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 »
Charter to antenna maker: don’t tell our customers about cord cutting
Charter rejected an ad that tells people how to get over-the-air TV without paying for cable. Maybe cord cutting is a threat, after all? Read more »
Podcast: How Indie Game stayed “indie” and became a hit
We’re triple indie on this podcast as we talk with the indie filmmakers of Indie Game about carving out their indie success. Read more at GigaOM »
Anime video service Crunchyroll reaches 200,000 paying subscribers
Anime site Crunchyroll doubled its paying subscriber base in just a few months. Now it’s looking to offer its members more than just videos. Read more »
Blip to publishers: we’re going to monetize your videos, whether you like it or not
Video site Blip is looking to increase the ad load on the content it’s hosting by making advertising mandatory. The changes are going in effect early next month. Read more »
D.me: Is this the new Delicious?
AVOS, the company that now owns Delicious, is working on a mysterious site that takes data from Delicious to serve up news, videos and products. Read more »
Everyplay wants you to share videos of your mobile game wins
Everyplay instantly records your iPhone gameplay, and makes replay clips available for sharing online. The service promises developers new ways to find an audience for their games. Read more »
M-Go signs up Lionsgate, gets Mad Men, Hunger Games and Twilight
Pay-as-you-go online video service M-Go has inked a deal with Lionsgate that will allow M-Go customers to access episodes of Mad Men and other fare from the studio. Read more »
Little-known Viewster scores big with free movies and TV shows
Watch out, Crackle: Zurich-based VOD startup Viewster is starting to rack up more views than some of its established U.S. competitors. Read more »
Redbox Instant app arrives on Xbox Live
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is getting yet another video service with the launch of a Redbox Instant app. This marks the first time Redbox Instant is available on a game console. Read more »
Hulu Plus rolls out new UI on Apple TV
Hulu’s Apple TV app has been given a major facelift to better highlight new content. The relaunch could set off a revamp of the service across various CE devices. Read more »
Five companies that want to break up your cable bundle
photo: HarshPatel;Photographer
Want to get rid of your big and expensive cable bundle? So does your cable company. And in that quest, it is joined by some unlikely frenemies. Read more »
Leo Laporte’s TWiT takes on YouTube hits with new show
TWiT’s Leo Laporte teamed up with YouTuber Lamarr Wilson for a new show called This Week In YouTube. The show is another sign of how far TWiT has come. Read more »
March Madness: where to watch the 2013 NCAA Tournament live online
March Madness is once again streaming each and every game live online. However, this time around, viewing live streams will require a cable subscription – unless the game airs on CBS. Confused? Then check out our guide. Read more »
Hulu’s content chief Andy Forssell officially takes over as acting CEO
Hulu has a new CEO — for now, anyway: SVP of Content Andy Forssell will take over as acting CEO when Jason Kilar leaves by the end of the month. Read more »
Redbox Instant launches publicly, CEO calls original content talk premature
Redbox Instant is available to all after a closed beta test that netted the company tens of thousands of paying customers. CEO Shawn Strickland told us that his company won’t do original content any time soon. Read more »
Redbox Instant ready to open its doors to the public
Still waiting to try out Redbox Instant? Then better get ready: The service is set to open up to the public as early as Thursday. Read more »
Veronica Mars movie hits $2M Kickstarter goal in 10 hours
Veronica Mars is coming back, thanks to Kickstarter: A crowdsourced fundraising campaign to make a Veronica Mars movie has hit its $2 million goal in just 10 hours. Read more »
Don’t touch that dial: How YouTube is bringing adaptive streaming to mobile, TVs
YouTube switched to adaptive streaming for its desktop player last year, reducing buffering by 20 percent as a result. Now it wants to bring the technology to TVs and mobile devices. Read more »
Twitter music app ready to launch on iOS soon?
Twitter is reportedly getting ready to launch its own social music discovery app on iOS. The app has been built by the team behind the music site We Are Hunted. Read more at GigaOM »
Netflix goes social, turns on Facebook integration for U.S. subscribers
Netflix rolled out its Facebook integration for U.S. subscribers Wednesday, offering them an easy way to see what they friends are watching on the service. Read more »
Vevo’s new live TV channel: it’s all about devices
Vevo’s newest offering may seem a big of a throwback: The on-demand music video platform launched a curated live stream that looks and feels like MTV – but is all about devices. Read more »
Rdio expands global footprint, Spotify reportedly extends free mobile offering
photo: Shutterstock / Smith
Rdio is coming to Austria, Ireland, Italy and four other countries. Spotify, meanwhile, plans to offer free mobile radio around the world. Read more »
Pandora Chairman and CEO to step down, search for successor begins
Pandora’s CEO Joe Kennedy is leaving the company after a fiscal quarter that saw both growing revenue and big losses. Kennedy will stay on until a successor is named. Read more at GigaOM »
NBC’s piracy takedowns skyrocket: Wait, wasn’t file sharing supposed to be dead?
photo: Steenbergs
File sharing is exploding, and the studios are barely keeping up fighting the pirates: That’s the gist of a WSJ story detailing NBC’s anti-piracy work. But is it really that simple? Read more »
"What Mitch did and how he’s able to tell the story through the Netflix model -- I think it’s going to redefine what television can be."
— Actor David Cross on the upcoming 4th season of Arrested Development
Cablevision sues Viacom to break up the bundle — or get a better deal
photo: Nyghtowl
Cablevision has sued Viacom over requirements to carry channels no one watches. The lawsuit could be a serious challenge to the cable bundle. That’s why it will likely be settled out of court. Read more »
Social Studios turns your Facebook feed into a TV show
Does your Facebook news feed deserve its own TV show? Social Studios thinks so – and has teamed up with an actress to make it happen. Read more »
Mobile phones and tablets now make up 8 percent of video viewing
photo: Tom Krazit
Tablet video viewing grew 110 percent in 2012 – but mobile video hours still just account for little more than eight percent of all time spent viewing online video, according to Ooyala. Read more »
Intel TV service already being tested by hundreds of users
Intel has been super-secretive about its TV service until this week, but the service is already been tested in hundreds of homes. Read more »
For House of Cards and Arrested Development, Netflix favors big data over big ratings
Netflix doesn’t release any ratings for its original content – but it’s keeping a very close watch on who is viewing what in order to greenlight and promote shows. Read more »
HBO Go adds AirPlay support, but still no Apple TV app – and definitely no online-only offering
HBO is bringing its HBO Go service to more screens by adding AirPlay support – but it’s not ready to offer an online-only subscription any time soon. Read more »
Sony Entertainment CEO: DVRs and Netflix have made TV better
The rise of long-form TV dramas is often attributed to networks like HBO and Showtime, but Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton believes it’s a direct result of Netflix and digital video recorders. Read more »
Erik Huggers: Intel will launch its own TV service this year
Intel’s TV service is real, and will launch later this year. The service will include live and catch-up TV, but also cable-like bundles. Read more »
Sonos, its new Playbar, and the future of home entertainment: Can the good guys win?
A Sonos speaker – for your television: That’s the idea behind the Playbar, the company’s first soundbar. It’s a big step for a company like Sonos, which is about to get a whole lot more competition. Read more »
Dish’s Charlie Ergen: “I think people are cutting the cord”
Pay TV providers tend to argue that cord cutting doesn’t exist. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen doesn’t agree. Read more »
Microsoft plans to launch its own interactive TV shows before the end of the year
Microsoft’s Los Angeles studios is working on interactive TV content for the Xbox Live platform. First shows are set to launch before the end of the year. Read more »
