Hulu charges its users $8 per month to watch videos on the PS3. Bay Area–based ORB Networks is starting to ship a Blu-ray disc this week that makes it possible to watch Hulu content on the PS3 for free. Check out our video review. Read more »
EXCLUSIVE: Reed Hastings, chief executive officer and founder of online video company Netflix, has a pretty clear idea of what the future of video looks like. It needs high-speed fiber broadband, it involves sensors and it is all about click-and-watch on-demand Internet video. Read more »
Comcast updated its Xfinity app to include support for iPhone streaming. The update is a welcome one, but I wonder why the iPhone always gets treated like a second-class citizen when it comes to streaming video. It’s a case of providers missing the big (smaller) picture. Read more »
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings spoke at a conference today about his company ,what its strengths are and the limits he sees for Netflix. As he talked, a picture emerged of how Netflix has achieved its success and how it hopes to keep it going. Read more »
If, like me, you eagerly comb the App Store for new apps that support AirPlay, an update to Elgato EyeTV should have you excited. It brings AirPlay to the streaming video app, which lets you watch live or recorded TV from your cable or satellite box. Read more »
The ability to output in HD everything that’s on my iPad 2′s screen using the new mirroring function combined with the Digital AV Adapter has changed the device from just a remarkably portable computer to a full-fledged entertainment and business center, thanks especially to these apps. Read more »
iOS 4.3 brings expanded AirPlay support to iOS devices, so long as you have hardware new enough to support the update. Since third-party apps can now get in on the AirPlay action, it’s a good time to look at exactly how to use it. Read more »
According to NPD, Netflix now dominates digital video downloads in the U.S. Apple has only a measly 4 percent of the overall market, placing it about on par with cable and satellite providers. What does this mean for the future of Apple’s video business? Read more »
Pogoplug Video, announced today at CES, will allow you to make videos available to clients more easily. The device will stream HD video and images from your own external hard drive, directly to desktops and laptops, as well as to iOS, Android, and other mobile devices. Read more »
It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
Now there’s even more evidence that Hollywood studios need to embrace alternative business models before they cannibalize their existing business: In-Stat forecasts DVD sales are expected to decline by $4.6 billion over the next five years. Meanwhile, streaming revenues are expected to triple in that time. Read more »
These days, the amount of content available for the average TV junkie is astronomical, and it’s the rare series that doesn’t bundle its episodes with an online presence. And though most television executives at this stage are relatively blunt about the fact that the web elements ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TV apps will soon be “everywhere,” according to attendees of a recent GigaOM Bunker event examining the future of the TV market. But how that market will develop, and which TV platforms will win out, is yet to be ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
On November 9, we gathered more than 50 entrepreneurs, executives and investors at our San Francisco offices to engage in a town hall-style forum. The topic of discussion was to consider what could happen if we had the “app store” revolution on our TV sets. Would ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Sony will reportedly announce its own streaming and video subscription service available across a wide range of devices. The service will initially draw on users logged into its PlayStation Network on PS3 and PSP gaming systems, but will expand to TVs, Blu-ray players and other devices. Read more »
There’s new evidence that Apple will soon begin streaming video to its devices, as it’s reportedly putting more resources behind a cloud-based video service. By transitioning Lala’s employees to work on streaming video, Apple may be readying a new service for delivering movies and TV shows. Read more »
Several significant events set the tone for the digital media ecosystem during in the second quarter. First among these was the release of the iPad, the impact of which went far beyond device uptake; among other things it does not support Adobe Flash, which has impacted the entire chain of web-based video production from content sites re-encoding video to new tools being developed for HTML5-based advertising.
Another principal event in the quarter was the announcement of Google TV, a software platform built on Android 2.1, Google Chrome and Flash 10.1 that will be incorporated into a variety of companion devices including TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The platform offers significant advancements in merging TV and the web experience (although TiVo says it has done just that for years). Sony and Logitech have both announced plans to launch Google TV products in fall 2010.
Also in the second quarter, both YouTube and Hulu refreshed their sites, reflecting the market’s growing maturity. But while YouTube spent the quarter on the defensive in its ongoing legal battle with Viacom over copyright infringement, Hulu was on the offensive, introducing new services and preparing a paid subscription service launch. A paid service would bring new revenue streams to the video site, and would put Hulu in more direction competion with Netflix, which is increasingly shifting toward its streaming video service, away from its former mainstay of DVDs by mail. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Netflix announced this morning plans for expansion into its first international market, with the upcoming launch of a streaming-only subscription service in Canada that will allow susbcribers to watch a wide variety of movies and TV shows through PCs and a number of connected devices. Read more »
Instead of downloading massive video files to an iPhone, iPad or next-generation Apple TV, Apple will soon allow iTunes users to be able to stream those video files instead. But is streaming always the best option for video delivery to connected devices? Read more »
Apple is about to get a lot more serious about its “hobby” with the next release of its Apple TV set-top box, as sources say it will look to push a new streaming rental service that will offer up individual TV episodes for 99 cents. Read more »
Not long ago, digital rights management and copy protection seemed to be on their last legs. But DRM is poised to make a major comeback, and copy restrictions could soon be a bigger of TV viewing than ever. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Under AT&T’s new 3G data plans, streaming one two-hour Netflix movie per month would bust the limit on the low-end plan. With the high-end plan, you could consume roughly 13.5 hours of Netflix video per month before hitting your limit, again assuming you did nothing else ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The growing anti-Apple alliance between Google and Adobe is likely to extend beyond mobile devices and apps, however. One collaboration that is surely in the works, even if its not ready to be announced this week, is the integration of Flash into Google’s new Smart TV ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Embedded app stores are finding their way onto connected HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes, where streaming video apps are likely to predominate. With the number of connected devices expected to grow rapidly over the next five years, cable and satellite providers could again find ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The consumption of on-demand media continues to increase, according to new research from KPMG. According to the consulting firm’s Media and Entertainment Barometer, consumers (at least in the U.K.) are spending more time consuming digital and non-traditional media, with growth in streaming video and strong growth […] Read more »
It seems Netflix has already reached a tipping point in the consumer electronics market, as it signed up five more CE manufacturers to enable its streaming services on their devices. Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and Funai (the CE maker behind the Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania and Emerson […] Read more »
This week, Netronix reportedly hopped on the Android e-reader bandwagon, the Ustream Viewer app appeared in the Android Market, a handheld Mobile Internet Device (MID) based on the ARM platform was unveiled and Google Maps Navigation was made available for Android 1.6. Read more »
On Friday, I was waxing eloquent about Netflix and its streaming video service, which has become part of my media consumption. And like me, many Netflix fans were accessing the new but fast-growing video streaming service via their DVD players, televisions, Rokus and Xboxes. Well, add […] Read more »
Watching video and listening to music using your web browser is great…when you don’t mind sitting in front of your computer. But when you want to take that content and view it somewhere else, well, you don’t have many options. As of today, though, you have […] Read more »
