Thom Beers’ Original Productions, long a powerhouse producer of macho-man-themed cable reality series such as Monster Garage, Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men, will now get into the digital series game. Read more at paidContent »
Briefing investors on the value proposition offered by the Barry Diller-backed Aereo, Barclays media analyst Anthony DiClemente questions the savings — and fundemental value proposition — of replacing pay TV with over-the-top services. Read more at paidContent »
Serving as VP of business development for Netflix since 2008, former DivX executive Bill Holmes is credited with establishing partnerships with Apple, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung, Sony and other consumer electronics brands. Read more at paidContent »
The deal adds movies and TV shows from one of Hollywood’s most essential content libraries, including Moonstruck, Silence of the Lambs, Rain Man and Thirtysomething. Amazon has now licensed 18,000 movies and TV episodes for its subscription streaming service. Read more at paidContent »
Who says your pay TV bill has to run you $100 a month? Here’s how, in a TV Everywhere world, you can get authenticated for as little as $10 a month. Read more at paidContent »
Despite steep declines for DVD sales and domestic theater admissions, Pricewaterhouse Coopers says that shortened release windows, the proliferation of streaming, and of course, China, will help the global movie business grow about 3 percent a year through 2016. Read more at paidContent »
Since the sign-off of its Starz deal in February, Netflix’s streaming service has been largely devoid of new blockbuster movie titles. Can the arrival of top-grossing films like Thor, Transformers 3 and Immortals kickstart Netflix’s sluggish subscriber growth … and stock price? Read more at paidContent »
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen defended his company’s controversial new commercial-skipping feature as a necessary innovation amid a sea change in video delivery. Oh, and he also conceded that it won’t hurt Dish when it comes to broadcast retransmission talks. Read more at paidContent »
Eight months after launching, and two months since Walmart started pushing the cloud-based movie locker in its stores, the studio-backed UltraViolet program has signed up 3 million users. Read more at paidContent »
The major broadcast networks have only secured modest single-digit price increases for their commercial time. But more troubling for them, they have failed to grow their overall dollar volume, suggesting a portion of the business is migrating to digital. Read more at paidContent »
NBC entertainment president Robert Greenblatt recruits another one of his former Showtime underlings, Robert Hayes, to run digital operations. Under a re-structuring, digital — which had been under the watch of NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert — will now be Greenblatt’s purview. Read more at paidContent »
Critics say that in the post-Sopranos era, HBO is no longer “zeitgeisty.” But what’s not relevant about a network carrying the entire TV Everywhere initiative on its back? We examine why HBO remains vital, just in a different way. Read more at paidContent »
Shareholders vote overwhelmingly to change the company’s classified board status, which features various members serving staggered terms of differing lengths, into a standard structure in which members come up for vote every year. While non-binding, the vote could leave Netflix more open to takeover. Read more at paidContent »
As carriage disputes go, Dish Networks’ battle with AMC Networks is shaping up to be particularly nasty. Just how disruptive would it be to have a programmer of Emmy-winning hits cast off the No. 3 pay TV service provider? Read more at paidContent »
The agency hires away Warner Bros. executive Keyvan Peymani to lead its newly christened digital strategy team. The firm is looking to diversify from just representing YouTube stars and transition into the more profitable area of incubating tech-media start-ups. Former digital head George Ruiz exits. Read more at paidContent »
Fifteen years after buying WebTV, Microsoft is once again trying to bring the wide-open Internet to the living room. Here’s a look at Internet Explorer for Xbox and other highlights from Microsoft’s E3 presentation Monday. Read more at paidContent »
Sure, the satellite TV service faces rising programming costs, flattening subscriber growth and an obsolete one-way broadcast platform here in the U.S. But Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Craig Moffett told investors this week they’re not seeing the company’s huge growth potential in Latin America. Read more at paidContent »
Netflix’s fast-growing subscription VOD business now consumes 44 percent the online movie market compared to just 32.3 percent for Apple’s iTunes, according to research company IHS Screen Digest. This, of course, is a bad sign for studios pushing for higher-margin digital movie sales. Read more at paidContent »
The film business is under pressure to cut costs and dramatically change the way it windows its releases. But after Bob Iger’s bold choice of Rich Ross three years ago yielded more flops than innovation, the Disney CEO turned to made veteran studio boss Alan Horn Thursday. Read more at paidContent »
The Weinstein Company’s tongue-in-cheek 3D horror sequel will debut simultaneously on pay TV VOD through Starz, and on internet-based platforms including Amazon and Facebook. Such “day and date” releases are still rare for such semi-high-profile films, and it’s never been done with a 3D movie. Read more at paidContent »
With around 18 percent of its audience consuming its programs on digital platforms, the CW has emerged as broadcast TV’s most innovative network in terms of tracking and monetizing digital viewers. But without that billion dollars from Netflix, where would it be? Read more at paidContent »
Amazon’s European subsidiary now has exclusive second pay-TV window rights locked up for three of Hollywood’s six major studios, leaving precious little premium content left over for rival Netflix to acquire when it expands into Western Europe later this year. Read more at paidContent »
As part of its settlement of a class-action privacy suit, Netflix will “de-couple” information about which movies its former customers rented from their basic identification profiles no more than one year after they leave the service. Read more at paidContent »
The New York based company, founded by pro-wrestling scion Shane McMahon and enjoying a 20-year deal with the Chinese government to run nationally sanctioned VOD services, will start its first day of trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday. Read more at paidContent »
While growth of flat-screen TV sales seems to have plateaued in mature markets like the U.S. and UK, research NPD DisplaySearch finds that there are still plenty of cathode ray-tube TV sets to be replaced in countries like China, Russia, Brazil and Mexico Read more at paidContent »
On Friday, activity around Dish’s highly controversial “AutoHop” feature was, well, hopping. Not only did NBC and CBS join Fox in the court battle against the satellite TV service, but Dish issued a testy response. Oh, and a backlash is forming against the networks. Read more at paidContent »
High-def digital video recorders, which can use as much power as a small refrigerator, are about to become a lot more efficient, thanks to chip innovations that put these devices to sleep. But will your cable company let your set-top box get the best sleep possible? Read more at paidContent »
Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Todd Juenger doesn’t believe digital media companies like YouTube, Yahoo and AOL can entice advertisers into committing huge portions of dollars all in one buying session, a la TV’s traditional upfront market. Read more at paidContent »
Just what do you call a company that hurts and helps your business at the same time? With Netflix draining ratings for some programs, spiking the performance of others, and all the while increasing broadband sales, Cox Communications’ Patrick Esser came up with the perfect term. Read more at paidContent »
The killer asset in the video age is widely believed to be a large library full of content that can be sold, licensed and re-distributed onto emerging platforms. But media executives Rob Burnett and Lisa Gersh had different opinions at paidContent 2012. Read more at paidContent »
Amid growing speculation that Hulu doesn’t fit the TV Everywhere goals of its media-conglomerate parents, News Corp.’s digital chief said at paidContent 2012 direct-to-consumer businesses like the streaming service are essential for survival. Read more at paidContent »
Motorola is developing a cloud-based virtual DVR that would allow pay TV subscribers the ability to access their shows from anywhere on almost any device. With content owners able to manage rights on this system, it could accelerate TV Everywhere adoption. Read more at paidContent »
As executives for Time Warner Cable and other multi-channel TV service providers also take it to task for its new commercial-skipping DVR, Dish Network defends its new offering, calling it a “win-win” that makes subscribers watch even more broadcast television. Read more at paidContent »
With TV repeats and original series emerging as important drivers of Netflix’s content mix, the company has made two key executive moves intended to bolster those areas. Cindy Holland will now serve as VP of original content, while Jason Ropell will oversee U.S. TV licensing. Read more at paidContent »
Popular YouTube video channel Machinima.com has landed a $35M round of funding, with Google leading the round. While Google has given its video content partners seed money in the past, this is the first time it’s given big-time VC dollars to one of them. Read more at paidContent »
Set-top box maker TiVo has introduced a new Slingbox-like product that lets users stream live- or DVR-recorded TV to tablets, notebooks and smart phones. Read more at paidContent »
Nine months after launching its streaming service in Japan, Hulu still won’t offer up any subscription numbers. But the company did confirm on Friday that it has hired a new managing director for the region, former Avex Group executive Buddy Marini. Read more at paidContent »
Aggressive investments into professional-grade (and semi-professional-grade) video content have dramatically increased the average amount of time viewers on YouTube and Yahoo spend watching shows each month. The competition, meanwhile, has seen its usage decline in a big way. We crunch the comScore video numbers. Read more at paidContent »
Two weeks after the digital media giants stormed Madison Avenue with their Newfront blitz, television’s indigenous programmers showed up in Manhattan to defend their turf. For now, their share of ad dollars appears to be safe. Read more at paidContent »
Speaking at an investor conference Wednesday, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said his company’s joint venture with Coinstar’s Redbox will seek to leverage the DVD-rental kiosk operator’s 30 million customers and not so much on Verizon FiOS’ nearly 4.4 million customers. Read more at paidContent »
