Boxee and Hulu can’t reach an agreement, so Boxee creates a workaround (and launches an app store)
When Boxee was forced to pull Hulu support a few weeks ago, users were outraged. And rightfully so. It’s not like Boxee, a software media center startup, was blocking the advertisements Hulu was showing, it was really just another way to view the content, almost like another browser. But the powers that be behind Hulu — that is, the big media companies that product the content — forced Hulu to shutdown the pipeline of content… Continue Reading
Fox’s new plan to spur DVD sales: Rip out the extras from rentals
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the possibility that movie rentals were eating into DVD and Blu-ray sales. Between Netflix and video-over- the-Internet solutions, renting movies is now easier than ever, and there’s little incentive left to buy most films. This is a problem for Hollywood as it makes a lot of money off of DVD/Blu-ray sales, but much less on rentals. Now, one studio has what it thinks is a fix: pulling… Continue Reading
Hulu channels Michael Corleone, Boxee support also whacked
Hulu, it seems, is tying up some loose ends.
Earlier today, it was revealed that the online streaming service had pulled its content off of CBS-owned TV.com — but that’s not all. It has also requested its content be removed from the media center software startup Boxee, an email from the company says. There’s the big media we all love to hate.
Hulu, which is backed by both NBC and Fox, offers many of the hit shows… Continue Reading
iTunes cuts the price of 24. A sign of falling prices?
I received an unexpected email tonight from the iTunes Store, telling me that my season pass to the Fox show 24 had been reduced in price from $67.99 to $59.99. Even stranger, Apple decided to give me a $10 iTunes gift certificate because of it (that’s more than the price reduction).
I have absolutely no idea what that’s all about, and I’m not complaining, but it seems a bit odd. You might think Apple or Fox… Continue Reading
20 seasons in, The Simpsons lands on iTunes
It looks like Apple has a sense of humor. Despite a recent episode of The Simpsons that mocked Apple and its chief executive Steve Jobs, the long running comedic cartoon has finally found itself on iTunes tonight.
But don’t get too excited just yet — it’s only the current 20th season that is available right now. And no, it’s not available in high definition. But it’s a start for a show that is near and dear… Continue Reading
Hulu could catch YouTube in 2009 — in revenue, not traffic
Maybe you’ve read some of the headlines this morning about the NBC and Fox-backed online video site Hulu “catching” or getting “bigger” than YouTube. Hopefully you read deeper into those articles, because while the headlines suggest that Hulu is catching YouTube in traffic, that’s not the case. What they mean to say is that Hulu could match YouTube’s U.S. revenue by next year, according to The Financial Times.
And really, that’s not all that surprising. Everyone knows… Continue Reading
Finally, I can avoid watching Bulletproof Monk on YouTube too
YouTube is set to announce a deal with movie studio MGM that will allow for some of its content to be viewed on the extremely popular online video site, The New York Times reports. This deal, which had been previously rumored (though the studio involved wasn’t clear at the time), will bring feature films to YouTube — legally. That’s big news, but it’s not all great news.
While it always seemed likely that any studio would… Continue Reading
Is Hollywood forming DECE to wage a digital content war against Apple?
Digital rights management (DRM), for better or worse, is still the cornerstone of digital content. But the name has such a negative connotation now that major players in the entertainment and electronics industry appear to be trying to change it.
According to Reuters, some of the Hollywood studios are working on a consortium with various retailers, service providers, and consumer electronics/information technology companies that’s set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January… Continue Reading
Joost’s desktop client is toast
Since early on in its testing phase, I found Joost to be a compelling take on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Let me rephrase: I found the idea of Joost to be compelling. It offered free video content on the web in a way that was somewhat similar to a television experience but added the interactivity that the web offers. The service’s problem was in its execution — namely that it required a seperate desktop client to… Continue Reading
Roundup: Obama’s big Bay Area night, Xbox 360 sells out in Japan, Hulu going international and more
Here’s the latest action:
Obama Bay Area event sets fund-raising record — Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama visited the Bay Area and racked up $7.8 million in fund-raising, a record for a single event, according to Draper Fisher Jurvestson’s Steve Jurvetson, who, with his wife Karla Jurvetson, donated in $9,200.
Xbox 360 sells out in Japan — The Microsoft gaming console has never been able to gain a strong foothold in the country which prefers its own Nintendo Wii… Continue Reading
Hulu gets more serious about HD content (still not that serious)
Hulu, the online streaming video site backed by NBC and Fox, has been nothing short of successful. The usage numbers are very good and the amount of free, ad-supported content is arguably better. If there is a knock that can be made against it though (besides its lack of availability outside the United States), it’s in the department of high definition content.
Though Hulu launched its “HD Gallery” back in December, it basically only contained movie… Continue Reading
Comscore: Online video traffic surged in December — mostly to YouTube
Updated
Online video sites saw more growth in December, according to Comscore, gaining more than 2.5 million unique viewers over November to reach nearly 141 million people in the US. YouTube once again sucked up the majority of the new traffic, seemingly at the expense of its many competitors.
One reason for the traffic surge, according to Comscore, is the maybe-close-to-over writers’ strike. Thousands of movie and television scriptwriters have stopped writing over the past three months… Continue Reading
Roundup: Google and Sprint, VC tax, future of VCs, and more
1) Rumor: Google to buy Sprint?
2) The U.S. House of Representatives passes VC tax
3) Berkeley Bionics brings exoskeletons to market
4) Fox Interactive Media may start its own ad network
5) Railpower Technologies to steam on, for now
6) Zuckerberg, speaking grandly
7) Are Facebook’s ads illegal in New York?
Murdoch calls Facebook a phonebook
9) Sprint and WiMax startup Clearwire have ended plans to form a joint venture
Rumor: Google to buy Sprint? – The rumor surfaced yesterday, here, suggesting that… Continue Reading
Fox Interactive streamlines ad operations
Fox Interactive Media, the parent company of MySpace, Fox.com, AskMen, IGN and a host of other websites, has hired a firm called Operative to help it streamline its ad operations.
MySpace ad only turned a profit of $10 million in a year, we reported in August, despite receiving 4.3 billion page views per day. More recently, Silicon Alley Insider speculates FIM may have missed its $1 billion revenue target, putting it under pressure to increase ad… Continue Reading