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 »
Mobile video provider Qik hasn’t lost a step since getting bought by Skype and said its user base has doubled to 10 million users since the purchase was announced in January. The company is also releasing Qik Premium for Android users. Read more »
As the world prepares to commemorate a decade since the attacks of September 11, 2001, hit New York and Washington, the Internet Archive has released a fascinating — and horrifying — library of footage showing how news channels around the world covered the events. Read more »
Apple’s share of the online video sales market is on the rise again after a falling considerably due to new competition, a new study reveals. The market share growth is small, but it also brings increased revenue and a roadmap toward more growth in the future. Read more »
When we watch YouTube or stream TV through a Boxee, the assumption is that aside from some buffering, the experience will be fine. But add live content and interactive elements to those video streams, and it gets complicated. A new paper shows us how complicated. Read more »
Encoding.com’s Vid.ly universal URL service is now ready for professional users, with features and pricing designed to provide a turnkey solution for video delivery on any device. Vid.ly Pro is rolling out to users today, in an effort to capture more of the cloud-encoding market. Read more »
If you’re a cable provider, what do you do when Fox comes to re-negotiate its retrans deals, asking for more money now that it’s put its shows behind a pay wall? And what do you do when subscribers begin demanding access to Fox content online? Read more »
For Solo creator Jonathan Nail, producing his own web series was an opportunity to create a showcase for his acting. But after two years of hard work and thousands of dollars, he found that the rewards of independent production are not universal. Read more »
Roku has raised another $8 million, according to an SEC filing. The round comes just a few weeks after Roku launched the latest version of its broadband set-top boxes, which in addition to streaming video, also features casual games. Read more »
Farm Aid will have an all-star lineup of musicians performing this weekend to raise money for family farms. But those who can’t make it to Kansas City, Kan., this weekend can stream it live on the web and on a number of mobile devices. Read more »
Hulu is turning Japanese with the launch of a subscription service in the country. The company today announced that it will launch the service before the end of the year, but declined to provide further details. Hulu actively looked for partners in Japan earlier this year. Read more »
Framesocket is the latest in a series of emerging online video platforms with affordable pricing plans. But while most have been focused on capturing small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have a ton of video expertise, Framesocket is hoping to gain interest from third-party developers. 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 »
A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction against Zediva, essentially ordering a shutdown of its streaming-DVD-rental service. The decision comes less than six months after the launch of the service, which aimed to avoid licensing fees by renting and streaming DVDs over the Internet. Read more »
Long before TV Everywhere became a reality in the United States, U.K. satellite TV provider BSkyB was allowing viewers to stream live TV to their PCs and Xbox 360 game consoles. Could it provide a model for streaming video services here in the U.S.? 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 »
When it comes to offering recommendations and personalized services to users sifting through mountains of digital content, online video could learn a few lessons from the music world. We’ve yet to see an offering for online movies and TV that mimics, say, Pandora’s highly personalized service. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If you’ve missed the first two episodes of Breaking Bad: Full-length episodes have quietly been added to online video portals of Comcast and Dish Network. But to access those episodes you have to be a cable or satellite subscriber. Read more »
Netflix faced Wall Street analysts Monday to explain why its new subscription plans were a good idea. While many on Wall Street were surprised by the effect it will have on customer additions in the short-term, most agreed that the change won’t affect the long-term story. Read more »
There’s been a lot of speculation that Netflix was seeking to kill the DVD-by-mail offering with its recent price hike. But to the contrary, Reed Hastings says that the decision was made in an effort to prolong the DVD business, which wasn’t getting enough attention. Read more »
Apple’s got a lot of money to throw around, to the tune of $76.2 billion. Is it interested in spending a chunk of that on Hulu? According to Bloomberg, Apple could make a bid for the online video service. 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 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 »
While this year’s Emmy nominees once again neglected to recognize any web originals, that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from enlisting Internet-originating content for adaptation. But is Rhett and Link hopping to IFC and Lisa Kudrow moving Web Therapy to Showtime good or bad for web series? Read more »
Netflix subscribers are threatening to cancel en masse after the company changed its subscription plans to separate DVD-by-mail from streaming, which raises rates by up to 60 percent. But putting aside unscientific Internet polls, how many users can we really expect to quit the service? Read more »
The Netflix blog has seen thousands of comments ever since the company announced its new pricing structure earlier today, with many customers threatening to cancel altogether. People are also turning to Facebook and Twitter in what looks like a major backlash against the company. Read more »
Netflix updated its pricing, removing the ability to combine DVD-by-mail and streaming plans and raising the price of a combined plan by 60 percent. But why’d it do so? Because it wants to move subscribers to streaming-only plan, and give more transparency to its financials. Read more »
Netflix announced changes to its service plans today, as part of a move that effectively unbundles its unlimited streaming plan from its DVD-by-mail business. The price of a DVD-by-mail plus unlimited streaming plan will now be $15.98, up from the $9.99 it charged previously. Read more »
Microsoft could be rolling out a new subscription video service later this year, pitting it against services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, as Microsoft seeks to grab more revenues from Xbox subscribers. But it will need to be available on other devices, too. Read more »
Hulu has made its first pitch to a number of prospective buyers, but Netflix didn’t come to the party: The popular subscription service apparently has no interest in buying its catch-up TV competitor. However, there are plenty of other well-known suitors still in the game. Read more »
If TV OEMS are going to embrace smart TVs, they need a business model that fits this new paradigm. Up-front, one-burst revenue models are being replaced by longer-term, services-oriented relationships. The key to success in this new world is ensuring that new smart-TV owners are connected and […] Read more »
While streaming is all the rage these days, Netflix hasn’t given up on DVDs entirely: The company has quietly launched a new page where users can sign up for an unlimited DVD-by-mail package that matches the $7.99 price of its unlimited streaming offering. Read more »
The Spike Jonze short film scenes from the suburbs, featuring music by Arcade Fire, was scheduled for a worldwide online premiere Monday. However, arthouse movie site MUBI got a last-minute request to block viewers from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Australia from accessing the video. Read more »
As YouTube’s self-made stars have grown in popularity, a number of companies have been founded to maximize their online influence across multiple platforms. Here’s an overview of those working behind-the-scenes on big deals for Ryan Higa, Annoying Orange, ShayCarl and Mystery Guitar Man. Read more »
Zediva launched a service to stream DVDs to users’ web browsers. That raised the ire of Hollywood studios, which sued it for copyright infringement. Now Zediva has filed its response, claiming that it is no different than other DVD rental services from Netflix or Blockbuster. Read more »
Hulu topped all other ad networks for online video ads served, with 1.3 billion ad impressions during the month of May, according to comScore. That’s more than a quarter of the 4.6 billion ads that were served up by online video properties during the month. Read more »
New benchmark tests confirm what we have long suspected: Flash video on mobile devices just doesn’t look as good as HTML5 video, especially when it comes to HD clips. Support for hardware acceleration could alleviate most of these issues, but not for every user. Read more »
Movieclips.com confirmed that it has raised an additional $6 million in venture funding. While its founders declined to discuss what the funding is for or who was part of the most recent investment, they said a big announcement was in the works. Read more »
It didn’t take long for hacktivists to respond to the takedown of the popular video streaming portal Kino.to: Activists affiliated with Anonymous responded on Thursday with a denial-of-service attack against the web site of a rights holders group. Insiders meanwhile believe that Kino.to will return soon. Read more »
Back in February, Apple announced its in-app subscription API, and it provided an ultimatum that would force developers that sell content for use within their apps to also do so via in-app purchase, or face expulsion. Kindle seemed on the chopping block, but now Apple has relented. Read more »
