Hulu to stream first original scripted series: “Battleground” (trailer)
Hoping that content really is king in the battle for viewer attention, video streaming company Hulu has purchased its first original scripted series.
Hulu has ordered 13, 30-minute episodes of (somewhat ironically titled) “Battleground,” a faux documentary that follows the characters behind a fictional politician’s campaign for Senator.
“Battleground” episodes will beginning airing Tuesday, February 14, and episodes will include eight minutes of advertising, according to AdAge.
The site’s exclusive new offering is part of … Continue Reading
Soaring RedBox lifts Coinstar profits, planning online streaming service
Video and game rental service RedBox is having a banner year, increasing the Q3 earnings of parent company Coinstar 90 percent, the company announced today in its earnings call.
Coinstar’s RedBox kiosks, located in grocery stores and other retail spots, offer inexpensive movie and video game rentals. The dollar-a-day pricing is part of its appeal, but Coinstar announced plans to raise prices on DVD rentals to $1.20 per day.
The company also plans to launch … Continue Reading
Report: Netflix hogs 32 percent of peak Internet bandwidth
Netflix again leads the pack as North America’s largest consumer of Internet bandwidth, creating 32 percent of peak downstream traffic, according to the 2011 Sandvine Internet Phenomena Report, which was released today.
The top four largest Internet services in North America account for 64.4 percent of all network traffic, according to the report. They are Netflix, HTTP, YouTube and BitTorrent, according to the report’s executive summary.
The video-streaming component of Netflix is responsible for nearly … Continue Reading
Netflix reinforces its one stream per customer policy
Streaming video service Netflix cracked down over Labor Day weekend on the number of videos each subscriber can watch concurrently from a single account.
Customers with a streaming-only subscription plan can only watch one video at a time, which eliminates the possibility of sharing an account among multiple people.
When customers try to play multiple video streams at the same time, a service warning pops up that reads: “There are # movies being watched, which … Continue Reading
Netflix snags DreamWorks content deal from HBO
DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind box-office hits like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, is finalizing a contract to bring its library of films to Netflix‘s streaming-video service, according to multiple reports.
The contract would replace an existing deal DreamWorks has with HBO, which doesn’t expire until 2014, reports All Things Digital. DreamWorks didn’t respond to VentureBeat for comment about the agreement.
With 22 feature films, the DreamWorks deal wouldn’t add a significant amount of … Continue Reading
Netflix is gearing up for European launch
Netflix is planning to expand its online video service into two European countries in the first quarter of 2012, reports Variety.
Top film distributors in Europe stated that Netflix recently closed deals to offer its service in both Spain and the United Kingdom, according to the report.
Netflix was unavailable for comment about entering into Europe. However, this wouldn’t be the first time it set up shop in another country. The company entered Canada in … Continue Reading
Hulu or Netflix: In the game of streaming video, you win or you socialize
With over 23 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, Netflix has roughly 25 times more paying customers than competing online video service Hulu. However, Hulu is by far the more dominant streaming service when it comes to social interaction, according to data collected by social media listening firm Mashwork.
“In terms of a ‘A to B’ comparison, we were surprised by how unsocial the Netflix users were,” said Mashwork founder Jared Feldman, who highlighted … Continue Reading
HBO Go app: Who needs Netflix when we have True Blood?
HBO is awaiting the 3 millionth download of its streaming media HBO Go app, which should happen by this weekend at the latest, according to a CNET report.
The 3 million who’ve downloaded the app since its debut in May represent about 10 percent of HBO’s 28 million total U.S. subscribers, according to the company.
The HBO Go app grants paid HBO subscribers the ability to view the entire library of HBO content, which is … Continue Reading
Exclusive: PlayOn brings Hulu and Netflix to the iPhone — without Apple's help
PlayOn, the service that allows you to view streaming media from the web and PCs on a variety of devices, is finally headed to the iPhone as of tomorrow. It originally planned to release an iPhone app via the iTunes App Store, but due to approval delays by Apple, PlayOn has instead developed a mobile HTML5-driven web app.
The release of the web app, which currently only works with the iPhone and iPod Touch, marks … Continue Reading
Roku adds more streaming sports content with UFC partnership
PlayOn, the service that allows you to view streaming media from the web and PCs on a variety of devices, is finally headed to the iPhone as of tomorrow. It originally planned to release an iPhone app via the iTunes App Store, but due to approval delays by Apple, PlayOn has instead developed a mobile HTML5-driven web app.
The release of the web app, which currently only works with the iPhone and iPod Touch, marks … Continue Reading
Google's Android-based TV platform reportedly debuting next month
PlayOn, the service that allows you to view streaming media from the web and PCs on a variety of devices, is finally headed to the iPhone as of tomorrow. It originally planned to release an iPhone app via the iTunes App Store, but due to approval delays by Apple, PlayOn has instead developed a mobile HTML5-driven web app.
The release of the web app, which currently only works with the iPhone and iPod Touch, marks … Continue Reading
Spigit offers social media platform for company contests
PlayOn, the service that allows you to view streaming media from the web and PCs on a variety of devices, is finally headed to the iPhone as of tomorrow. It originally planned to release an iPhone app via the iTunes App Store, but due to approval delays by Apple, PlayOn has instead developed a mobile HTML5-driven web app.
The release of the web app, which currently only works with the iPhone and iPod Touch, marks … Continue Reading
