A Hulu Support staffer might have just pre-announced plans for Hulu to introduce a new subscription plan that would cost more than the current Hulu Plus plan. The tweets come as Hulu faces its broadcast partners putting up a pay wall against non-cable subscribers. Read more »
Netlix recently posted a job opening for a UI designer specialized on kids websites and online games. Does the video giant plan to launch a separate website dedicated to its large library of kids content, or will the entire Netflix UI become a bit more kid-friendly? Read more »
Netflix is using price hikes to manage the transition of users away from the physical product and towards digital streaming. While there are some similarities between that and the newspaper business, publishers shouldn’t get their hopes up too much about copying the Netflix model. Read more »
Project Runway viewers are already big social media users, sharing thoughts about the show while watching it live. So why not use Twitter as a way for fans to vote for their favorite contestant. That was the thinking behind Project Runway‘s Fan Favorite contest. Read more »
Yahoo is still the biggest online property in the U.S., with fairly sturdy content and communications assets, but its options for restoring growth are getting fewer. Yahoo must re-energize its business around video, a social advertising network and/or syndication, or sell itself to Microsoft or AOL, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Yahoo reported another disappointing quarter, with core revenues down 5 percent to just over $1 billion. Its display advertising business was up 5 percent, but it appears to be losing share to companies like Google and Facebook. Yahoo is still one of the biggest online properties […] Read more »
Fav.tv wants to help you to keep on top of your TV schedule by letting you subscribe to your favorite shows. Users can get an iCalendar feed of the shows they’re following, and the site eventually wants to use its data to help TV networks. Read more »
What’s Watched uses data from social media and mobile applications to provide media companies with a view into what shows are being watched and who’s watching them. That data is then used to target specific groups of users to increase ratings and grow TV audiences. Read more »
We usually think of social TV when a show hits the air and viewers start tweeting about it and sharing moments on Facebook. But to leverage social media for TV promotion, networks need to think about how the campaign will fit in to the content itself. Read more »
Over-the-air television is great — unless you run into reception issues that prevent you from enjoying those free HD channels. In this episode of Cord Cutters, we are taking a look at a device that allows you to take over the air everywhere. Read more »
The turmoil created by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has pulled back the curtain on the cosy relationship between politicians, police and the media. But those who are angriest seem reduced to stunts — hacking websites and throwing pies. Is this really the best we can do? Read more »
Members of the U.K. parliament will be grilling Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch about the phone hacking scandal today, and they will surely also have some tough questions for Murdoch’s former News International executive Rebekah Brooks. The full-length testimony will be streamed online. Read more »
Indie singer Daria Musk explored the boundaries of Goole+ Hangouts this weekend when she played a six-hour live concert on Google’s new video group chat service. Musk’s concert and her experiences with Google+ hint at some big opportunities for the future of live streaming. Read more »
Former Reddit Chief Architect Jeremy Edberg will be joining Netflix to lead a new team focused on cloud reliability. And the move couldn’t come soon enough, as Netflix suffered another period of downtime Sunday evening that left users with spotty service for up to eight hours. Read more »
The Mobile Content Venture has unveiled the brand name and logo for its upcoming mobile broadcast venture, now dubbed Dyle.tv. But will this service succeed where FLO TV failed? To do so, it’ll need to be on many devices, and have content people want to watch. Read more »
Netflix has no plans to slow down its international expansion. In addition to its expansion to 43 countries in Latin America later this year, Variety reports the company could also launch services in Spain and the U.K. in early 2012. Read more »
Criterion Capital Partners is announcing Wednesday that it has bought SeeSaw.com, a site that aspired to become U.K.’s Hulu but was close to being shut down just six weeks ago. SeeSaw’s past is troubled, but Criterion is nonetheless willing to make a bet on its future. Read more »
In the U.S. and Canada, Netflix has positioned itself as a complement to existing pay TV services. But in the wide-open Latin America market, consumers could choose to subscribe to Netflix instead of cable or satellite to supplement over-the-air TV services. Read more »
Leonado DiCaprio, Dexter Morgan and your mom are only some of the people who are using Google’s new and much-hyped video chatting feature Hangouts, if we can believe screenshots taken by users of the service. But of course, the question is: Can we? Read more »
The search for a Hulu buyer continues, as it’s being pitched to a wide range of media and technology companies. While much of the press has been focused on the possibility of a tech giant buying Hulu, an acquisition by Verizon might be its best bet. Read more »
CE manufacturers are creating universal search applications to find content on across platforms. But the Holy Grail for content discovery will be a user interface that lets users find content they’re looking for, while also serve up a stream of videos relevant to their interests. Read more »
Which TV shows are drawing the most commenters and the largest share of the social media conversation? Bluefin Labs is using social media to not only measure engagement during TV shows, but also to find connections between shows that those viewers enjoy watching. Read more »
Do we only want dumb screens: the ability to get whatever content and services you want over the web instead of locked to a device? Today, the answer is we want it both ways, but in the future, dumb terminals with one exception: the smartphone. Read more »
Could Twitter have saved everyone’s favorite canceled show, Arrested Development? That’s one of the questions raised by a report released today that looks at the social engagement on TV viewers online. Turns out, viewers tweet because they want to help keep shows on the air. Read more »
SocialGuide enables users to set up individual accounts, look for their friends and share what they’re watching on Twitter and Facebook. But the more interesting business is in aggregating real-time conversations about shows as they air, and providing a guide to the most talked-about shows. Read more »
Miso began offering developers the ability to build on its existing code base with an open API a few months ago. After a few months of making the API available, it launched a new app store to highlight apps built by third-party developers. Read more »
BeeTV is coming out with a new iPad app designed to create more engaging, interactive experiences around TV. Like other social TV apps, BeeTV mixes a combination of checkins and social conversations online. But what sets it apart is its approach to recommendations. Read more »
Microsoft’s mixed history in the digital living room has many thinking the company could botch its deal with Skype where smart TVs are concerned. But leveraging Skype’s social capabilities and integrating the service with key Microsoft products might just prove otherwise. Read more »
BuddyTV has always been about helping viewers to navigate what’s happening on TV. Next month, BuddyTV will launch a series of iOS and Android apps designed to improve content discovery by learning what viewers watch and offering up personalized recommendations. Read more »
Remember when social media was going to reinvent the entertainment business? Though past efforts made little headway in the social-entertainment space, announcements from Warner Home Entertainment and News Corp. suggest the space is far from dead. Here’s what companies looking to capitalize on it can learn. Read more »
Yahoo scooped up social TV startup IntoNow for more than $20 million today. The deal doesn’t just give Yahoo one of the hottest new entrants to the TV check-in game; it also offers access to technology that could help Yahoo with its Connected TV platform. Read more »
Did AMC’s The Killing make a killing on social networks in its first night? Can any TV program compete with Fox’s Glee for social media interaction week-to-week? Now you can find out by checking out Trendrr.tv, which highlights TV show mentions on various social networks. Read more »
Survivor is facing some of its worst ratings ever, as the show is going head-to-head with Fox behemoth American Idol on Wednesday nights. But host and producer Jeff Probst hopes he can change that by engaging with the show’s audience on Twitter. Read more »
Miso offers its users mobile phone apps to check into TV shows and earn badges for their participation. So why does Miso CEO Somrat Niyogi think that these types of check-ins aren’t the key make TV more social, and what does he want to do instead? Read more »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When people mention social media and TV, often the reaction is that viewers don’t want constant status updates and tweets creating a visual mess on their screens. But yesterday at NewTeeVee Live, Robin Sloan from Twitter talked about how Twitter is changing the TV viewing experience. Read more »
When people mention the intersection of social media and TV, often the reaction is a knee-jerk exclamation of how they don’t want the constant stream of status updates and tweets creating a visual mess on their TV screens. After all, TV is our lean-back, decompress and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since cable TV emerged. With that in mind, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses & provide the early line on their odds of success in the connected TV marketplace. Read more »
Broadcast networks would do well to keep viewers on their own sites rather than having them watch video through embedded players, according to new research. Viewers watched more broadcast video on-site and viewers that found content through social networking sites were more likely to watch longer. Read more »
A new startup called Yap.tv aims to enter the social TV space with a group of mobile apps focused on building conversations around television programs. Yap.tv, which raised a funding round in June, is set to release its first app for the iPad later this month. Read more »
