Netflix continues its competition with HBO by going into the stand-up comedy space. Altogether, the company may launch up to 16 original shows next year. Read more »
Soo Meta redefines video storytelling by turning Storify-like content curation into great-looking video slideshows. The platform even allows producers to add polls and quizzes to their videos. Read more »
The Internet Archive recently launched an ambitious project to collect and index all broadcasts since the start of television. This week it got a major boost. Read more »
Pay TV providers in the US lost subscribers for the first time ever over the 12 months ending in March. Especially alarming is the slowing growth of lower-priced offers. Read more »
When soap operas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” moved online, it wasn’t clear how fans would watch them. It turns out that most viewers are binge-watching — so the soaps’ production company is cutting back on the number of new episodes each week. Read more »
Neal Edelstein, producer of hit movies like The Ring and Mulholland Drive, has a new film project: A film delivered in chunks directly through an iOS app. Read more »
Aereo announced Tuesday that it will launch in Atlanta in June. It’s already available in the New York City area, and will launch in Boston on Wednesday. The company also simplified its pricing plans, eliminating daily and yearly options. Read more »
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 »
Jane Austen scholars know “Sanditon” as a posthumously-published unfinished novel, but for Lizzie Bennet Diaries fans, it’s the springboard for a new bridge series that promises unprecedented audience interactivity. Read more »
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 »
YouTube’s long-rumored paid channels are live: The Google-owned service started its new subscription offering with select partners Thursday. Read more »
The chairman of Dish Networks toned down some of his recent rhetoric against broadcasters on today’s earnings call, and said he is in favor of a subscriber-advertising model for TV. Read more »
News Corp COO Chase Carey spoke about Fox’s digital strategy in an earnings call Wednesday afternoon. The company saw strong growth in home video, thanks to digital downloads. Carey also acknowledged that Hulu will have to adapt in coming years to compete with Netflix. Read more »
Zach Braff is raising money for his next movie on Kickstarter. That’s wrong, argues writer, producer and director Ken Levine. Read more »
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 »
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 »
Aereo, which sells $8 a month subscriptions to watch TV on mobile devices, has responded to lawsuits from broadcasters by filing an unorthodox suit of its own this week. The suit may be for PR purposes more than legal ones. Read more »
The New York Times is launching a series of short, web-only documentaries with nonprofit Retro Report. The weekly 10- to 15-minute documentaries will run on the NYT’s baby boomer blog and will examine events of the past. Read more »
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 »
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt is watching the Aereo legal battle with interest. If the upstart prevails, Britt may try a similar tactic himself. Read more at GigaOM »
Traditional media brands are cranking out video content in the hopes of persuading marketers to shift ad budgets from TV to online offerings. But can companies like Conde Nast and the Wall Street journal deliver the necessary quality and audience size? Read more »
What happens when friends and former collaborators get together for one last big hurrah? That’s the story documented by “The Exquisite Corpse Project,” which reunites one of web video’s early comedy troupes for a final film project. Read more »
Nielsen is rolling out a pilot product that lets TV networks track viewing of shows on their websites. The tool doesn’t yet account for viewing on mobile devices, and the pilot doesn’t include viewing on sites like Hulu and YouTube. Read more »
Two years after ABC canceled them, soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children are coming back to life online, with four new 30-minute episodes per week available on Hulu and iTunes. But soap fans who are not used to online viewing may not tune in. Read more »
The Weather Company continues to expand beyond its core programming with new web series devoted to adventure and human interest. The new content comes as the company deepens its content and advertising strategies. Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Aereo, a service that lets you watch live TV on your phone, is going live in Boston on May 15. Read more »
The New York Times is no longer restricting non-subscribers’ access to its video content. The move, which comes as the Times tightens other parts of its paywall, is part of the paper’s plans to expand its brand in the video space. Read more »
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 »
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 »
It’s now common practice for canceled shows to find their way to fans via digital means, but there’s a big difference between uploading unaired episodes and truly coming back to life. Read more »
YouTube notched a major victory in its long-running copyright suit with Google. A New York judge emphatically rejected Viacom’s theory that YouTube had “red flag” knowledge that made it liable for content uploaded by its users. Read more »
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 »
Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia wants to disrupt TV pricing again, this time by rolling out movie and news packages at a fraction of the price of traditional ones. News, he said, might even be free. Read more »
Fox, PBS and other broadcasters filed for a New York appeals court to revisit a crucial ruling that permitted start-up Aereo to beam their signals. The appeal raises the stakes further in a battle for the future of TV. Read more »
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 »
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 »
