Tag archive: Netflix

Didn’t have time to keep up with every ripple in the technology pond this week? We’ve got you covered. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last week. Amazon, Viacom, Red Box, and Verizon all make plans to compete with Netflix With news of a supposed collaboration of Red Box and Verizon in the works, we examined what such a service might look like in reality and how streaming might integrate with those famous red kiosks. We… Read More

According to a recent article at Public Knowledge, cables companies are pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider a rule regarding the encryption of the basic cable tier. During the early nineties, a rule was adopted by the FCC to make sure cable companies kept a portion of the broadcast stations completely unencrypted. Commonly known as “basic cable” by the public, these stations can be accessed without the… Read More

Amazon is continuing its quest to corner a piece of the content streaming market with its new Viacom partnership. The new deal will offer Amazon Prime members the ability to instantly access TV shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT, and Logo. Netflix and Hulu are feeling a little pressure from Amazon. By wrapping the amount of content it does into its Amazon Prime service, it’s marketing itself to a wider… Read More

Telecommunications giant Verizon has announced it is teaming up with Coinstar's Redbox DVD kiosk service to launch a new Internet-based streaming video service in the second half of the year. The move highlights the increasing importance of streaming video operations in the mainstream media marketplace, and at first glance a team-up between Verizon and Redbox would seem to have a lot going for it: both are widely recognized brands with… Read More

Lilyhammer, the first original series from streaming giant Netflix, is now available for Watch Instantly customers in the US, Canada and Latin America. Wisely, Netflix has released all eight episodes of the show, which stars Steve Van Zandt's of Sopranos and E Street Band fame, simultaneously. This means all you marathon series watchers out there (and we know there are a lot of you) can get your TV fix in as little or high a dosage as you… Read More

With cable subscriptions beginning to decline, everyone wants in on streaming. Though it's late to the game, Verizon is teaming with Redbox (owned by Coinstar) to create a Netflix hybrid service that would offer Redbox DVDs and streaming movies over a Verizon video subscription service. The new service should launch (or be unveiled) later this year (second half of 2012).  According to Verizon, the new service will give users “the… Read More

As announced by the Los Angeles Times earlier today, Coinstar's popular Redbox brand has made a decision to ignore Warner Brothers recently announced 56-day plan that would restrict when a consumer has access to renting a new release on DVD or Blu-ray through the popular red kiosks.    Company officials at Redbox have decided to purchase all new Warner Brothers releases in bulk through retailers like Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart, but at a… Read More

  Didn’t have time to keep up with every ripple in the technology pond this week? We’ve got you covered. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last week. The mandatory Facebook Timeline rollout is here  While the rollout has been a slow process, Facebook is finally ready to push Timeline on all of its users, whether they like it or not. Users have had months to make the switch, but within the next few weeks it will no longer be a… Read More

Netflix just can't catch a break. Despite its series of damaging PR blunders, the beleaguered video-streaming and DVD rental company announced its fourth quarter 2011 earnings report (pdf) today, which shows that Netflix managed to beat market expectations, with earnings of $0.73 a share, and revenue of $876 million. Market analysts expected about $0.53 a share, and revenue of around $857 million. The company also managed to increase its… 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

According to a new study conducted by the NPD Group, video-on-demand and streaming video from services like Netflix were on the rise during 2011 and 31 percent of all rentals in North America are attributed to digital delivery options. Alternatively, total physical DVD and Blu-ray rentals fell by 11 percent over the year due to the decline in Blockbuster as well as flat Netflix growth. Redbox is the only bright spot in the physical rental… Read More

With more and more streaming options being added to our online lives all the time, it's becoming more and more tempting for some people to cut the cable cord altogether. If you've got a Roku box or gaming console along with Netflix and/or Hulu Plus accounts, paying somewhere around $80-$100 for full cable service might seem like a bit much. To many, though, cutting out regular TV altogether is too extreme, but now we have something… Read More

Initially filed by the Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd law firm on behalf of investors at the City of Royal Oak Retirement System in Michigan, Netflix is now dealing with a class-action suit alleging that company officials “issued materially false and misleading statements regarding business practices and its contracts with content providers.”  Defendants specifically identified within the lawsuit include CEO Reed Hastings, chief… Read More

Last month, U.S. regulations were altered to allow Netflix integration with the Facebook Open Graph. Instead of requiring the written consent from each user, all Netflix has to do now is offer an opt-out feature that keeps your viewing habits off of Facebook. And now this partnership—and many others—are coming to fruition. We’ve spent a lot of time wondering when exactly the Open Graph was going to fully open for business, and all those… Read More

Mentioned within an official Hulu blog post by CEO Jason Kilar, Hulu has gained over 1.5 million premium subscribers to the Hulu Plus service. This brings Hulu in line with the same amount of premium subscriber as DVR service TiVo according to SplatF's Dan Frommer, but still lags far behind the 25 million Netflix subscribers. Both Hulu Plus and Netflix's streaming-only package are priced at $7.99 per month for each service. During… Read More