Hulu Japan officially launched, kicking off the online video service’s entrance into its first international market. But unlike its ad-supported service in the U.S., the Japanese version comes with a few differences that could give a hint at what Hulu might look like in the future. Read more »
Hulu’s first offering outside the U.S. is live: Hulu Japan, a subscription service with “hundreds” of films and thousands of hours of TV. Fo… Read more at paidContent »
There’s nothing flashy about broadband services, but that won’t stop many operators from making those services a core focus as time goes on. Due to growing consumer adoption and better profit margins than traditional video services’, high-speed Internet is likely to be the future of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
After weeks of speculation, a sale of Hulu seems inevitable. But while bids from companies like Google, Amazon, Yahoo and DirecTV are expected Wednesday, there’s a compelling case to be made that Hulu’s owners and content partners might be better off not selling. Read more »
Fox won’t be the only broadcaster to restrict access to its shows online and require next-day viewers to be pay TV subscribers. Disney is also working out deals with distributors that would allow viewers to watch shows sooner if they log on with a cable ID. Read more »
Would consumers pay to stream live, local TV channels to a Roku or other connected set-top box? And if so, how much? That’s a question that’s on the mind of Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper, who’s doing a little bit of informal market research on the topic. Read more »
By implementing TV Everywhere–type authentication for broadcast content online, Fox is eliminating some of the friction that’s cropped up in its negotiations with cable and satellite providers. But it could also use access to online video as a way to drive ever-higher retransmission fees. Read more »
While canceled on broadcast TV, daytime soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live will continue to live on online. The strategy of distribution hasn’t been made clear yet, but the bigger question is: Will TV audiences follow those soaps online? Read more »
Hulu has been a great service for viewers, offering the ability to catch up on shows the day after they’ve aired online. But based on reports of deals it’s negotiating with broadcasters, Hulu might make users prove they’re cable subscribers to do so in the future. Read more »
Hulu’s board of directors has hired investment banks to begin exploring a sale of the online video startup. But will any buyer get what it’s bargained for? Questions about future content deals and the ability to hold the attention of viewers could spoil Hulu’s future. Read more »
Hulu might be close to signing new rights agreements with its content partners, according to AllThingsD. But things have changed since its launch. How will that affect what Hulu’s business looks like after the next set of deals are done? Here are our predictions. Read more »
» Ahead of Earnings Next Week, Demand Media (NYSE: DMD) Shares Drastic Dip Due to Googley Panda-Monium. (AllThingsD)
» … Read more at paidContent »
Comcast has expanded the amount of TV content available through its VOD service, with all four broadcasters on board. But more important than the addition of new content is the technology behind it, which will improve tracking and monetization of VOD TV episodes. Read more »
Syncbak hopes to enable broadcast stations to take control of their destinies and create new streaming services, by offering a way for them to verify local viewers are in their broadcast area and ensure that devices accessing content belong in households that can receive their signals. Read more »
Netflix is employing a multi-pronged approach to growing its streaming library: Get long-tail content on the cheap, pay top dollar for popular programming that will draw new users, and make some bets on exclusive original programming to differentiate from other video services. Read more »
Hulu viewers watch twice as much online TV on its site as on the next five network sites combined. But with content partners threatening to pull content or add windows online, Hulu could see its audience go elsewhere to get their online TV fix. Read more »
Mobile video accounts for a very small fraction of the overall U.S. mobile data market, despite on-the-go video and mobile TV receiving as much hype as any other area in the space. This report — the first in a two-part series on mobile video — examines what we can learn from the failures of mobile video to find a sizable audience so far, which challenges will continue to hinder the market in the coming years and the opportunities that will increasingly exist. The iPhone, Android devices and other multimedia-friendly handsets offer more screen real estate and higher resolution than previously possible, while the move toward 4G will help carriers deliver higher quality video more consistently. Even so, the challenges in this market are many, and mobile devices will likely always be inferior to set-top boxes, desktop computers and laptops when it comes to delivering a quality viewing experience. And because video consumes so much bandwidth on mobile networks, uptake will surely be impacted as carriers move away from all-you-can-eat data plans. The industry must, then, find other ways to monetize video in mobile, and without clogging already taxed cellular networks. Most importantly, it must develop viable business models for implementing video in ways that make sense for the consumer, the content owner and the network operator. Companies mentioned in this report include AT&T, Sprint, Apple, Google, Research in Motion, Qualcomm and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Netflix is getting a whole bunch of content from ABC and ABC Family, including shows like Scrubs, Ugly Betty and The Secret Life of the American Teenager under a new agreement with Disney announced today. The deal also introduces a new 15 day window. Read more »
The live-stream video market is entering an upturn in the typical hockey stick growth chart. Tens of millions of desktop viewers use browser-based players to find live-streaming content on an ever-increasing number of web sites and mobile devices. Raw viewership will grow fastest in the consumer segment, where sites like Justin.tv and Qik are focused. Those like Kyte, Livestream, Ustream and BitGravity, meanwhile, primarily offer platforms to commercial content providers seeking a mass audience. And as the market grows, both in terms of viewers and of the number and type of content providers, it will support both those with a diverse, one-stop-shop approach and those who specialize in particular content and audiences. Additional companies mentioned in this report include YouTube/Google, Sony, HTC, Vivu, Facebook and Apple. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
While the stakes for this election might not be quite as high as they were in 2008, any political junkie knows that this year’s results could have a major impact on national and local politics — and there are plenty of options for watching the action online. Read more »
It was no big surprise that broadcasters would block Google TV devices from accessing their content online. What’s at stake, of course, is the $80 billion TV advertising business fueling primetime TV. But broadcasters need a strategy that includes Google TV, not blocks it. Read more »
Today on the Net: Disney CEO Bob Iger says affiliates should expect to pay more of their retrans fees to ABC, Lionsgate is getting into web video with 24 episodes of a new web series and Comcast shuffles its digital team ahead of the NBCU deal. Read more »
Today on the web: Bitbop launches its $9.95 a month mobile video service on Android, Disney CEO Bob Iger is trying to turn ABC around after declines in viewership and a Best Buy memo points to a Google TV launch on October 17th. Read more »
Modern Family producer Steve Levitan suggests ABC take episodes of his show offline to see how it would affect the show’s broadcast ratings. With 2 million viewers watching the show online, Levitan said it could be a Top 3 show if that viewing were counted. Read more »
The battle between Time Warner Cable and Disney over retransmission fees required to carry ABC and ESPN channels is heating up, with both companies already appealing to the public through websites designed to sway opinion in their favor. But where does online video fit in? Read more »
Today on the Net: Paul Lee is taking over ABC Entertainment Group for Steve McPherson, Comcast expects advertising revenues to rise to $10 billion from $2 billion with the NBCU deal and Old Spice saw its sales rise 107 percent due to its YouTube campaign Read more »
Here we go again: Time Warner Cable has resurrected its “Roll Over or Get Tough” marketing campaign in advance of an upcoming carriage fight with Disney and ABC. With a deadline of Sept. 1 to finish a deal, the early relaunch suggests negotiations could get messy. Read more »
Today on the Net: ABC has doubled the number of ads it shows in its iPad app, Demand Media chooses Joost for its video ad sales and technology, and Epix is adding authentication with a new HD site aimed at Cox and Mediacom customers. Read more »
Based on a consumer survey, ABC may be looking to roll out a premium online subscription service that would give users access to more content than is currently available on ABC.com and Hulu. But who wins and who loses if it were to do so? Read more »
ABC released one of the first major video applications available on the iPad, but the recent release of the 3G version of the Apple tablet unearthed a flaw in the app — namely, that it wouldn’t stream video over AT&T’s mobile network. That has since been […] Read more »
Broadcast Networks Set for 20% Gain in Upfront Market; ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox should net approximately $8.26 billion in prime-time advertising commitments, up 20% from the $6.88 billion in 2009, according to research from Barclays. (AdAge) Howcast Is Now Available on BlackBerry; the DIY video […] Read more »
Today’s news that ABC and Ooyala are testing 99-cent video streams for episodes of the ABC Family show 10 Things I Hate About You brings up an interesting question: What is an episode of a popular TV show worth to its viewers? ABC is trying to […] Read more »
Ooyala has rolled out the first known test of its micropayment capabilities, with a system that allows media companies to charge viewers who wish to pay for the latest episodes of certain shows. As pointed out on TechCrunch yesterday, ABC Family is testing out a pay-per-view […] Read more »
Once again, it pays to be first, but having free TV content probably didn’t hurt either: ABC announced today that it has seen more than 212,000 downloads of its iPad application ever since the Apple tablet went on sale less than two weeks ago. The broadcaster also […] Read more »
Apple’s Jobs Responds To Developer Complaints; In a couple of emails, Jobs said Apple doesn’t want apps to work the same across devices, but wants iPhone/iPad apps to be singular and best used on its own devices. (paidContent) Meanwhile, Adobe CTO Lynch Smacks Back at Apple’s […] Read more »
Long before the iPad was launched, we posited that it would change the way people consumed video. Well, based on some very (very!) early data from MeFeedia, Apple tablet is already considered an ideal device for watching online video by its users. Despite a limited number […] Read more »
Companies are bending over backwards to get content onto the iPad. Now ABC and CBS are taking it to the next level, with both planning to offer free streaming content designed specifically to work with the platform. Read more »
Good news for online video fans: The first generation of video apps for the iPad have been revealed, and among them are offerings from content distributors Netflix and ABC. The rollout of Netflix’s Watch Instantly service on the soon-to-launched mobile device, as well as a wide […] Read more »
Television ratings may be down across the board, but it’s been a good year for awards shows so far. First, the Grammys broadcast reached 23 million viewers in February, and then last night the 82nd annual Academy Awards had its best viewership in five years, with […] Read more »
And the Oscar for the industry’s best drama goes to… ABC. The Disney-owned broadcaster reached a tentative agreement with Cablevision minutes into the telecast of the Academy Awards, according to a New York Times report. ABC and Cablevision had been embroiled in a very public dispute […] Read more »
