Netflix

NEW YORK -- A group of television broadcasters this morning tried to show a federal court that Aereo, the fledgling Internet-video service, is much more like Netflix and Hulu than an antenna-rental service -- and that it therefore has to pay to use their programs.

Aereo maintains that the company's business model immunizes it from paying for programming the way Netflix does. The broadcasters say this is nonsense, and this morning asked the District Court for the Southern District of New York for a preliminary injunction that would require Aereo to cease operations.

To grant that, the court must … Read more

Retail giant Amazon continues to angle for a piece of Netflix's market.

Amazon and Microsoft introduced an app for the Xbox 360 console today that enables Xbox Live Gold subscribers to search for and play movies via Amazon's Instant Video service with a wave of their hand or the sound of their voice.

The new Amazon Instant Video app taps into the console's Kinect voice and gesture controls. It also offers access to Prime Instant Video, a service with more than 17,000 streaming movies and TV episodes available to Amazon Prime members at no additional charge, … Read more

BOSTON -- Is Netflix a friend or foe to the traditional cable TV companies? Cox Communications CEO Patrick Esser says it's a "frenemy."

There's no question that Netflix and other over-the-top Internet-based video services have shaken things up for traditional TV distributors and content owners. But is Netflix destroying the cable industry's business model?

Cox's Esser acknowledged today during a panel discussion here at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's Cable Show that there are times when Netflix may compete for an audience with cable TV providers. But as a broadband provider, he … Read more

Thanks to a new agreement with Paramount Pictures, subscribers of Amazon's Prime service will now get access to "hundreds" of films, including "Mission: Impossible 3," "Braveheart" and "Mean Girls."

Sure, these are catalog titles that are long in the tooth and many of them have been in Netflix's library for some time. But the point is that Amazon continues to close the gap in regards to the amount and quality of films offered by Netflix, the top video-rental service on the Web.

Amazon Prime is a membership program that costs $… Read more

DVDs or on-demand movies? Some pundits would have you believe it's one or the other, but you can walk the line and enjoy both. All you need is a Blu-ray player that has apps.

Like this one: While supplies last, Quick Ship Electronics has the refurbished Sony BDP-BX58 Blu-ray player for $64.99 shipped. It's without question the most loaded set-top box I've seen at this price.

How loaded? Well, it's a Blu-ray player for starters. It supports regular and 3D discs, the latter kind of fun if you know where to score 3D movies to watch at home.… Read more

This is an update of a deal I posted last year.

Google TV: doomed product or stealth Apple TV/Roku competitor? Probably the former, given that the set-top box never really caught on, even after Logitech slashed the price from $299 to $99.

And now it's even less. Newegg has the refurbished Logitech Revue With Google TV for $73.99 shipped. That's the lowest price I've seen on this Internet-meets-TV appliance. Doomed? Maybe. Deal? Definitely!

In case you're not familiar with the Revue, it goes above and beyond Apple TV- and Roku-style media streaming by offering … Read more

Netflix began rolling out a new fandangled video player for PCs today. Besides beefing up the playback with added options, information, and video accessibility, the video service also redesigned the control bar to be more user-friendly.

There are a handful of notable new features to the video playback. First, the control bar has different options that include access to subtitles, previews of the next episode, and previews to the whole season (if users are watching a TV show). If users click on the previews to the whole season, a box will pop-up that lets them watch previews from within the … Read more

A Netflix executive said today the company has taken its brand hit for pricing changes last year, but a third of new subscribers are former customers who are rejoining the service.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology Media and Telecom conference, Netflix CFO David Wells talked about churn, customer satisfaction, and the overall vibe around the company's brand. Wells sounded like a person who thinks the worst is over. Netflix showed improvement in the first quarter, but spooked investors with talk about competition.

Netflix is a few months shy of the first anniversary of its price increases, which … Read more

TiVo's been on a roll with keeping its promises lately (though I probably just jinxed it by saying that). First, it updated large sections of the HD interface in January, and then it actually started rolling out Comcast Xfinity On Demand support, and now comes a software update with shiny new apps for Netflix and YouTube.

Well, new to TiVo users anyway; they're very similar to the apps you'll find on other streaming-media devices.

Each one takes several seconds to launch and connect. However, they're no worse than the previous versions, and you get much more … Read more