UltraViolet, the movie studios’ attempt at establishing a digital media locker system, launched last October. The first studio to support the initiative was Warner Bros., who has run their UltraViolet storefront and account service through Flixster. The “buy once, play anywhere” service got off to a rocky start, but has continued to plug along, perking the interest of Akamai and picking […]
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In a move that is sure to set off alarms for network neutrality proponents everywhere, Comcast has announced Xfinity Streampix, a new streaming media service intended to compete with Netflix. The new service will be bundled into Comcast’s higher-end TV tiers for free, or can be added to a lower-end tier for $4.99 a month. The service will initially offer […]
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Blockbuster caused quite a stir last September when rumors started swirling that the company would soon be launching a streaming service ala Netflix, but the end result was a decidedly more tepid offering limited to Dish Network subscribers. This wasn’t necessarily a huge surprise given that Dish Network spent a couple hundred million dollars buying up the former industry giant, but there […]
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Boxee recently caused a stir when it joined forces with the Consumer Electronics Association in petitioning the FCC to continue to force cable providers to offer unencrypted basic tier service, but perhaps the company should have been petitioning Congress not to approve the sale of TV spectrum. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal combines some Nielsen figures concerning […]
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Netflix has signed a deal with The Weinstein Company to bring a number of the film studio’s movies exclusively to Netflix for streaming. Financial terms were not released, but upcoming titles and some of the details of the exclusivity agreement have been announced. Movies covered by the deal will come to Netflix within a year of their theatrical release and […]
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It’s been a busy month for streaming media fans looking for something new. Netflix launched their first original series, Lilyhammer, earlier this month, and this week Hulu premiered their first original scripted show, Battleground. While Netflix dropped the entire first season of Lilyhammer at one time, Hulu likes to parcel its shows out gradually. New episodes of Battleground will be available on […]
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BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen took to the stage at the SF MusicTech Summit on Monday to show off his P2P live streaming protocol, BitTorrent Live. The concept is simple. By using BitTorrent Live, any content provider can stream any live event via the Internet on the cheap with minimal latency. By shifting the distribution of the stream to the P2P […]
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One of the best parts about running a Windows Home Server box is the versatility that comes with running a complete Windows OS. When Plex announced that they would be releasing a client app for the Nook Color, I knew it was time to roll up my sleeves and try installing Plex Media Server on my WHS 2011 box. I […]
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Yesterday there were reports that Amazon and Viacom were close to announcing a deal that would bring Viacom content to Prime Instant Video. Today there is an official announcement. The deal appears to be limited to Viacom-owned TV shows that are part of the Viacom Media Networks. Evidently adding Viacom-owned movies will require a separate deal with Paramount Pictures Corp. […]
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It has already been a busy week for streaming media deals with Redbox and Verizon hooking up, but it looks like Amazon is getting ready to make some noise as well. Amazon is reportedly getting ready to announce that they have secured a deal to add content from Viacom to Prime Instant Video. There are no details on exactly what […]
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