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More bad news for Blockbuster: The DVD rental firm announced yesterday that it will lose its place on the New York Stock Exchange next Wednesday, after it failed to get enough shareholder votes on a proposal designed to help it comply with NYSE requirements. Read more »

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Photo courtesy Flickr user dougbelshaw

TV apps — interactive, web-like applications meant to “enhance” the TV viewing experience by supplementing programming content with additional material and activities — are evolving quickly from a novelty feature on some Internet-enabled HDTVs and a few cable systems to a standard capability. Their rise is driven by rapid growth in the number of Internet-connected devices in consumers’ living rooms, growing consumer familiarity with mobile apps and strategic competitive forces that influence video service providers. In this report, we look at the market dynamics, key players, and provide forecasts for the market, including network-connected televisions, embedded app marketplaces, app downloads, paid TV apps, and revenue from the sale of paid apps to consumers, which will grow from $10 million in 2010 to $1.9 billion by 2015. Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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Widevine revealed its biggest customer to date this morning — Netflix — saying it’s been using its DRM for distribution across multiple consumer electronics devices. And the DRM provider could see even more takeup soon, as it has announced new features, such as support for live […] Read more »

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Netflix subscribers, we have good news and bad news. First, the good news: The company has added a ton of new streaming content, including all prior seasons of TV shows such as 24 and Bones, as well as movies including Aliens, Being John Malkovich and The […] Read more »

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Blockbuster has signed deals with two more Hollywood studios that could give it a head start on new release rentals — as well as “enhanced payment terms” that could keep it alive for just a bit longer. Sony Pictures Entertainment and 20th Century Fox are at […] Read more »

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Canoe to Deliver Interactivity to Multiple Cable Operators This Year; Canoe Ventures has created a technology for cable subscribers to interact with programs and commercials in a more Web-like experience. (Beet.TV) Cable Programmers Latch On To iPad Hype; Viacom’s MTV Networks, Discovery Communications, Disney/ABC Television and […] Read more »

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HBO In Discussions For ‘TV Everywhere’ Deals; Eric Kessler, co-president of HBO, said that the programmer is engaged in conversations with a number of different distributors to enable authenticated subscribers to access content from multiple touch points. (Multichannel News) Blockbuster Dips a Toe in the Mobile […] Read more »

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The Numbers Behind the World’s Fastest-growing Web Site: YouTube’s Finances Revealed; Viacom releases YouTube’s finances from before the Google acquisition. (MediaMemo) Hulu’s Ad Sales Team Is Undercutting Its Parent Companies; Hulu’s sales team is “actively subverting” the ad sales of its parent companies, which are also […] Read more »

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When companies are dying, it’s rarely a quick and painless process. Even so, the demise of Blockbuster has felt like an especially drawn-out and painful one. The latest development came late Tuesday when the company submitted an SEC filing warning that it may file for Chapter […] Read more »

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CBS Finds Personalized Online Video Ad Insertions Nets 95% Completion Rates; network says personalized ads fare up to 15 percent better that regular mid-roll ads. (Beet.tv) Hulu to Offer NFL Content; partnership with NFL gives Hulu viewers access to award winning shows containing historical game footage. […] Read more »

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Viacom Beats Q4 Estimates; CEO Philippe Dauman, coming off a 4 percent decline in domestic advertising sales in the fourth quarter, said he expects the ad climate to improve in the first quarter. (Multichannel News) Adobe’s Flash 10.1 Coming to Smart Phones; the latest version of […] Read more »

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In Hollywood, the opposite of a blockbuster is a flop. This week, it’s starting to look like Blockbuster, the video-rental chain that once dominated the industry, might have to change its name. A more accurate one might be Mega-Flop. That, at least, is the consensus after […] Read more »

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Mediacom Will Launch Epix in April; the deal marks the second announced this week for Epix; the first was that it will be part of Cox Communications’ movie tier when it joins that distributor, also in April. (Multichannel News) Microsoft Urges Windows XP Users to Ditch […] Read more »

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Sony, Samsung Show Off 3-D Products; Sony Electronics unveiled its first 3D-enabled Blu-ray disc players and TV sets during a press conference at CES. (Video Business) Samsung trotted out a wide array of 3-D products, including a 3-D Blu-ray player and several 3-D TVs at CES. […] Read more »

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Boxee Box Remote Has a QWERTY Keyboard; the company says for people to get the most out of the box the remote was going to need to do more than just point and click. (Boxee blog) Meanwhile, Engadget goes ‘hands on’ with the Boxee Box. (Engadget) […] Read more »

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Zucker Outlines Comcast/NBCU Transition Team; the “Operational Transition Team” will be led by Salil Mehta, NBCU’s president of business operations, strategy and development, and Joe Donnelly, CFO of Comcast’s programming group. (Multichannel News) Sony to Use RealD Technology in 3-D TV Sets in 2010; the maker […] Read more »

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FCC Talks Up “Gateway” Set-Top Device; the commission continues to push for a “gateway” set-top device or add-on that would combine linear video with online capabilities (Multichannel News); but DirecTV says it should not be required to open its set-top boxes, arguing it would be too […] Read more »

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News Corp., MySpace Eye Flixster; News Corp. has been conducting due diligence on Flixster as part of a plan to combine it with Rotten Tomatoes. (AllThingsD) VideoEgg, comScore Partner on Tracking Ad Impact Offline; companies will launch a new product that allows brands to gauge the […] Read more »

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Blockbuster and Netflix Win a Patent Suit; a judge found that the DVD-by-mail services do not infringe on a patent owned by Oklahoma-based Media Queue. (Video Business) Next New Networks’ Bobby Miller Headed to Sundance; the Indy Mogul host’s short film TUB was accepted to the […] Read more »

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BBC Launches Projectcanvas.info; the site was built as a hub for Project Canvas partners — like the BBC, ITV, BT, and Five — to host information about the project. (BBC Internet Blog) Is Netflix Wooing Comcast?; CEO Reed Hastings claims that the company’s streaming service can […] Read more »

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NCR Rolling Out Blockbuster Kiosks in NY; 200 DVD-rental machines heading to the Big Apple in a bid to take on Redbox. (The Wall Street Journal) VidQue Aids in Video Discovery; uses social filters to find the best videos across a variety of categories. (TechCrunch) Video […] Read more »

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TiVo Gets Blockbuster On Demand; users can rent popular new release movies a la carte. (release) GlideTV Launches the “Couch Mouse;” combines keyboard, mouse and AV remote functionality into a small handheld device for those connecting their PCs or PC-like devices to their TV. (GlideTV) ViVu […] Read more »

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Twitvid.io Gets Money, Changes Name to Vidly; video add-on for Twitter avoids competitor confusion with the name change and gets a $500,000 angel round. (TechCrunch) A&E Television to Buy Lifetime; financial terms not disclosed, Lifetime will be a subsidiary of A&E and branding will remain separate. […] Read more »

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While the big buzz about the recent Xbox software update centered around social TV, avatar marketplaces and Netflix, it was another feature that was perhaps the biggest news of all: Games on Demand. With the recent update, Xbox Live customers can now purchase and download the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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CBS’ Smith on Authentication: Not Anytime Soon; says “TV Everywhere” won’t get mass adoption until 2014 because of different distributor technologies, legal issues and metrics. (paidContent) Discovery Launches iPhone App; features clips from Mythbusters, Man vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs and more. (emailed release) “How do I […] Read more »

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As a cash-poor graduate student in Arizona, I couldn’t afford to go out much. So instead of hanging out in my small, hot apartment on Friday nights, my wife and I did what any no-money schmoes with a love for books and air conditioning would do: ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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With a new product and new name, Rovi is perhaps one of the best-positioned companies to provide software, metadata and guide support to the various hardware and service providers looking to navigate the world of multiscreen video entertainment. The challenge will be trying to provide solutions ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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Movie rental chain Blockbuster’s troubles aren’t over yet. The company painted a grim picture for itself through an SEC filing yesterday, saying it might not be be able to meet lender conditions needed to complete financing deals, throwing its ability to continue as a so-called “going […] Read more »

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We are approaching a time when you can rent almost any movie through your TV with the push of a button, and companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Blockbuster and your cable operator are all diving in. But what happens when proximity, variety and convenience are moot? ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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Blockbuster said today that its Blockbuster On Demand movie rental service will be available on TiVo set-top boxes in the second half of this year. The troubled rental chain, which just last week said it was definitely not going bankrupt, will join other movie rental services […] Read more »

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Coulda Been: Blockbuster Was Going to Get Into the Operator Biz; former exec explains how the movie rental chain was going to roll out video over DSL in partnership with Verizon. (All Things D) And while Blockbuster endures a far less glamorous fate, Redbox moves into […] Read more »

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Rockefeller Proposes 3-Month DTV Delay; Democratic senator of West Virginia has introduced legislation that proposes pushing the transition date back to June 12 (The New York Times). Meanwhile, the FCC votes to implement the “analog nightlight” bill, which allows broadcasters to keep analog broadcasts up for […] Read more »

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Update: We spoke with Sonic about the future of CinemaNow, new info. after the jump. After watching Netflix storm this year’s CES by announcing a bunch of partnerships for its streaming movie service, Blockbuster is making its own digital distribution moves. Blockbuster said today it will […] Read more »

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