For example, The Office recently did a hilarious sendup of what it would be like if the fictional Sabre company tried to have its own stores like Apple. There was a great scene in which Dwight Schrute explains the importance of bloggers to the store's success on launch day.
His awesome rant: "For a tech company, … Read more
What do billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, street artist Mr. Brainwash, and music group Black Eye Peas' front man will.i.am have in common? They all had their lives chronicled for 24 hours in Hulu's original TV show by Morgan Spurlock, "A Day in the Life."
Now, this show--which was only available in the U.S.--will be the first to kick off an international first look deal that will bring the online video service's original programming to a global audience, the company said in a statement.
Partnering with FremantleMedia Enterprises--an international creator and producer for … Read more
An Amazon exec posted to his LinkedIn account that he's currently vice president of original television at Amazon.
Only there is no original TV programming at Amazon--at least not yet.
Fortune magazine spotted the LinkedIn post from Joe Lewis, a new Amazon hire. Lewis is a former production exec at 20th Century Fox, so it's not the like the janitor was making the claim.
Fortune reported that Lewis' title was removed from his LinkedIn page after the magazine called. His title later resurfaced as vice president of production at Amazon Studios.
Amazon did not respond to questions from … Read more
I used to have hundreds of DVDs. They lined an entire bookshelf. I knew I never watched many of them; besides, the future was digital, wasn't it? It was 2006. My iPod Video told me so.
I sold about half my discs to the departed Kim's Video up the street, and then--pressured a bit by my family needs and small apartment--I did the unthinkable: I tossed out the remaining boxes and stuffed the discs in a binder.
It felt like sacrilege for my treasured and somewhat hard-to-find discs--my Canadian version of Cronenberg's "eXistenZ" with a commentary track, my various out-of-print Criterion movies. I gambled that I'd never really play these discs many more times, what with Netflix instant streaming and iTunes movie rentals.
Mostly, I was right. Then came "Kiki's Delivery Service."… Read more
Hulu Plus subscribers can now access the service on the Nintendo Wii videogame console.
The partnership will offer Hulu Plus subscribers more ways to watch their streaming video on their TVs.
That's the knock on Hulu Plus and Amazon right now. Netflix, the No. 1 Web video-rental service, is compatible with many more devices. I should say that's one of the knocks. The big criticism of Hulu Plus is that managers charge the same $8 price for its streaming video but then force advertisements on viewers. But that's for another story.
When it comes to hardware, Hulu … Read more
You might remember that, three years ago, Alec Baldwin rather graced the Super Bowl in an ad for Hulu.
In those heady times before he became subsumed into the alien world of Words With Friends, Baldwin offered that everyone in TV was, in fact, an alien. (I have embedded the evidence below.)
For this year's Super Bowl, it seems that concept is making a comeback, except this time with Will Arnett. Here we see him in front of the same large white doors that separate us from TV world.
Finally, he enters. But what is this all about? Should … Read more
Amazon may be looking to cut into Netflix's action by launching a new video streaming service.
Citing information from industry sources, The New York Post said the new service would expand beyond Amazon's current Instant Video by launching as a standalone, subscription-based business.
Amazon's Instant Video is free with a $79 Amazon Prime subscription, though nonsubscribers can buy or rent individual movies and TV episodes on a per-title basis. In contrast, the new service would borrow a page from Netflix's business model. Amazon is just currently trying to figure out what to charge, one source told … Read more
The Netflix bears are salivating.
When the video-rental company reports earnings later today, Netflix's financial performance is expected to show sluggishness due to higher costs of streaming content and an international expansion. The company's increased dependency on streaming movies over the Internet is supposed to mean slimmer margins than when the business was focused on renting DVDs.
In the immediate future, movies from Disney and Sony Pictures are supposed to disappear next month. Netflix obtained those films via a deal with Starz, the premium cable-TV service, but the contract was not renewed. This will diminish an already slim … Read more
Hulu is beefing up its effort to be an Internet video destination to challenge Netflix with plans to produce its first scripted series next month.
The video-steaming service has ordered 13 episodes of "Battleground," a political comedy about a primary campaign for a Wisconsin Senate seat, that will debut on February 14, Hulu announced today. Hulu will follow that up with 10 new episodes of "A Day in the Life," a documentary series about famous people that returns in March, and a six-part travelogue from Richard Linklater, director of "Dazed and Confused, the company said … Read more
The video-streaming service Hulu reported that revenue rose 60 percent last year and said its subscriber base now numbers 1.5 million.
Impressive, right? Hold on just a second.
As Hulu CEO Jason Kilar put it in a post on Hulu's blog:
We grew the business 60 percent from 2010 to approximately $420 million in revenue. We exceeded our plan despite the soft advertising market (economy) in the second half of 2011.... Hulu Plus now has more than 1.5 million paying subscribers. But let's put that into context. Hulu Plus is a subscription service that charges $7.… Read more
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Christina Milian and the gadgets she loves
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