05/22, 12:40pm
Video player gets 're-engineered'
Video service Hulu has released a major update of Hulu Plus for iOS, v2.5. Most of the focus of the update is on iPad support, since it adds compatibility with the third-generation iPad's Retina display, and also enhances the native interface. Hulu has moreover improved AirPlay mirroring and HDMI output, which should also work when an iPad is in operating in split view mode. Users must have at least an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4S.
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04/30, 3:10pm
Hulu may shift wholesale to requiring TV service
Hulu may remove itself from contention as a pure Internet video service based on rumors overnight. The historically connected New York Post cited insiders who claimed the service would take the Fox authentication strategy, where customers must prove they have conventional TV access, and make it a broader policy. Fox's deal would see it soon talk to Comcast for a deal using the TV Everywhere imitative.
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04/19, 7:45pm
Hulu steps up original video content
Hulu used its turn at upfronts for TV content to reveal that it was adding four original shows beyond those teased earlier in the year. The strategy would be headlined by The Awesomes, a superhero comedy show due in 2013 that would draw on Saturday Night Live actors Seth Meyers and Michael Shoemaker. A nearer-term committed show, the 2012 basketball series We Got Next, would have The Game's Hale Rothstein and Kenya Barris along with The Office's Danny Leiner.
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04/17, 11:00am
Hulu doesn't charge for incompletely watched ads
US streaming video service Hulu has just celebrated its own achievements by announcing that its paid Hulu Plus subscription service has reached the two million subscribers milestone this past winter, which is faster than any other US service, be it online or offline. It's also shared some news that's bound to make advertisers happy. It will not charge advertisers if viewers skip their ads, only billing them based on a 100 percent completion rate.
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04/16, 11:00pm
Netflix may spur FCC action on Comcast neutrality
A commentary by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings may have brought official FCC scrutiny on Comcast for its cap exemption of Xfinity TV on the Xbox 360. He argued that Comcast was violating net neutrality principles by giving its own service a 'free' pass while applying the cap to competing services, including not just his own Netflix but HBO Go and Hulu Plus as well. After being asked by the Wall Street Journal, the FCC said it "takes seriously" allegations of violations like these and was following what was going on.
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04/04, 2:15pm
Convergence Consulting estimates 2012 cutters too
Over one million pay TV customers stopped their subscriptions in the US last year, a Convergence Consulting Group research report (PDF) published this month found. The total number was 2.65 million since 2008, as users look to online streaming services such as Netflix. Researchers estimated the 2011 figure at 1.05 million.
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03/29, 4:15pm
New Hulu Plus app arrives on 7 Android tablets
Streaming TV show and movie provider Hulu on Thursday announced it has made its Hulu Plus service on seven new Android tablets. This includes the Acer Iconia Tab line, ASUS Transformer Prime and Eee Pad Transformer, LG G-Slate, Motorola Xoom, Motorola Xyboard 10.1, and Toshiba Thrive. The app (free, Google Play) will become available for more Android tablets in the future as well, Hulu added.
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03/21, 10:00am
Nintendo 3DS gets automatic 3D music videos
Nintendo on Wednesday began giving 3DS owners a promised set of 3D music videos. Anyone who has the Nintendo Video app will start automatically pulling a set of videos that take advantage of the glasses-free display, such as "The Rifle's Spiral" by The Shins. B.O.B. and Wale have videos in the app today, while Skrillex and OK Go are among those in the near-term queue.
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03/15, 10:35pm
In-browser video screen enlarged by 55%
Hulu has revamped its web-based video portal in an attempt to improve the viewing experience. Users will now see a larger video screen when watching directly from the browser, as the player now covers 55 percent more area than the previous layout.
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03/02, 8:15pm
Turns smartphones into remotes for media players
Roku has released an app for Android devices (free, Android Market). With it, users can control one of the company's streaming media players with a smartphone instead of the remote that normally comes with the hub. Roku made a similar app available for iOS devices in December (free, App Store).
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03/02, 1:00pm
Sony Google TV update due Monday, closes root?
While it's currently possible to root Sony's Google TV hardware and load unofficial software onto it, an upcoming update may reverse this exploit, GTVHacker learned. The official, over-the-air security update may be arriving as soon as Monday, and no longer enable the recovery downgrade to be run. Users who root their hardware before this update, won't get it, however, and they can always go back to the stock firmware at a later date.
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02/21, 1:50pm
Comcast tries Internet VOD to fend off rivals
Comcast on Tuesday tried its hand at mitigating the impact of Internet video on traditional TV by launching Streampix. The service will include a mix of movies and TV shows across its own NBCUniversal as well as Disney, Sony, and Warner Bros. Access won't be confined to Comcast's own network and should include mobile and computer access to some content that would normally go through Comcast's traditional video on demand.
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02/21, 11:10am
Nintendo Wii U may become general-purpose
Nintendo might transform the Wii U into a full media hub if mentions of early discussions are accurate. AdWeek had heard this weekend that Nintendo had been in talks with "several major media companies," including music and sports providers in backroom CES chats last month. The console designer was even said considering a cable TV deal with Comcast, similar to the Xbox 360's live TV.
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02/20, 2:35pm
Software hack opens up Google TV platform
Google TV users can now enable new functionality, such as accessing Flash-based services including Hulu, thanks to a hack. The long-winded GTVHacker Sony Recovery Downgrader & Rebooter was developed by member zenofex and other developers over on the GTV Hacker forum. The hack is entirely software-based, but does require four USB sticks at least 512MB in capacity.
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02/16, 11:05am
Nintendo now offers Hulu Plus on Wii console
Nintendo has made available the Hulu Plus app for US owners of its Wii home gaming console, as expected, though delayed. While the monthly fee to the subscription-based streaming TV show service will be $8 per month, new users will get a free, two-week trial. The service offers over 16,000 episodes from 400 current and classic TV shows from ABC, Comedy Central, Fox, NBC, MTV, and others.
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02/10, 7:30pm
Amazon hires for own TV shows
Two new job listings have hinted that Amazon will be the next commercial Internet video service to produce some of its own content. Its studio division is hiring for the People's Production Company to create comedies and children's shows. Unlike its counterparts, though, it would be developing for traditional formats as well.
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02/09, 11:20am
Nielsen says most cord-cutting about cost
New Nielsen data about TV viewing habits has shown that cord-cutters, or those who drop paid TV in favor of Internet viewing, are often decreasing their viewing habits as a whole. Someone who has broadband but only watches traditional TV over the air watches less than half that of a regular cable subscriber, at nearly 123 minutes a day on average instead of 257, but still uses it much more than Internet streaming. These viewers typically saw no more than 11.2 minutes a day of streaming video, which was over double the five minutes of a cable subscriber but far from a direct substitute.
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02/02, 2:40pm
Viacom may expand on-demand content soon
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman hinted in a discussion of fiscal results that his company was about to sign a significant digital content deal. The agreement was cast as for an online, subscription-based video on demand service and could be made public next week, The Hollywood Reporter understood. Which service, and what content, weren't divulged.
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01/31, 12:50pm
Hulu CEO careful not to commit to or deny Apple TV
Hulu chief Jason Kilar used careful language in an interview at the D: Dive Into Media conference when discussing major content deals. He wouldn't confirm or deny any talks to bring Hulu Plus to the Apple TV. The executive was aware it was a potentially loaded question and denied it twice when pressed.
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01/25, 4:55pm
Netflix Q4 2011 buoyed by US, hurt elsewhere
Netflix saw the fuller consequences of its more controversial decisions on Wednesday with results from the fall. The company added more streaming customers than it expected, 220,000, but the "continued impact" of its price hike for those keeping DVDs and streaming led to it shedding 2.76 million disc subscriptions. These, along with the costs of expansion outside of the US, dragged Netflix's profit down 13 percent year over year to $41 million.
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01/20, 12:20am
Major TiVo Premiere update arrives at last
TiVo posted a much-requested update for its Premiere-series DVRs mid-week that answered a number of complaints while adding upsides of its own. The 20.2 upgrade speeds up the interface to touch on a common lag problem and brings the Grid and Live Guides into HD for the first time. Those who have more than one TiVo now have the luxury of streaming a show recorded on one TiVo to another on the same network instead of having to transfer it completely.
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01/15, 6:05pm
Hulu starts up own online-only TV series
Hulu followed in Netflix's footsteps Sunday by launching its first fictional, original TV series. Battleground covers a fictional political campaign in Wisconsin and is produced by JD Walsh, 500 Days of Summer's Marc Webb, and Hagai Shaham. It should be followed up by more documentaries, including a second season of Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life and Richard Linklater's new Up to Speed.
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12/22, 5:55pm
Destination of TV tech remains unclear
Motorola Mobility has reportedly moved to acquire SetJam, a startup that compiles data from a variety of streaming video services. The company offers a "data integrity engine" that indexes TV shows and movie listings from sources such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. The system automatically determines the number of specific episodes available from each source.
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12/22, 12:05pm
Citi study shows Netflix stil in comfortable lead
A new Citi Investment Research study from analyst Mike Mahaney points to Netflix still increasing its share of Internet movie and TV viewing. Between May and December, Netflix's share of those watching movies on TV grew from 20 to 27 percent. Most of that came at the expense of Hulu, which was down from 19 percent to 15.
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12/21, 3:50pm
Slot critical to attracting possible investors
Since September, Yahoo has been searching for potential buyers for itself. Although there have been many potential suitors, with no apparent deal close at hand, the company is now refocusing itself on permanently filling the CEO slot, which has been vacant since Carol Bartz was fired abruptly three months ago. All Things D, citing its sources, claims that Yahoo's board is
looking at Hulu's CEO Jason Kilar.
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12/14, 3:35pm
Nielsen shows game console usage numbers, bumps
Streaming and video-on-demand on game consoles has seen a sharp increase over the past year, media researcher Nielsen revealed after performing a study in October. Users now spend 14 percent of their time on the Xbox 360, 15 percent on the PS3, and 33 percent on the Wii watching videos from services such as Netflix, Hulu, MLB Network, and ESPN3.
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12/08, 11:55am
Hulu brings new Face Match feature to five shows
Hulu has just introduced a new feature for its streaming video service called Face Match. As the name suggests, it will have the ability to identify actors just by their face from clips and return more information about them. The feature requires users to just hover the mouse cursor over a character's face once the Hulu Face Match Engine is turned on.
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12/07, 4:45pm
Netflix and Hulu can use Facebook for video recs
The US Congress late Tuesday passed a modification to a law that would help get over blocks preventing Facebook integration with Hulu and Netflix. A change to the Video Privacy Protection Act backed by Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte would let users share their video habits online. Until now, the law required written consent, criminalizing attempts to share history or other more detailed content.
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12/05, 1:45am
We try Xbox 360 fall 2011 dashboard early
Microsoft is about to launch its Xbox 360 fall Dashboard update, and we've had the opportunity to use it early on our own system ahead of when it goes live December 6. The update is Microsoft's second major revamp in the Xbox 360's history and is geared around turning the Xbox 360 into a media hub. Read on for hands-on time and why it may be the definitive answer to the Apple TV.
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12/05, 12:30am
Microsoft outlines launch plans for X360 live TV
In sync with the fall Xbox 360 Dashboard update, Microsoft has provided a listing of TV providers that will be ready to go this week. Along with existing access to ESPN, Hulu, and Netflix, the December 6 update will also bring EPIX authenticated video in the US, Lovefilm in the UK, MediaSet's Premium Play in Italy, Sky Go in Austria and Germany, Telefonica España's Movistar Imagenio, and MSNBC's Today in the US.
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11/22, 1:40pm
VideoSurf bought out by Microsoft for millions
Software giant Microsoft has purchased VideoSurf, a company that developed a way to search for video clips online. The deal is believed to be worth tens of millions of dollars, though the exact number isn't revealed. VideoSurf did raise $28 million from former US President Al Gore, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Verizon Investment Fund, Pitango Venture Capital, Orbotech, founder Hanan Gilutz, and SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg.
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11/15, 3:10pm
Xbox hits 10 years old and gets bonuses
Microsoft kicked off the tenth anniversary of the Xbox with a celebration page and bonuses. Everyone gets access to a free avatar prop for Xbox Live that provides a gift box that opens to reveal fireworks. Some downloadable games will also be on sale as part of the anniversary.
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11/13, 6:55pm
Ooyala shows iPad owners more involved in video
Tablet owners, and more specifically iPad owners, are much more likely to be engrossed in watching video, a new Ooyala study uncovered. On average, they watched one minute and 17 seconds of video for every minute of viewing on the desktop, or more than a quarter of viewer. They were also more than twice as likely to reach the end of a video; only 30 percent of desktop viewers even passed a quarter of the clip.
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11/11, 11:00am
Hulu Plus coming to Kindle Fire after all
Amazon revealed on Friday that the Kindle Fire will have access to both Hulu Plus and ESPN when it launches, putting it over the Nook Tablet. During the initial app announcement, the movie and TV show streaming service wasn't mentioned, though other premium services such as Netflix and games from EA and Zynga were. This now gives the Fire the edge over the Nook, as Amazon has its own video and music store, while Barnes & Noble doesn't.
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11/07, 10:25am
Nook Tablet confirmed at event
Barnes & Noble at its special event confirmed the rumored launch of the Nook Tablet. The seven-inch sequel to the Nook Color is now much more of a media tablet with a dual-core processor and a doubled 1GB of RAM. The speed upgrade lets the Android 2.3 device handle 1080p video along with new Hulu Plus and Netflix apps and newer games.
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11/03, 9:55pm
CBS says Apple planned stream TV with shared cash
CBS chief Les Moonves may have inadvertently confirmed Apple's negotiations for a streaming TV service during the company's fiscal results call. He claimed that CBS had turned down a deal for a service because it would have split ad revenues. The executive didn't give details of what the service would have involved.
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11/03, 7:05pm
Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet goes beyond e-readers
Barnes & Noble is planning to drop its claims of focusing only on reading and attack the tablet market more directly, a slew of leaks confirmed to Android Central late Thursday. Its November 7 event will see it roll out the Nook Tablet, the rumored high-end model. Although it will still have the Nook Color's heavily customized Android interface, it will carry a much faster dual-core, 1.2GHz TI OMAP processor with 1GB of RAM, similar to Motorola's Xoom 2, and 16GB of storage with a microSDHC slot.
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10/31, 7:25pm
Hulu Plus may be held back for Apple TV
An unverified rumor maintains that Hulu Plus has a largely complete app waiting to be upgraded into the Apple TV. The TV streaming service has supposedly been ready for "at least a month" but has supposedly been on hold for competitive reasons, 9to5 heard. While Netflix is considered acceptable both out of sheer demand and its emphasis on older shows, Hulu Plus focuses mostly on new content and might cut into iTunes.
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10/31, 8:30am
ABC and Disney stay online with Amazon, Netflix
Disney and its ABC division on Monday recommitted themselves to Internet video Monday with separate deals for Amazon Instant Video and Netflix. Both deals give it access to all prior seasons of both active and recently ended shows as well as back catalog access. Amazon's deal gives it both access to on-demand Instant Video as well as unlimited access for Prime subscribers.
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10/28, 4:45pm
Hulu makes deal with The CW for this year's shows
Online TV and movie service Hulu has just secured a five-year deal with The CW for rights to stream its in-season episodes. The CW is a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros. Under the deal, the five most recent episodes of each show will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers the next day after broadcast. Those who use the free, ad-supported Hulu service can watch the same five episodes eight days after they originally air on The CW.
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10/24, 5:05pm
Netlfix loses 800K subs over pricing, Qwikster
Netflix faced a tough end of the year after tough results and a more difficult fall. It lost 800,000 subscribers in the US over a combination of its price hikes for those who want to both stream and watch DVDs as well as the flip-flop on Qwikster. It ended up with 23.79 million total US customers, lower than the 24.5 million most market watchers had predicted.
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10/18, 6:45pm
Viacom insists YouTube win a threat to video
Viacom on Tuesday tried to have a New York City Second Court of Appeals overturn a dismissal of its YouTube lawsuit. The media giant didn't believe that the basic principles of safe harbor applied to Google's video site and that it should be held liable for any illegally copied video that reaches YouTube, no matter how difficult it was to detect. Attorney Paul Smith portrayed the upheld ruling as having disastrous consequences for the entire media industry, as it would lead to "vast exploitation" of content online.
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10/14, 6:30pm
Hulu still talking to Google on sale?
With yesterday's report that Hulu is no longer for sale, a new report from SAI sources suggests it's still considering a sale to Google. Google did make the largest bid for the streaming service, though it also wanted concessions that Hulu wasn't willing to make. Google's bid, at about $4 billion, was more than twice as big as Dish Network's $2 billion.
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10/13, 8:15pm
Hulu says studios see it as too valuable
Hulu in a brief note said it had decided to stop its attempted selloff. The statement, which had the support of Disney, investor Providence Equity Partners, and Fox's parent company News Corp., claimed that each of the owners though there was too much of a "unique and compelling strategic value" for each of them to sell. It would instead center on existing plans.
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10/11, 9:35am
Roku LT arrives with extra low price
Roku hoped to lower the price floor for networked media hubs Tuesday with the Roku LT. By shedding the Ethernet, SD card slot, and Bluetooth used for the Roku 2's gaming on many models, the box drops to just $50, or half the price of an Apple TV. It can still output 720p video streamed over Wi-Fi and has all the channels of regular Roku players, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and Pandora radio.
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10/09, 11:55pm
Yahoo rumored jumping ship from Hulu deals
Yahoo is reportedly out of the increasingly uncertain bidding process for Hulu, a claimed leak said late Sunday. The search engine has allegedly been identified by the WSJ sources as the original mystery bidder but also to have exited entirely. The internal turmoil following Carol Bartz' firing and the possibility of a sell-off were attributed to the departure.
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10/06, 8:45am
WD TV Live carries Spotify Music and more
Western Digital on Tuesday brought out its next-generation WD TV Live media box and companion WD TV Live Hub. The new version has a revamped, tray-based interface and now has Spotify music. Listeners with a Spotify Premium account can stream at the full 320Kbps with support for making playlists, sharing, and getting access to others' content through profiles and the song inbox.
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10/05, 7:35pm
Miramax wants to curb potential Apple power
Miramax chief Mike Lang explained to those at the MIPCOM media conference Wednesday night that his studio was trying to prevent Apple from repeating its effect in music on the movie industry. He saw the iTunes operator as having walked in on a digital music business with poor competition and taking a control that persists to this day. With so much influence, he said, labels couldn't set the agenda and showed what could happen if movie studios didn't act faster.
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10/04, 10:15pm
Xbox 360 Comcast and Verizon deal
Microsoft's Xbox 360 live TV option is being unveiled on Wednesday, a late-breaking scoop identified. As expected, providers like Comcast and Verizon will let users pipe video directly to the Xbox, either from the cable itself or through the Internet, AllThingsD found. Viewers will have to authenticate like they do for HBO Go or other cable-owned services, though, as legacy carriers try to shelter themselves from cord-cutting.
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09/30, 4:45pm
Hulu owners may back out of sale after low bids
Earlier rumors of Hulu going back on its decision to sell itself off are proving true, two sources have told SAI. The bids, while they are still rolling in, aren't as high as initially hoped. Hulu's parent companies are reportedly looking for $2 billion for the online service.
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