Tag archive: ABC

Piracy has been in the news a lot recently, thanks to extensive coverage of both the SOPA and PIPA bills, and the ongoing saga of Megaupload.com. Neither unpopular bills or the closing down of services also used for legitimate means are the solution to the problem though, so what is? While a complete solution may not even exist, there are steps that can be taken to cut down on the effects of piracy, provided someone is willing to put in the… Read More

Announced on the official TiVo blog earlier this week, the DVR service company is rolling out a new user interface for owners of the TiVo Premiere, TiVo Premiere XL, and TiVo Premiere Elite. Called version 20.2, the new update overhauls the previously translucent high definition grid guide and live guide as well as introduces a mini-guide, info banners, speed improvements, a revision to the discover bar, improvements to the search algorythm and… Read More

Steve Jobs made quite a few pot shots at Microsoft and Bill Gates in his posthumously published biography by Walter Isaacson. And in the book, Bill Gates makes a few shots back, but we in the media are never happy without a fight. While interviewing Gates on ABC News this Sunday, Christiane Amanpour prodded him with Jobs's criticisms. Gates responded very graciously.  Here's the quote from Steve Jobs:  “Bill is basically… Read More

Netflix announced today that it will continue to offer its streaming customers shows from the Disney-ABC Television Group, which includes ABC Studios, Disney Channel and ABC Family. Additional shows from these networks will also be added to the Netflix lineup as part of the renewal deal.  According to the streaming agreement, episodes from the new seasons of shows currently being aired on the Disney-ABC channels will be available to Netflix… Read More

Announced last week, NBC brought an update to its iPad application which allows users to watch ad-supported episodes of 28 popular NBC shows including The Office, Community, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, America's Got Talent, Chuck, 30 Rock and The Biggest Loser. Oddly, this eliminates a reason for iPad owners to subscribe to Hulu Plus, the streaming video company that's partly owned by NBCUniversal and currently up for sale to the… Read More

On Friday, Apple removed the option to rent episodes of television shows from iTunes. Previously, rentals had cost iTunes members 99 cents an episode, but an episode could be purchased for $1.99 for standard definition or $2.99 for high definition. The purchase options remain in the store as of Friday. Rentals were first offered to iTunes members when the Apple TV made its first public appearance in September of last year. When an iTunes member… Read More

Hulu may be one of the most-watched online video services in the United States, but the service faces tough competition from the likes of Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Video-on-Demand, and iTunes, not to mention on-demand offerings from cable companies. And according to The Wall Street Journal, Hulu's founders haven't been able to agree whether offering first-run television content for free is helping or hurting their business… Read More

Online video service Netflix is expanding its streaming library with a slate of television shows from ABC, ABC Family, and the Disney Channel, adding things like Greek and The Secret Life of the American Teenager to its lineup for the first time. The deal also enables Netflix to offer every episode of Lost to die-hard fans (and those they are still trying to recruit), along with shows like Ugly Betty, Scrubs, and Pair of Kings. “TV… Read More

With both Apple and Google now anxiously pawing at the door to consumer living rooms with products like Apple TV and Google TV, it should come as little surprise that Microsoft is apparently lumbering down from Redmond to poke its face in the doorway, too. Early reports suggest Microsoft is developing a paid television service that would use the Xbox 360 to pipe content to TVs. It may be just a sliver of a rumor at the moment, but the concept… Read More

Google continues to face difficulties in getting old media to play along with its Internet TV effort. Major broadcast networks Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC have all blocked their Web content from being streamed through a Google TV device. And now, big time media conglomerate Viacom has also joined the embargo, stopping the flow of its Web-hosted content to Google TV devices. Viacom's move has potential to impact a broad swath of Google TV users… Read More

What the frak? A new study by the Parents Television Council says that U.S. broadcast networks are using curse words 69.3 percent more than they did five years ago. “Explicit references to genitalia and bodily functions” rose the most of any type of swear word and the 8:00 -9:00 p.m. hours, called “family hour” prime-time, had the largest increase in profanities. In this study, the PTC analyzed all major broadcast… Read More

If you want to stream full episodes of “Glee” or “the Simpsons,” you won't be able to do it through Google TV. That's because News Corp.-owned Fox has now decided that it won't allow Google TV viewers to stream its online content. Fox had originally delayed the decision whether or not to permit access to its content even as rival networks CBS, ABC, and NBC were quick to shut the door on Google TV users.… Read More

Bad news for Google TV users – that loophole you (hopefully) were utilizing to watch standard programming has now been closed. CrunchGear reports that Fancast has been blocked by Google TV, eliminating access to NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and basically anything else not owned by Viacom. Add to the mix a ban blocking Google TV from using Hulu and the product’s worth is rapidly decreasing. The various networks seem determined to deny any access to… Read More

Since its inception in 2007, Hulu has become one of the most popular places to watch TV on the Internet. But now its owners, including ABC, NBC, and Fox, are Hulu's worst enemy. Addicted to an aging business model, Hulu's parents are using and abusing it — and other streaming sites — for their own short-term gains. The big broadcast networks have: Constantly changed the posting schedules of new shows on Hulu Randomly… Read More

Three major television networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS – are stopping Google TV from accessing streaming video through their websites, according to the Wall Street Journal. That means while you can stream free full episodes of NBC’s “The Office” or CBS’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” from a traditional computer, you won’t be able to watch from a device running the Google TV service. For the moment, Fox is still allowing Google TV access to its… Read More