Tag: Hulu

Criterion Collection on Hulu Opens Up 800+ Classic Films for Free This Weekend

If you’re a film lover and want to spend the weekend holed up watching the best of Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Kurosawa, Chaplin, and more – Criterion and Hulu have an offer for you.

Starting today and continuing through the weekend, all Criterion films on Hulu will be free to all – even those who are not subscribed to Hulu Plus.

Normally, Criterion films are only able to be streamed by Hulu Plus members. In that case, they’re ad-free. In this free-stream weekend, you’ll have to put up with a few ads throughout the film. But it’s a fairly small price to pay to have access to nearly a thousand classic films.

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The Criterion Collection first appeared on Hulu back in February 2011. As of today, there are over 800 different films to stream from Criterion on Hulu, making it one of the most-impressive collection of classic and often hard-to-find films around.

You can start browsing Criterion films on Hulu here.

February 14, 2013
Amazon Steals Downton Abbey From Netflix & Hulu – Past, Present, and Future

As of right now, you can watch the hit Masterpiece Classic show Downton Abbey on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Some time this year, that will no longer be the case.

Amazon has just announced a deal with PBS Distribution that will make Prime Instant Video the only place that Downton Fans will be able to stream the show.

Eventually. Amazon will have exclusive rights to Downton Abbey Season 3 (currently airing) on June 18th, and will gain exclusive rights to the other two seasons “later this year.” No specifics on the actual date that you’ll see Downton disappear from Netflix and Hulu.

Not only that, but Amazon is keeping Downton out of the hands of Netflix and Hulu for the foreseeable future. Prime Instant Video will continue to be the exclusive subscription home of season 4 and season 5, if that actually becomes a thing.

“Our Prime customers have spoken—they can’t get enough of the MASTERPIECE CLASSIC series ‘Downton Abbey.’ The series is consistently in our top most watched TV shows each week, making it the most popular TV series with Prime Instant Video customers, ever,” said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition for Amazon. “Prime Instant Video will soon be the exclusive subscription video streaming home for ‘Downton Abbey.’”

This is a big move by Amazon to secure the rights to an extremely popular show. Locking up exclusive rights to Downton Abbey’s past, present, and future is a pretty good wallop to other streaming services – a scheme that Thomas could surely approve of.

February 13, 2013
All My Children, One Life To Live To Return Via Hulu, iTunes

Nearly two years ago, news came out that ABC had canceled the long-running soap operas All My Children and One Life To Live. ABC had decided to replace them with food shows, saying the decision was guided by “extensive research into what today’s daytime viewers want and the changing viewing patterns of the audience.”

If daytime TV viewers didn’t want All My Children and One Life To Live, you could have fooled me, because when the news broke, the angry comments flooded the web.

Angry fans can find joy once again, because both shows are making a return, courtesy of Hulu. We have yet to see an official announcement, but TechCrunch is reporting that both will be back in shorter 30-minute episodes each weekday, starting in the spring on Hulu, as well as on iTunes and Prospect Park’s (the production company that licensed the soap operas from ABC) The Online Network, but Hulu will manage the ad sales and package them.

Prospect Park actually announced the shows’ return earlier this month, but didn’t mention Hulu or iTunes (via zap2it):

“We are pleased to confirm that Prospect Park is reviving the beloved soap operas, All My Children and One Life To Live as the anchor programs on The Online Network (TOLN). Today we are also pleased to confirm that Prospect Park has: 1) signed guild agreements with both SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and the DGA (Directors Guild of America); 2) entered into a consulting agreement with Agnes Nixon the creator of All My Children and One Life to Live guaranteeing her active involvement; 3) hired Foz McDermott (coordinating producer Heroes) as TOLN’s head of production, Jennifer Pepperman (Director, One Life to Live) as Executive Producer on One Life to Live, and Ginger Smith (Producer, All My Children) as Executive Producer on All My Children; and 4) arranged the necessary financing to begin production in February on both All My Children and One Life To Live.

Online video has become quite the savior for fans of canceled TV shows, showing that if there is big enough demand, your old favorites might have a chance at returning. Netflix has managed to pull off what many of us thought would never happen, in bringing back the cult favorite Arrested Development, which returns in May. Now, long-running soap operas are finding their way back to fans in what should be a happy moment for a lot of people.

January 25, 2013
Hulu AdZone Kicks Off in Preparation of Super Bowl Ads

Last year, Hulu launched AdZone, their hub for all things Super Bowl ads. It allowed users to relive great ads from the past, as well as watch and vote on the new ads as they aired during the big game.

Today, they’ve launched the site for Super Bowl 2013.

As the game airs, ads will appear on AdZone in real time.

“Watch, share and vote for your favorite Super Bowl ads during the big game. As soon as one team takes home the title of Super Bowl champion on Sunday, Feb. 3, we’ll tally the votes and announce your pick for the best ads of Super Bowl 2013 and share our picks for best celebrity cameos, cutest critters and more,” says Hulu.

Hulu has also optimized their AdZone for mobile:

“And if you’re craving another wing or grabbing a cold one during the commercial break and miss that ad that will have everyone talking, have no fear – with the Hulu AdZone mobile experience you can visit hulu.com/adzone from your mobile device to pull up that ad and watch, vote, share, Tweet and “like” it to your heart’s content (you’ll just need a Facebook account to cast your vote),” says Hulu.

You can check out AdZone right now, even before the Super Bowl. There, you can relive all of last year’s advertisements, as well as browse through the best ads from 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Here’s what was voted as last year’s best Super Bowl ad:

January 17, 2013
Hulu Announces New Original Programming for 2013

Hulu, which just announced $695 million in 2012 revenue (a 65% increase year-over-over), is now outlining their plans for new original content in 2013.

“It’s a thrill to share what we have planned in 2013,” said Andy Forssell, Hulu’s SVP of Content. “We’re working with innovative showrunners such as Seth Meyers and Michael Shoemaker, Josh Greenbaum and James Corden and Mathew Baynton, while releasing a full slate of highly anticipated series exclusive to stateside audiences with beloved stars like Eva Longoria.”

In 2013, Hulu will premiere their first animated original series “The Awesomes” co-created by SNL’s Seth Meyers and Michael Shoemaker. They will also unveil “The Wrong Man,” their second collaboration with the BBC. Hulu will also get a new docu-series called “Behind the Mask,” which focuses on sports mascots.

“We’ve built a steady library of some of the best shows from around the world, and 2013 will be no different. Hulu Exclusive Series that will premiere on Hulu this year include ‘Mother Up!’ with Eva Longoria, French crime thriller ‘Braquo,’ the second seasons of hit Israeli series “Prisoners of War,” britcoms ‘Pramface’ and ‘Fresh Meat,’ and the fourth season of cult reality drama ‘The Only Way is Essex’ (‘TOWIE’),” says Hulu.

In previous years, Hulu has distributed 25 different original and exclusive series.

In 2012, Hulu doubled their subscribers to 3 million. They also expanded their content offerings by 40%, now boasting over 60,000 titles. They did suffer the loss of longtime CEO Jason Kilar earlier this month, as well as CTO Rich Tom.

January 8, 2013
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar To Depart Soon

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced today that he will step down in Q1. He posted an email he sent to the Hulu team to the Hulu blog.

CTO Rich Tom is also stepping down. Kilar says he is currently working with the board to ensure there is “ample runway to manage this transition.”

Kilar tells employees:

It is impossible to state in words how much this team means to me, how much Hulu means to me. But I’ll do my best.

For me, the journey started with a move to California and a walk into an empty office suite in early July 2007. In the weeks afterward, some brave souls that were willing to look past the many naysayers and ClownCo moniker jumped aboard and got about the business of innovating and building. Five and a half years later, thanks to the missionary work of this amazing 600+ worldwide team and courageous, prescient partners, we are fortunate to have collectively built a culture that matters, a brand that matters, a business that matters. Our convictions and our relentless pursuit of better ways have made the difference and will continue to make the difference. We have grown from a few hundred thousand in revenue in 2007 to generating almost $700 million in revenue in 2012 alone. We have created a video subscription service that is growing unusually fast, adding over 200K new subscribers in the past 7 days alone (a new record). We have proudly generated over $1 Billion for our content partners since we excitedly entered private beta in October 2007. Our video advertising service delivers world-class results and sets the pace for the industry. We have authored scores of inventions along the way.

And while the above outputs are impressive and laudatory, the things that have clearly brought the most joy to my heart (and what I believe to be the most important inputs in our business) have been this team and the values and principles we hold dear.

Kilar says he will update the team on dates as they get solidified.

Last year, Hulu hit $695 million in revenue, wight over 65% year-over-year growth.

January 4, 2013
Hulu Posts Record Revenues In 2012, Hits 3 Million Subscribers

2012 is looking to be a stellar year for pretty much everybody who makes their livelihood on the Internet. The year has been especially kind to the folks at Hulu. The streaming service grew exponentially this year, and it looks like it’s going to keep growing.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar took to the company blog today to announce that Hulu will close on 2012 with $695 million in revenue. He says it’s a 65 percent increase over last year, and it shows that Hulu is growing even faster than before.

The revenue growth can be partially attributed to the continued success of Hulu Plus. The company now has over 3 million subscribers which is double the subscribers it had at the end of last year. The bump in subscribers can be attributed to two main causes – Hulu Plus is now available on more devices than ever before, and the service is pulling solid numbers in Japan.

Kilar notes that Hulu Plus was released on Apple TV, Wii, Wii U, Windows 8 tablets and Android devices all in 2012. Combine that with the existing apps on Xbox 360 and PS3, and you have a service that’s available to pretty much everybody. The expanded set of streaming options definitely help to attract more subscribers.

Any streaming service is only as good as its content, and Hulu Plus made good over the past year in content acquisitions. Kilar says that the company has expanded its offerings on Hulu and Hulu Plus by over 40 percent this year. That means that the service is now home to over 60,000 TV episodes and 2,300 TV series. A lot of TV series are also available soon after they air on television which makes Hulu a more attractive option compared to the likes of Netflix and Amazon.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the online streaming business evolves over the next year. Hulu has proven itself to be a major player in the arena, and the company could go into a myriad of directions in pursuit of more subscribers and advertising dollars.

December 17, 2012
Hulu Launches Video Game Trailer Hub

Hulu has announced a new location for gamers to find the latest game trailers and reviews. It’s called Hulu Video Game hub, and you can check it out today.

“[W]e love video games at Hulu. So for this busy video game season, we’ve got you covered. We’ve taken a big first step in feeding the game trailer addiction by bringing you the new Video Games hub on Hulu.

In the Video Games hub on Hulu, you’ll be able to find beautiful pages featuring HD trailers, game play videos and reviews for the latest games. We’ll also have essential release information, so you know exactly when you can get your hands on that game you’re eyeing,” says Hulu.

Right now, the featured trailers on the site are for “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Super Mario Bros. U,” “Bioshock Infinite,” and “Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition.” The page also features game reviews from X-Play and game news from The Electric Playground.

Right now, Hulu Video Games is only available on the web. Hulu says that they’ll be rolling it out across Hulu Plus-enabled devices over the next few months.

This isn’t the only new channel Hulu has launched this month. Last week, the company debuted their own kid-friendly section called “Hulu Kids.” That channel features age-appropriate, ad-free programming curated by the folks at Hulu.

November 16, 2012
Wii U’s TVii Service Delayed, Launches In December

The game console is no longer just for games. Nintendo is finally starting to realize this, and created TVii to show that it’s not behind the curve in delivering unique entertainment options to consumers. It was originally slated to launch with the console this Sunday, but Nintendo has silently delayed it at the last minute.

In a general press release for the Wii U’s launch, Nintendo slipped in this little bit about TVii:

Nintendo TVii: In December, Nintendo will activate this unique application that will transform how people find, watch and engage with TV shows, movies and sports. Nintendo TVii makes watching TV simple and fun by bringing together a program guide, remote control and social interaction into one, seamless second-screen experience on the GamePad. Nintendo TVii comes with Wii U at no additional charge and requires no additional equipment. It works with existing cable and satellite channels. Viewers can engage with others in a variety of ways, such as commenting on moments as they happen on live TV, and then sharing those thoughts via Miiverse, Facebook and Twitter. Users can also discover more about what they’re watching, as information from a variety of sources is automatically linked to the program they are watching, including sports data. Nintendo TVii is customizable for every member of the family.

It’s all the same information as before, but it now says that the service will be launching in December. The company doesn’t specify exactly when TVii will be launching in December, but we’re at least looking at a few weeks without being able to live Tweet our thoughts during TV shows.

Since TVii ties into other services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, it should be noted that those services have been delayed as well. All of the above will be included in a system update planned for December. DLC for games like Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Darksiders II will also have to wait for the system update in December.

[h/t: Joystiq]

November 16, 2012
Hulu Launches Kid-Friendly Ad-Free Section “Hulu Kids”

Hulu has just unveiled Hulu Kids, their new kid-friendly streaming section. It is now available online at hulu.com/kids and on the PS3. At launch, Hulu has included 43 kids shows inside the new section.

All of the video housed inside the Hulu Kids section is age-appropriate and ad-free, as long as you’re a Hulu Plus subscriber.

“For Hulu Plus subscribers logged in on the Hulu website, Hulu Kids features our popular “Shows You Watch” tray so little ones can quickly jump to their favorite shows. There are categories to browse, like “Dino Time” for videos featuring “Barney” and the lovable reptiles from “Dinosaur Train,” and “Cartoon Favorites” for shows like “Arthur” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“. (Yep, they’re back.) You can also scroll through shows from Nickelodeon and PBS, or simply browse through all of our shows in a grid format,” says Hulu.

This way, parents can turn their kids loose inside the Kids section without fear that they will stumble upon content that’s not suitable for their age.

Hulu is a little bit late to this party, as Hulu Kids launches over a year after Netflix launched their similar initiative, “Just for Kids.” Netflix has since expanded the “Just for Kids” section to be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and the iPad.

Earlier this week, Hulu entered into a new partnership with CBS to give users access to CBS’s catolog of shows (over 2,600 episodes) by January 2013. Users will reportedly not be able to watch new episodes of CBS shows as they air.

November 8, 2012
Hulu And CBS Enter Partnership To Bring CBS Shows To Hulu Plus

Hulu announced today that it has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with CBS, which will see the network’s library of TV programming become available on Hulu Plus in January.

Users will gain access to over 2,600 episodes of shows like Medium, Numb3rs, CSI Miami, Star Trek, I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, etc.

“We remain ever-focused on building a differentiated and high-value service for our customers (users, content owners and advertisers) and are proud that we have built Hulu Plus to be the only online video service to offer this type of TV content selection,” said Hulu SVP of Content, Andy Forssell.

People will also be able to watch episodes of Entertainment Tonight on Hulu and Hulu Plus the same day they’re broadcast on television, starting today. Select other shows will rotate through the free Hulu.com.

The partnership will reportedly not give Hulu access to other new shows as they air, but the addition of CBS content is still significant for the service, which has already been offering ABC, FOX and NBC content (Hulu is a joint venture among these three providers).

November 5, 2012
September Online Video Rankings Show YouTube Still Leading

ComScore, a leading online media metrics company, today released its online video rankings for September 2012. Unsurprisingly, Google leads the internet in both unique viewers and video ads.

According to the new rankings, Google websites, led by YouTube had over 150 million unique viewers in September. YouTube viewers watched over 13 billion videos for an average of 419 minutes per viewer. Following far behind Google are Yahoo, AOL, and VEVO, with a bit over 50 million unique viewers.

While Google may be far ahead of other platforms when it comes to unique viewers, the company isn’t leagues ahead when it comes to ad impressions. In September Google delivered nearly 1.8 billion ads, followed closely by the BrightRoll Video Network with 1.3 billion and Hulu with 1.1 billion. Of note here is Hulu’s massive number of ads per viewer, which sits at 51 – far more than any other platform on the list. Any viewer who’s watched Hulu lately will realize the reason for this number, as the ad breaks for TV shows on the network have lengthened to the point where they are beginning to rival network TV.

Along with the video rankings, ComScore has also provided rankings for the top 10 YouTube partner channels. VEVO (48 million unique viewers) and Warner Music (24 million unique viewers) predictably top the list, showing that YouTube is a main source online for viewing music videos. What is interesting is that Machinima, the video games channel, places fourth on the list with 22 million unique viewers and almost 70 minutes per viewer. At a time when video game programming is disappearing from traditional TV, it seems Google’s Machinima investment is paying off.

October 29, 2012
Reed Hastings on Why Netflix is Better Than Amazon Prime, Hulu

Amazon has added a ton of content to its Prime Instant Video service over the last few months, and that may have put Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on the offensive.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hastings took a not-so-subtle dig at Amazon by describing their Prime video service as a “confusing mess.” He also reiterated that Netflix spends more on content, and that has resulted in Netflix actually having much more content that its competitors.

Here’s the relevant excerpt:

In the U.S., our content budget is about three times [Amazon’s], and we’ve got about three times more content. And what our customers tell us is they want Netflix to have more content, not to have two-thirds less at a lower price. That’s not that interesting a proposition for them. [Amazon has its Prime membership service] and it’s really about low-cost shipping, but why is video in there? It’s kind of a confusing mess.

We can do a better user experience on video because it’s our only business. The way we do algorithms to choose which content is shown to you is much better than Amazon’s, much better than Hulu’s. They’ve got talented teams, but they’re doing a lot of other things and we’re focused on this one area.

Them fightin’ words.

Hastings main point: Netflix is all about streaming video, and because we’re focused on that one thing, we can do it better. Not sure how that argument stacks up with Hulu, but oh well.

As I mentioned above, Amazon has been pretty busy adding content to their Prime service. In the past few weeks, they’ve inked deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and EPIX. According to Amazon, the service now boasts over 22,000 titles.

[WSJ via CNET]

September 26, 2012
Hulu Launches New Design That’s All About Discovery

Hulu has just unveiled a big redesign to their site that changes up the look, but also adds features and sections that aim to help users find the shows they want to watch, when they want to watch them. Hulu wants you to find those “hidden gems,” and that what this UI update is all about.

“As we worked on the new layout for the site, we kept two things in the backs of our minds: How can we make it easier for you to find and enjoy the best TV moments on your computer? And how can we surround those moments with the most beautiful, elegant and innovative video experience on the web?” said VP of Product Rob Wong.

First off, they’ve replaced the traditional format with a new one featuring larger images. This includes shots from last night’s episodes of shows featured on the service as well as within a new “tray-style” format below the featured program. As you go down the homepage, you’ll see recommended picks (based on your previous viewing habits), as well as popular content (based on others’ viewing habits).

You’ll also find new Staff Picks on the homepage. Today, those start out with hand-picked collections of clips like “SNL for President.”

Since this update is all about discovery, Hulu has updated their search bar at the top of pages. They’ve also tweaked how users navigate the site with the “Browse” feature. “Use the “Browse” menu to easily jump to popular content, content recently added to the site, specific networks, recommendations and more from any page on Hulu,” says Wong.

Check out the video welcome to the all new Hulu below:

August 22, 2012
Is Hulu’s CEO Heading To Facebook?

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has just jumped from one rumor whirlwind to another, as the New York Post is reporting that Kilar may be on his way to Facebook.

The Post quotes sources that say Mark Zuckerberg is very interested in Kilar and is considering him for a “senior role” in the company.

Kilar joined Hulu after years of work with Amazon. At Amazon, Kilar was instrumental in getting the company to move toward the video business.

Kilar is bouncing around the executive pipeline as of late, as Facebook is the second high-profile company that’s reportedly eyeing the Hulu CEO. Last week, it was reported that Yahoo! had narrowed down their CEO search to two men – Kilar and current interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

But shortly after that news came down, Kilar bowed out of the race, with Hulu releasing the following statement:

As has been reported, Jason Kilar has been a focus of the Yahoo CEO search committee. He has graciously declined to be considered.

In a “senior role” at Facebook, could Kilar help direct focus to online video, feature films, or social interaction among viewers on the network? It would make sense. The Post also speculates that Kilar could be in Zuckerberg’s crosshairs in order to boost Facebook’s online video advertising.

Hulu has declined our request to comment.

July 10, 2012
It Looks Like Yahoo Has Found Its CEO

First of all, there’s no official word yet, but it does look like Yahoo may have found its new CEO: current interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

Yesterday, it was reported that Yahoo had narrowed its search for a CEO down to two people: Levinsohn and Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. It appears that Kilar isn’t interested.

Now, Business Insider’s Owen Thomas says he’s received confirmation from Hulu that Kilar has declined the position, sharing the following statement:

As has been reported, Jason Kilar has been a focus of the Yahoo CEO search committee. He has graciously declined to be considered.

Given Yahoo’s track record of CEO success, it’s not hard to believe Kilar might be more interested in continuing to run Hulu.

If Yahoo does end up going with Levinsohn, it will be quite interesting to see how Yahoo’s strategy shifts (if at all). Yahoo has made some of its most significant announcements in search in recent months (such as its newly revamped image and video search features, and of course, its mobile browser Axis).

We’ll also be interested to see if Yahoo’s search deal with Microsoft plays out, as there have been rumors that the deal will fall apart prematurely, ahead of its ten-year commitment.

In other Yahoo news, it appears the company and Facebook have made peace over patents.

Image: AllThingsD Video (YouTube)

July 6, 2012
Yahoo Recovers Some of April’s Lost Video Viewers in May

comScore has released its online video rankings for sites in the United States for May 2012 and it appears to be some more good news for Yahoo. Following last week’s comScore report that Yahoo had finally slowed the precipitous loss of its search market stakes in May, this month’s video site rankings show that Yahoo appears to have gained back in May some of the viewers that it lost in April. The company’s total unique viewers still isn’t back up to March’s 60 million viewers, but at least Yahoo appears to be headed in that direction.

Google sites, which include the very popular YouTube, lost about 6 million viewers in May, which may or may not have something to do with Yahoo’s climb back up towards its March numbers. Then again, one reason Yahoo made some significant gains in May may have something to do with the fact that it was offering over 100,000,000 more videos in May than it was in April.

In other changes from April, Microsoft was bumped down one place by Facebook, Viacom was bumped down one place by AOL, and News Distribution Network bumped down both Amazon and Hulu.

The top five online video ad properties was unchanged from April to May and the second five shifted around very little. Hulu remained the top video ad property by adding about 69 million ads in May, amounting to about 55 million ad minutes. Hulu also delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 56. In other words, Hulu’s really trying to give you the television experience with lots of ads.

Also of note, comScore says that video ads accounted for 21.6% of all videos viewed and 1.9% of all minutes spent watching online video. While the average online video lasted about 6:30, the average video ad lasted about 12 seconds. The amount of video ads posted in May yielded another new record, surpassing the 10 billion mark for the first time.

VEVO continues to dominate the rankings among YouTube Partner Channels. Although it added nearly 27 million new videos in May, it actually lost over 600,000 unique viewers. Excepting the final two spots in the top ten YouTube channels, the rankings for May remained the same.

Although there were a few variations in May’s rankings from April’s, comScore notes that the number of the U.S. audience for online video remained the same at 84.5%.

June 18, 2012
Justice Dept. To Investigate Cable Companies

You know that whole net neutrality thing that people have been talking about for a couple of years now? Well the Justice Department is finally opening their eyes to the major cable companies dirty dealings and are investigating them for their practices in “throttling” or a hard data cap.The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department has spoken with video providers like Netflix and Hulu and several cable companies as part of the probe.

The main part of the investigation seems to be Comcast’s Xfinity app, and the fact that if you use the app on their service it would not count towards your data cap where Netflix and Hulu would. That is a clear issue in my opinion and really does break antitrust rules. Also if they are found guilty, this is in direct violation of its agreements that cleared the way for its acquisition of NBCUniversal.

I can understand why they are doing this. These networks aren’t very cheap, but they are forcing us to use their services or be punished when we already pay for them. I had this problem with Time-Warner cable internet. When I was on Youtube or playing games it was fine, but if I tried to watch Netflix or stream MLB.TV my internet connection speed would go from 8Mbps down to .9Mbps. I tested it on many occasions. They came out and nothing was wrong but it was clear to me that because I didn’t buy HBO and a MLB package from them, that I basically was not going to be able to watch competing services.

Also being investigated are the cable companies’ TV Everywhere initiative, where online access requires a verified cable subscription, as well as the distribution contracts content providers sign with cable systems. There is no word on when the investigation will end, or if it is out to actually put a stop to anything. I guess the important thing is that hopefully we will be closer to the cable companies not being able to push us around anymore.

June 13, 2012
Hulu and Roku Team Up For a Father’s Day Deal

In honor of Father’s Day, Hulu and Roku have teamed up to provide a deal that just might be good enough to get your dad to cancel his cable subscription. The special bundle comes with a Roku HD player, 6 months of Hulu Plus, and an HDMI cable, all for only $80. If you’ve wanted an excuse to get a streaming player such as a Roku, this might be your best chance to get one at a low price until Black Friday comes around. The Roku deal is available for purchase from the Roku website for a limited time only- the offer expires on Father’s Day, June 17.

Meanwhile, Hulu is promoting the deal over at the Hulu Blog. Eric Berman, Manager of distribution partnerships at Hulu, relates an anecdote involving his father and a Roku in the blog post:

Last year, I set up a Roku and Hulu Plus on my dad’s huge, brand new TV. Now it was my turn to introduce my dad to some of my favorite shows. The pressure was on to deliver great TV.

I brought up a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, and after laughing hysterically at Steve Buscemi’s Batman clip, we began diving into a whole slew of classic SNL clips. And just like old times, he turned me to one of his favorites: the John Belushi “Samurai Hitman.”

The Batman video Berman refers to is embedded below, and it actually is pretty funny. It perfectly demonstrates how Christian Bale’s edgier, more serious Batman is still as silly as the other live action Batmans, just in his own gravely-voiced way. Also, more Steve Buscemi comedy acting always welcome.

June 1, 2012
Netflix Bests Apple as the Top Online Movie Service in 2011

Although you probably wouldn’t have guessed as much from the countless fumbles and mistakes the company made last year, Netflix somehow managed to overpower Apple as the top online movie service in 2011. Market share for the company grew from a measly 1 percent in 2010 to a staggering 44 percent in 2011. Apple, meanwhile, saw its market share drop from 60.8 percent in 2010 to 32.3 percent in 2011. Not bad for a service that effectively alienated its customers by forcing them to swallow a 60% price increase.

Of course, Netflix and Apple are hardly rivals, according Dan Cryan, who warned that Netflix should be more concerned with Hulu and Walmart’s Vudu service, both of which are closer in design to Netflix’s business model than Apple and iTunes.

“2011 marked a sea change in the online movies business that saw the balance of consumer spending shift from a DVD-like transactional model to more TV-like subscription approach,” Cryan explained in his IHS report. The online movie business more than doubled in 2011 to reach $992 million and it is expected to double this year as well.”

According to yet another IHS report, the influx of individuals look to spend their entertainment dollar on an online video service may have something to do with consumers’ increasing disinterest in both owning and renting physical media. In regards to purchasing, movie-lovers only spent $8.8 billion on packaged media in 2011. Although that may still sound like a lot of money — and, truthfully, it is — the numbers sort of pale when compared to the $9.9 billion they spent in 2010. If the trend continues in this direction, mainstream physical media consumption could feasibly be on its way out the proverbial door within the next decade.

June 1, 2012
Verizon’s Viewdini Android App Tells You What’s On Netflix

Mobile video is awesome, right? It’s great to be able to watch Netflix, YouTube and everything else all from the comfort of your mobile phone. You know what would be even better though? An app that just puts all of those aforementioned services in one place but restricts it to a single carrier. Thankfully, Verizon has made that very app.

Verizon has partnered with TV.com to launch Viewdini. It’s an app that promises to give you the best video content on the mobile Web. It’s just that all the video comes from somebody else whether it be Netflix or Hulu. The best part is that it’s only available to Verizon subscribers.

In all reality, Viewdini just a glorified video search function. It offers no video hosting itself. It only serves to point users in the direction of where they can get access to said video. The only thing it has really going for it is that it is powered by TV.com. In essence, you’re getting an advertisement for video streaming services alongside information that can easily be found on Wikipedia.

To be fair, there is value in consolidation. It’s nice to be able to search for videos and find which streaming services have that video all from one place. The integration with TV.com also gives you direct access into the information for that particular TV show right from the app.

The usefulness of Viewdini is going to be up to the individual user. Do Android users need help finding where they can access all their favorite video content? Does it need to remind you how awesome (and expensive) Verizon’s 4G network is?

Still, it’s a nice gesture to Verizon subscribers. I’m unfortunately on AT&T so I’m stuck having to separately navigate to all the different video apps. It’s such a pain. If only my provider provided an app that helped make an already lazy task even lazier.

If you feel compelled to download and use Viewdini, it’s available for download on Google Play right now. For kicks, I tried to download Viewdini onto my HTC Inspire 4G. They’re not kidding about that “Only for Verizon subscribers” nonsense. I feel like Google Play and Verizon are now silently mocking me for being on AT&T.

May 31, 2012