The subscription music serve has done well by Cricket, so now the carrier wants to share its fortune. It already has one licensee lined up, but separating off Muve could bring in more. Read more »
With Netflix on a roll, its big European rival — Amazon-owned Lovefilm — seems more and more desperate to staunch the flow of subscribers quitting the service and moving elsewhere. Read more »
By multicasting popular content over cellular networks, carriers figure they can conserve valuable 4G capacity. But as consumers use their smartphones and tablets to personalize their multimedia consumption, the ship may have already sailed on multicast’s potential. Read more »
Big data can make lives better, but it can also ensure bigger profits. That’s the pitch that Guavus, a real-time data analysis platform is sharing with mobile operators. If they show Guavus the data, the software can help them optimize pricing and capacity spending. Read more »
The fate of cloud-gaming pioneer OnLive is in question following a report that most of the staff was laid off and the service was closing. The company has denied those reports but hasn’t provided further details. Read more »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
A new study from Google and the UK copyright collection society PRS for Music finds that live TV is the fastest-growing segment of copyright infringement — and a large presence on social networking sites. Read more at paidContent »
Set-top box maker TiVo has introduced a new Slingbox-like product that lets users stream live- or DVR-recorded TV to tablets, notebooks and smart phones. Read more at paidContent »
Speaking at an investor conference Wednesday, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said his company’s joint venture with Coinstar’s Redbox will seek to leverage the DVD-rental kiosk operator’s 30 million customers and not so much on Verizon FiOS’ nearly 4.4 million customers. Read more at paidContent »
The UK’s current best-selling single is nowhere to be seen in the first ever dedicated streaming music chart – but, elsewhere, anomalies are harder to spot. Read more at paidContent »
Netflix has tried really hard to destroy its DVD business over the last year, raising prices and making it hard to sign up. In its latest move, the company acquired DVD.com, meaning it now owns the eponymous domain for the technology that it wants to kill. Read more »
Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) disclosed this afternoon that it will pay to settle nationwide claims that it illegally retained customers’ rental hist… Read more at paidContent »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Netflix wants to recover from a disastrous few months by launching in the U.K. and Ireland — but the company will have to overcome many obstacles to achieve success, not least competition from broadcasters who have very different priorities from their American counterparts. Read more »
This year’s Superbowl is in Indianapolis and it’s a sure thing the hometown Colts will not be playing. But, luckily for the Colts and the re… Read more at paidContent »
If it seemed on late Wednesday like Apple’s rollout of iTunes Match to basically every international iTunes market was too good to be true, that’s because it was. Apple is telling customers on Thursday that beyond Brazil and the U.S., Match “will not function.” Read more »
YouTube continues to grow the number of videos its viewers watch, with now more than 3.5 billion served up every day. That number wasn’t part of any formal release, but was part of a presentation given by YouTube VP of global sales Lucas Watson this month. Read more »
iTunes Match, the subscription service from Apple that scans your entire iTunes library and makes it available for download on any of your iOS or Mac devices, is now widely available. You can sign up by downloading iTunes 10.5.1, so long as you’re in the U.S. Read more »
The launch of Amazon’s new “Kindle lending” feature means another form of content is becoming something that we rent, Netflix-style, rather than owning. But moving to a rental rather than an ownership model changes our relationship to content, and not always in a good way. Read more »
Hulu has signed a five-year licensing agreement with The CW, the company announced Friday. The deal will bring current season programming, including The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Supernatural, to both subscribers of Hulu Plus, and Hulu’s ad-supported web-based service. Read more »
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has his work cut out for him, as he faces investors for the first time since announcing plans to spin out and re-brand the company’s DVD service — and then backtracking on those plans. Here’s what to look for as Netflix releases earnings. Read more »
A proposed law has drawn the ire of copyright reformers for including prison sentences for those who stream copyright material. Now one grou… Read more at paidContent »
If streaming content is the future then I need a filter for my daughter. I realized this a few months ago after I searched for the movie Ponyo on Netflix and for weeks afterward saw the movie Pornography appear in the search-results screen. Read more »
Part of Apple’s iCloud offerings is iTunes in the Cloud, which allows users to download past music, app and TV show purchases on any iOS or Mac associated with their account. A new report says Apple will soon add movies to the mix, too. Read more »
Netflix will lose subscribers for the first time in four years. But take a closer look at where subscribers are missing, and there are a few interesting takeaways from its revised forecast. Most notably, combined streaming-and-DVD subscriptions remain strong, while DVD-only numbers were weaker than expected. Read more »
As music services Mog and Rdio take up defensive positions by launching new free-to-listen services, it may look like streaming is the future. But retailers like eMusic are fighting back by arguing that purchasing songs remains as relevant as ever. Read more »
Most of us have done some online shopping while watching a game. But what about watching online sports while shopping? A food market chain in London is testing out that concept by combining a shopping cart, an iPad and a streaming sports app. Read more »
A quarter of people in countries with access to high-speed broadband are streaming their television, although more than 80 percent are also still watching broadcast television as well. According to data from Ericsson, fewer people are watching broadcast TV while Internet-options are on the rise. Read more »
Apple has begun testing iTunes Match with a limited portion of the Apple developer community. The service, which scans your library and provides 256 Kpbs copies of the tracks it finds for download on up to 10 devices, also includes music streaming, according to early reports. Read more »
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 »
A service called iTunes Replay, first rumored back in 2009, could arrive any day from Apple, according to a new report. It would allow users to re-download and possibly stream video content purchased on iTunes to multiple devices, something for which the time is ripe. Read more »
Wearable smart displays aren’t new, but the category hasn’t caught on yet. WIMM hopes to change that with a wearable Android module that includes many smartphone components including a Wi-Fi radio. That could be the break these displays are looking for when it comes to apps. Read more »
Apple rolled out an update to its Apple TV software Monday that introduces new features. The update is available now and allows you to stream TV shows you purchase through iTunes, along with providing access to Internet video site Vimeo. 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 »
Exent is launching the first subscription mobile gaming service for Android called GameTanium Mobile, which allows users to gain Netflix-style all-you-can eat access to more than 75 games for $4.99 a month. It’s another sign that gaming on Android is improving. 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 »
Ustream is a popular choice for live streaming shows, lectures and events. Now iOS users have the option to view that content on a larger screen via AirPlay, which should make it easier to participate in virtual conferences and take the show on the road. Read more »
Hitachi unveiled its G-Connect wireless media storage drive, designed for use with mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone. It follows the example set by Seagate’s GoFlex battery-powered mobile streaming hard drive, and both represent an alternative to cloud computing that’s gaining momentum. Read more »
Though some iCloud functionality is already available to iTunes users, the paid iTunes Match service doesn’t launch until fall. But a new report suggests there will be ample demand when it does arrive, and convenience, not a desire to skirt the law, is driving interest. Read more »
Nintendo is making a home console that incorporates a tablet, and the Sony PlayStation Vita borrows liberally from this generation of smartphones. But thanks to OnLive, gamers may not have to go looking for devices similar to their iPads and iPhone for a top-tier gaming experience. Read more »
