Hulu to drop $500M on content in 2012, more than it earned in 2011

Despite a highly publicized 2011 quest for a buyer, Hulu operations are so peachy keen that the company will spend almost half a billion dollars on new content in 2012, CEO Jason Kilar would have you know.

The streaming video company, which specializes in providing online access to network television content, brought in $420 million in revenue in 2011, Kilar said in a blog post on the company’s 2011 performance.

The revenue figure is up … Continue Reading

GetGlue prepares to take social TV mainstream with $12M in funding

It’s not in the same league as Facebook or a Twitter, or even half the size of Instagram, but GetGlue’s highly-specialized social network for entertainment watchers could be on its way to superstardom.

On GetGlue, more than two million die-hard entertainment fans check-in to television shows and movies, over the web or from mobile devices, to share their enthusiasm and get rewards for their viewing behaviors. Seventy five major television networks have already taken notice, … Continue Reading

Google TV gets a 24/7 streaming porn channel

Google TV, the search giant’s combo hardware-software entertainment endeavor, could be on its way to attracting a larger male customer base, as porn studio Vivid Entertainment is now streaming sexually explicit content to television sets by way of a Google TV application.

Vivid for Google TV promises Vivid subscribers free access to porn 24 hours a day — in high definition, no less. Programming includes adult movies, celebrity sex tapes, XXX parodies of popular superheroes … Continue Reading

Yahoo reinvents TV-tagging app IntoNow, releases it on the iPad

Television-tagging application IntoNow has launched for the iPad, and it now matches tagged content to real-time news and updates, parent company Yahoo announced today at a press event in Sunnyvale.

IntoNow is the iPhone and Android application that uses patented technology to listen to and identify millions of television and movie titles, in a similar fashion to how Shazam identifies music. The technology originated at Auditude, but the app was spun out as its own … Continue Reading

Miso makes it easier to share what you’re watching on DirecTV

TV and movie watching social network Miso just made it easier for DirecTV customers to share their viewing habits with friends.

The company announced a partnership with DirecTV Thursday that will allow its users to easily find and share what they’re watching via a DirecTV set-top box when checking in from the Miso iPhone app.

“We thought the cable and MSO (satellites) were the most natural paths because that’s where most people are watching TV”, … Continue Reading

American Airlines to offer Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as amenity on flights

American Airlines on Monday announced it would start offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an in-flight entertainment device on select flights. It plans to deploy 6,000 Samsung tablets in premium-level cabins of some transcontinental and international flights.

This will be the first time a North American airline has offered a branded tablet for in-flight entertainment. It’s also a sign that tablet PCs are increasingly becoming the go-to entertainment device for the luxury class.

“We … Continue Reading

MySpace steps out of Facebook's shadow with "social entertainment" redesign

VentureBeat readers already saw screenshots of MySpace’s leaked redesign last week. But now the fading social network’s millions of U.S. users will be able to experience the site’s new beta version, unveiled today. It’s focused less on social networking — friend request denied! — and more on what it’s calling “social entertainment” to attract younger users.

So what does “social entertainment” mean exactly? Instead of trying to compete with Facebook as a social network — … Continue Reading

GetGlue gets a good start with social recommendation service

GetGlue, the social recommendation service from startup Adaptive Blue, shared some impressive growth stats today: Its users are logging an average of 150,000 check-ins and reviews per day over the last month, up from 100,000 a few months ago.

While those may not seem like huge numbers, the whole area of social recommendation is still early, and it’s worth taking note when the first movers are showing traction.

GetGlue is a social network where users … Continue Reading