That would be the end for both V* and E*.
Hours later and still no answers... it's almost a comedy of errors that my Voom receviers both lost the signal in the current ice storm. I turned them on and say "oh heck, did it go dark???" I rushed here to see
BFG said:Thats a lot of abbreviations
You are right, that is a stretch. But, if you remember I reported that talks between Dish and Voom went nowhere and were shelved in July. The deal between Direct and Ucentric makes sense. I believe Voom talked to Direct when talks failed with Dish in July and just recently, maybe today, Direct and Voom came to a understanding. The announcement would make sense if Voom and Direct were in agreement for a merger and the whole house integration with Ucentric equipment is part of the deal.
Remember my source for the info of talks between Voom and Dish was a administrative assistant to an Executive Vice President at Echostar. In his words the talks went NO WHERE and were not expected to resume.
This announcement between Direct and Ucentric is huge. I predict a announcement of a merger between Direct and Voom by the end of the month.
madpoet said:Hours later and still no answers... it's almost a comedy of errors that my Voom receviers both lost the signal in the current ice storm. I turned them on and say "oh heck, did it go dark???" I rushed here to see
This is strange indeed...
Why won't anyone tell us "Why the press conference was cancelled?"
- Nov 29, 2003
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How about a easier way to this then D* buying out V*, how about D* noticed Ucentric software, wanted to use it, D* has 13 million subs, Direct and Ucentric came to a deal.Maybe it has nothing to do with V*, maybe it does, we don't know.
The one thing I would like to know is if V* cancelled their news conference, can they set it up for a different time, the one thing I know about these conventions is that is hard to do with everyones conferences going on and the press and all that.
The one thing I would like to know is if V* cancelled their news conference, can they set it up for a different time, the one thing I know about these conventions is that is hard to do with everyones conferences going on and the press and all that.
Ucentric was not an exclusive deal with VOOM guys. Just read their website. Last year they also had cable companies as their clients. So where did this exclusivity with V* come from? This is not TIVO who had an exclusive agreement with D*. Ucentric had wanted more clients because everyone declaring them dead after they couldn't get more clients for their software. But I am so surprised that this has made such big news since LongHorn, the D* moderator, posted this information about three months ago and very few paid attention. Good for Ucentric because they have taken over the Tivo software business.
