How Google Music wants to take on Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody
Google launched its own music subscription service Wednesday. Currently, it’s not very different from all the other services out there. So how does it want to compete? Read more »
Janko Roettgers
Janko has been covering all things tech for more than 10 years. His career as a technology journalist began in Germany, where he published a number of books about subjects like the online music revolution and Internet subcultures. He first began contributing to GigaOM in 2007 and joined the staff in 2009. Janko is also the host of GigaOM's Cord Cutters series.
Reports: Google will launch music subscription service at I/O
photo: paidContent / Amanda Natividad
Google is set to launch a music subscription service at its Google I/O developer conference Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The service will compete with Spotify and similar services. Read more »
German online publishers’ anti-adblock campaign backfires
A public campaign by some of the biggest German online publishers against ad-blocking software may have backfired, as downloads of one popular ad-blocking product have more than doubled. Read more »
Netflix makes changes to public API after “Streamageddon” backlash
Figuring out which titles are going expire soon on Netflix just got a lot harder: The company changed its public API Monday night to prevent this information from popping up on third-party websites. Read more »
How ABC plans to use live streaming and the cloud to challenge Aereo
ABC is going to offer iOS users in New York and Philadelphia a 24-hour live stream of its programming this week. It’s the first time a broadcaster has embraced live streaming. Read more »
Pay to play: Can YouTube succeed with its paid channel subscriptions?
photo: Flickr / sushiina
YouTube started to offer paid subscriptions to select channels this week. But are people actually going to pay for their YouTube videos? Read more »
YouTube launches its paid subscription channels with select partners
YouTube’s long-rumored paid channels are live: The Google-owned service started its new subscription offering with select partners Thursday. Read more »
Slacker wants to take a page out of Muve Music’s playbook with telco partnerships
Slacker has seen some solid growth after its relaunch in February – now, the company wants to add millions of paying subscribers with a carrier partnership. Read more »
Big Hollywood has no business being on Kickstarter, says Hollywood insider
Zach Braff is raising money for his next movie on Kickstarter. That’s wrong, argues writer, producer and director Ken Levine. Read more »
Here comes Dinosaur Train: Roku gets PBS and PBS Kids channels
PBS is landing on the Roku with two dedicated channels, which will bring content from shows like Dinosaur Train, Curious George, Frontline and Nova to the media streamer. Read more »
BitTorrent introduces Bundles to help creators make money with file sharing
BitTorrent wants more artists to give away stuff to file sharers – which is why they just gave those artists an option to also sell stuff to file sharers. Read more »
Big Bird, Caillou and Sonic could be part of YouTube’s subscription slate
YouTube is reportedly close to launching paid channel subscriptions on its site – and we’ve found a number of clues that hint at kids content being part of this initiative. Read more »
Vimeo on demand will exclusively distribute new Kristen Bell movie
Vimeo on demand is getting a new movie starring Kristen Bell as a day-and-date release, with the film premiering online the same day it comes out in theaters. Read more »
Hulu surpassed 4M paying Hulu Plus subscribers, 1B streams in Q1
More than four million people now pay to access Hulu Plus streams, and all of that streaming shows: The site registered more than one billion streams across its free and paid service in Q1. Read more »
You gotta watch this House of Cards spoof for the White House Correspondents’ dinner
Have you been watching House of Cards? Then make sure to catch this spoof, created for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and starring key D.C. insiders. Read more »
MLB starts to stream games live on YouTube… outside of the US and Canada
Watching MLB games live on YouTube is now possible… if you live in Europe: The league is starting to stream two games per day on the video site, but not in key markets. Read more »
After a radical transformation, Blip gets ready to take on cable
Blip used to be just another video hosting site trying to compete with YouTube. These days, it’s looking very different – and it’s getting ready to take on cable TV. Read more »
The future of TV, according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
TV is fundamentally changing from a linear delivery model to a world in which apps compete with each other, and Netflix is spending billions to be part of that future. Read more »
Netflix CEO: password sharing is not a big deal
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings doesn’t really think that many people are sharing their accounts with extended family members. His remarks came in response to an estimate that 10 million people watch Netflix without paying for it. Read more »
The House of Cards effect: Netflix tops $1B in Q1 revenue, near 30M U.S. subscribers
photo: Netflix
Netflix made more than $1 billion in revenue for the first time in its corporate history last quarter. The company also used its Q1 results to announce a new $12 family plan. Read more »
Rhapsody exec: splashy ads and free streaming promotions don’t work
Rhapsody has some advice for its competitors Spotify and Rdio: Don’t invest in splashy ads. Focus on featuring your service instead. Read more »
Next up for Google TV: An NBC app with full, free episodes?
NBC may be ready to rethink its stance towards Google TV, and make its content available for free on the platform through a native app. Read more »
The Atlantic is going to launch a paid content offering soon
photo: Albert Chau
The Atlantic will launch a paid product within the next two or three weeks, a News Corp. is touting paywalls as “courageous,” and ProPublica wants to have paywall-free nonprofit journalism in every city. Read more »
The Young Turks is about to become the first news channel with a billion views on YouTube
If YouTube views were a currency, then The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur would be a billionaire. Here’s how he got to one billion YouTube views with news. Read more »
50 percent of Buzzfeed’s traffic now comes from mobile devices
photo: Albert Chau
The world is ending for traditional media companies, but new players who ignore the rules, and bet on mobile, will prevail, argues Huffington Post Co-Founder and Buzzfeed Chairman Kenneth Lerer. Read more »
Like an MTV you’d actually enjoy: Shuffler.fm launches curated music video channels
ShufflerTV relies on some of the web’s leading voices in music to curate music video channels. The result looks as good as it sounds. Read more »
This is why Apple wants to launch iRadio
People still buy a lot of music downloads, and most of them use iTunes to do so. That’s why Apple is now building its own streaming service. Read more »
Comcast confirms: Yes, we’re encrypting basic cable now
Comcast is getting ready to encrypt its basic cable channels. Consumers affected by the change need to get another box to keep watching. Read more »
ReelSurfer targets media with newest take on video clipping
photo: transp
ReelSurfer set out to build a tool for people who don’t shoot their own videos. Then Reuters started using it. Read more »
Netflix users watched more than four billion hours of video in Q1
photo: Netflix
Netflix streamed more than four billion hours of movies and TV shows to its members in the first quarter of this year. Read more »
YouTube just got support for multiple admins per channel
Teamwork just got easier for YouTube creators: The site now allows up to 50 people to administer a YouTube channel together. Read more »
Viki doubles down on content arbitrage with Asian TV and movie deals
Viki secured a bunch of new content for its global TV platform, including Japanese TV shows that have never been available in other countries. Read more »
Boxee rebrands new device as Cloud DVR, tones down cord cutting rhetoric
Boxee TV is dead, long live Boxee Cloud DVR: Boxee’s recently-launched consumer electronics device has been rebranded, and the company introduced a free service tier. Read more »
Does Dish want to buy Aereo? Broadcasters would love to know
photo: Rani Molla
Dish has reportedly been talking to Aereo – but the satellite provider doesn’t want broadcasters to know what those talks were about. Read more »
Intel inside & out: trademark filings point towards Intel Media plans
Intel registered a trademark for Intel inside and out last week, which seems to be connected to its TV plans – and which turns out to be virtually identical to another mark registered in secrecy last year. Read more »
Four years in the making, Vdio finally opens up to Rdio subscribers in the US and UK
Rdio launched its video service Vdio to the public Tuesday night, offering movies and TV shows for rent and for sale. It’s not a subscription service, but it’s closely tied to Rdio’s music subscriptions. Read more »
Angry Birds, fat pigs and the future of television
Rovio’s Angry Birds Toons may very well be the first-ever mobile video show that reaches an audience of millions – but that doesn’t mean that startups are having it any easier. Read more »
Warner launches streaming service: like Netflix, without the new stuff
Would you pay $10 a month to rewatch Gilligan’s Island? Warner Bros. thinks some people will, and launched a video service to do so. Read more »
Netflix job offers hint at further international expansion: are India, Europe or Korea next?
photo: kcp4911
Netflix won’t expand to another international market until the end of this or early next year, but the company is already looking for help to translate its site – giving us some interesting clues. Read more »
Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken & Co. start streaming on Netflix
Fans of edgy animated fare just got a few more reasons to binge as Netflix has started to add cult classics from Adult Swim and Cartoon Network to its catalog. Read more »
