An Online Answer to the DVR

For $5 a month, a new service called PlayLater lets subscribers copy streaming video as it shows up at 30 sites, including Netflix, Hulu, PBS, ESPN and CNN, so they can watch it later (on Windows only at this time).

[via The New York Times]

Netflix coming to the UK and Spain next year

Good news for Europeans. According to Variety via Gizmodo, US on-demand internet streaming video provider Netflix is preparing to set up shop in Spain and the UK early next year.

The European expansion would come after the 43-country blitz scheduled to take place by the end of the year across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Read more.

Some Netflix customers threaten to quit over price increases

Netflix's announcement Tuesday of plans to raise prices immediately for new users and soon for existing members has social-media outlets teeming with blowback and thousands of customers threatening to quit the movie rental service.

Backlash to the pricing in the form of "Dear Netflix" postings runs rampant across Twitter and Facebook.

The fuss began when the original $9.99 plan for unlimited monthly DVD rentals and streaming was divided into two plans: $7.99 for streaming and an additional $7.99 for DVD rentals, starting Sept. 1 for existing members.

[via USA Today]

Hulu gets social with Facebook integration

Lost Remote reports that TV streaming service Hulu has rolled out Facebook features that turn the site into a social TV experience. And there’s an incentive to connect your Facebook account: you’ll receive a month of Hulu Plus for free.

Once you connect your account, you can see an activity feed on the home page of what your friends are watching, recommending, favoriting and commenting. If you’re not excited about sharing your viewing history with your friends, you can jump into your privacy settings to make an adjustment.

The coolest social feature is Facebook commenting. While watching a clip, when you comment, Hulu will share the clip beginning a bit before the time you commented — with a timestamp — to your Facebook wall. It also allows you to flag the comment as a spoiler.

Read full article

Netflix changing TV viewing habits

Television viewing habits are changing rapidly in North America where people are flocking to video and game streaming services such as Netflix, which is now estimated to account for about a quarter of all US internet traffic. stuff reports.

Netflix has signed up more than 23 million members, who get unlimited access to a wide range of movies and shows streamed to computers and broadband-connected televisions for a flat rate of US$7.99 a month.

Read full article.

Netflix's Internet traffic overtakes Web surfing

According to a study published Tuesday by Sandvine Inc and reported by the AP, Netflix movies and TV shows account for nearly 30 percent of traffic into homes during peak evening hours, compared with less than 17 percent for Web browsing.

The number of Netflix customers is growing quickly, to 23.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada as of the end of March.

Internet service providers are increasingly placing monthly limits on each subscriber's data consumption and charging extra when the limit is surpassed.

Read full article.

Reports suggest studios should be afraid, very afraid (of Netflix)

A couple of new reports this week suggest that Netflix's effect on Hollywood will be an even scarier movie than the moguls thought. USA Today reports.

The balance of power is shifting in the running tug-of-war between studios and Netflix over what movies Netflix is allowed to stream, and what it should pay for them.

... For consumers, the result of the studio-Netflix tussle is likely to be even more movies available for streaming. The question is whether a Netflix with 50 million or even 90 million users will be able to get content sooner, without waiting for movies to cycle through exclusive windows for DVD sales and pay-per-view, damaging the studios' other markets even more.

Read full article.

Netflix to start streaming 'Mad Men'

According to USA Today, Netflix will start streaming the hit TV series Mad Men in a multi-year deal the online movie rental company struck with Lions Gate, the show's producer.

Netflix and Lions Gate Entertainment said late Tuesday the show's first four seasons will be available beginning July 27, with additional seasons added each year after they air on AMC.

Netflix is already streaming the first four seasons of Mad Men in Canada.

Read more.

Amazon Streaming Movie Service Now Available for Prime Subscribers

How much would you pay annually for "free" streaming of over 5,000 movies and TV shows? $79? If that sounds like a fair price to you for all-you-can-eat viewing, Amazon Prime's streaming service can be used from today.

[via Gizmodo]

Reshuffling China's online video-sharing industry amid copyright protection

Insight from Xinhuanet on China's video sharing websites and their removal of foreign unnauthorized foreign TV series following a state wide crackdown.

Many U.S. TV series fans in China have little choice but to watch video clips online because domestic cable channels do not broadcast copyrighted ones. Some even volunteer to upload clips onto video-sharing websites without any charges.

But now Chen can rarely find such unauthorized online videos of foreign TV series.

In November 2010, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) announced a ban on any forms of trading and supplying unauthorized foreign TV series.

Along with the ban, the Ministry of Culture launched a six-month nationwide crackdown on counterfeiting in October to halt the theft of intellectual property rights (IPRS) and promote public awareness in IPRS protection.

In response, China's major video-hosting websites, including Youku.com, Tudou.com and Ku6.com, removed unauthorized foreign TV series videos.

A podcastor, using an online name "Xueselaoxie" on the Nasdaq-listed Youku.com, said some 7,000 unauthorized videos of American TV series he had uploaded were deleted by the website in one night.

To fans of foreign TV series, the ban might be a nightmare. But to the country, it was an important step in fighting IPRS infringement, said Li Yongqiang, assistant to CEO of Beijing Baofeng Inc., a provider of online video-hosting service.

... The ban has resulted in a reshuffle of online video-sharing industry in China, with major domestic websites gearing up to offer copyrighted imports of TV series and films.

Sohu TV offered many copyrighted online videos of American TV series, including Gossip Girl, the Big Bang Theory and Nikita, after signing agreements with Warner Bros.

Youku.com signed agreements with three major South Korean TV stations - MBC, KBS and SBS. It has also purchased rights from Warner Bros. to stream the hit movie "Inception," and charged five yuan (about 75 U.S. cents) for each view.

Additionally, Tudou.com is trying to produce its own films and TV series.

... China now has more than 200 million video website users and the market is growing, said Li Yongqiang. More paid online video programs will emerge as the cost of importing authorized films and TV programs rises.

Read full article.

Netflix rolls out streaming only video subscription for US market

Netflix has raised prices on its DVD-by-mail service. But the company will introduce a new streaming video plan for US customers.

[via The Christian Science Monitor]

FilmOn offers free broadcast TV on your iPad

Interested in watching broadcast television—for free—on your iPad? Just point Safari to FilmOn.com. MacWorld reports.

FilmOn is streaming broadcasts of several network affiliates in the Los Angeles area, including those of NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, in an effort to entice users to purchase subscriptions to their service.

... If you’re wondering how the networks feel about all this, well, they’re not very happy with FilmOn—nor are they excited about ivi TV, which streams live broadcasts from network affiliates in Seattle and New York.

They’re so unhappy, in fact, that they’ve sued both outfits.

Read more.

SideReel Now Available through Google TV

SideReel, the largest independent TV destination on the web with more than 12 million monthly unique users, today released SideReel for Google TV - a version of the SideReel website optimized for viewing through Google TV.

Press release

Movie-rental choices keep streaming in

The Chicago Tribune looks at the many new ways consumers are watching movies.

Today, movie watchers are using video-subscription services, such as Netflix; vending-machine movies, such as Redbox; and on-demand movies from their TV subscriptions. And, increasingly, consumers are watching Hollywood productions on their computers or streaming online movies to their TVs with help from a variety of set-top boxes. Some are even watching movies on the go with hand-held devices and laptops as they commute to work or travel for business and pleasure.

Behind the scenes in the movie industry, a number of players, including movie studios, premium cable channels and movie-delivery companies, are scrambling to create partnerships, carve niches and preserve profits.

Read full article.

Illegal online sports streaming of matches 'increases'

The number of internet streams showing matches illegally has increased, say some of the UK's biggest sporting bodies, reports the BBC.

In most cases, the services are taken down almost as soon as they are put up.

At least 80,000 illegal streams have been removed in two years, according to internet monitoring company NetResult.

The Department of Business says it's not a criminal offence to watch them but you could be sued in a civil court.

Read full article.

Credit Suisse Anticipates Pay TV Decline, Rise of Streaming Services

Credit Suisse has downgraded a number of media company stocks, including those from Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corp. over concerns that cable and satellite--"pay TV"--subscriber numbers will drop as we see a rise in more affordable streaming services from Apple, Google, and Netflix. [iva Ubergizmo]

According to the investment house, as more users ditch their pay TV subscriptions in favor of Web-based offerings, subscription fees to cable and satellite companies will be slashed, prompting those companies to reduce their fees to networks and Hollywood studios.

Read full article.

First ever iPad premiere for Warner’s Nikita

At a secret launch of Nikita last night in London, CW's new action show Danny Wallace appeared and told the assembled journalists that this was the first ever iPad première of a TV show.

Nikita will air in the UK in October.

[via BeehiveCity]

SideReel Tracks TV Shows Online, Wherever They Are

There are a handful of Web sites that are vying to be the one-stop shop for finding programming on the Web. Some, like the three-year-old site SideReel, are trying to get an edge by not only offering links to legitimate sources of shows, like network sites, but also letting users share links to sites where illegal copies are available for instant viewing. Bits reports.

According to Roman Arzhintar, SideReel’s chief executive, SideReel receives nine million unique visitors a month and has been profitable for nearly two years, although he declined to discuss specifics. To date, the start-up has received $1.5 million from angel investors.

SideReel, based in San Francisco, lists around 17,000 shows, or half a million episodes.

Although the majority of the show episodes listed on SideReel are from legitimate sources, it includes lots of pointers to sites with pirated versions.

Read full article.

Weeds Seasons Six - First Episode Online before TV launch date tonight

Showtime is offering a preview of Weeds's first episode of Season Six, "Thwack", on their website before it launches tonight, but it's already available in full on several video sharing sites.

Booming Demand for TV on the Internet in China

Every month, about 300 million people in China are using a computer to watch Chinese TV dramas, Japanese and Korean sitcoms, and even American films and television series like “Twilight” and “Gossip Girl.” The New York Times reports.

Analysts say young people in China are even starting to favor free laptop-viewing over TV sets, in part as a way to make an end run around regulators, who often bar state-run TV networks from broadcasting shows that do not meet the approval of the Communist Party.

It is a momentous shift in viewing habits that has not gone unnoticed by the authorities in Beijing. They are tightening oversight of online video sites and also pushing state-run television networks to form their own Internet TV sites in an effort to retain control over what viewers can watch online.

Read full article.

YouTube Wants To Stream TV Episodes For $1.99 A Pop

According to Business Insider, Google is in talks with TV networks and studios to stream episodes of television shows for a $1.99 a pop on YouTube.

It would be akin to what Apple offers through iTunes, or Amazon offers on its site. The main difference: You can only stream the episodes, not download them.

If YouTube and the networks can work out a deal, it will be interesting to see how consumers react. Why would anyone pay to stream an episode when it was available at the same price as a download from Amazon or iTunes? (Which you can stick on your iPod, for example, or on your laptop to watch on a plane.)

The Best Guides to Watching TV Online

Liz Gannes for NewTeeVee has put together a great list of the best guides for watching TV Online.

AT&T Entertainment Features Online TV Content and Movies

AT&T Thursday announced the launch of AT&T Entertainment, a new Web site that lets you watch thousands of streaming TV shows and movies on your PC. The online content - provided by numerous content providers including ABC and NBC Universal (via an agreement with Hulu), CBS Interactive and dozens more - is available to all consumers at www.entertainment.att.net.

Great for US viewers, again the rest of the world is left out in the cold:

[Read full press release]

ABC Arrives on Hulu

Monday was the official kick-off for the content partnership between Hulu and Disney, with "Grey's Anatomy" coming to the online streaming site. PCWorld reports.

However, Hulu will not be a repository of past episodes letting you catch up on earlier "Grey's" seasons. Instead, Hulu will only carry the five most recently aired episodes of the popular primetime drama from Disney-owned ABC.

... With ABC's arrival, Hulu now has content from all the major U.S. television networks except CBS, which has its own online streaming site, TV.com.

Read full article.

Korean TV Dramas Get Their Own U.S. Hulu-like Site

Next month a site called DramaFever will become the first to offer U.S. watchers a large library of Korean TV drama content in a legal and accessible format. Korean dramas are hugely popular in their home country and the rest of Asia. NewTeeVee reports.

... DramaFever at launch it will have 60 to 70 titles with 20 to 30 episodes each. All content will come with English subtitles and will be geoblocked so it can only be seen in the U.S. and Canada.

Read full article.

Back to sidereel.com - but I did try

How disappointing! I'm in New York and trying to watch the season finale of "House" which aired earlier this week on my computer. But Amazon won't accept my payment, because my address on file is Switzerland? Surely my IP address today is an American one since I'm connecting from my hotel.

Back to sidereel.com and it's not because I didn't try and was willing to pay. Actually it's 10 am. I'm going shopping instead.

Hulu, a Victim of Its Own Success

An interesting article from Wired on how Hulu's success may be hurting them.

... The availability of recent TV shows on Hulu threatens two of the key financial underpinnings of cable TV: DVD sales and carriage fees.

.. Television networks, and the Hollywood studios that make programming for them, are experiencing declining ad sales, declining DVD sales, and rising panic. “We have to find ways to advance the business rather than cannibalize it,” said the distribution chief at Turner — a network that refuses to make shows like The Closer available on Hulu and keeps only a few episodes on its own site.

Read full article .

TF1 VISION: YESTERDAY ON US TV, TODAY ON TFI VISION.

In September 2007, French network TFI1, launched a special section on their website called TFI Vision, which enables French (only) viewers to purchase episodes of US TV series that aired just 24 hours before on American television. And usually at least one year ahead of what would be aired on TF1's national television network. Their tag line: Yesterday on US TV, Today on TF1 Vision.

Not all US TV series are available and not the latest, but some of the most popular TV series are listed: Lost, Dr House, Heroes, The Scott Brothers, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles all available in both streaming or download versions, in v-o (English) with French sub-titles. Price: euro 1.99 ($2.50).

If viewers chose to download the episode, they have 30 days to watch the video for 48 hours.

If viewers chose to watch in streaming, viewing starts as soon as payment is accepted for the next 48 hours.

According to an article in the Nouvel Obs in December 2008, in the year since it's launch, TF1 Vision has been viewed over 1 million times. But still doesn't come close to TorrentFreak's 2 million downloads of the first episodes of Season 4 of Prison Break.

I think TF1 Vision is a great start for allowing European viewers to (legally) watch the latest US TV series. I wish such an offer would be available on Swiss television. But as far as I know, they have no immediate plans.

Related:

-- Fansubbers Are Not Thieves, But Avid Consumers - Another prominent subbing community has closed its doors - and has launched a campaign to show the movie industry that they are not thieves, but avid consumers.

-- Anti-Piracy Action Closes Yet More Subfan Sites - Recent months have seen fresh efforts to silence sites that provide fan-created translations of movies and TV shows for their home countries. The latest targets for shutdown - Israel and France.

-- Subfans - Who are these people, who spend hours translating entire episodes for the benefit of others.

-- Subfans: the tools they use - Keskidi is a new tool for subfans - non US TV fans who translate entire episodes for the benefit of others - as well as anyone else who want their videos to reach an international audience.

For US viewers: The Ultimate Guide To Watching TV Online

TV Crunch has posted a comprehensive list of the third party websites (free and pay-for) that stream TV online.

Not included in the list are the network sites that stream their own shows. You can find that list on a Gizmodo Guide called Internet TV Remote.

Both of the above lists are accessible to US viewers only.

European and Asian viewers watch TV online on video sharing sites because the networks and third party websites are still working out international copyright agreements. The best link-site by far is Sidereel.com.

Can the New TV.com Challenge Hulu?

CNet's TV.com used to be a relatively bland TV listings site with some additional content. Since CBS bought CNet last year, however, TV.com is slowly turning into a full-blown online video destination site that is starting to resemble Hulu. Read Write Web reports.

Today, CBS announced distribution deals with PBS, Sony, Showtime, MGM, and Endemol that will greatly expand TV.com's line-up of shows on the site. Thanks to this, it looks like TV.com might be able to challenge Hulu, though CBS is also clearly emphasizing a different set of features on its service.

In contrast to Hulu, TV.com is putting a lot of emphasis on the social networking features on its site, starting with a chat widget right on the homepage. CBS also puts more emphasis on letting viewers rate shows and makes these ratings a focus of its service.

Showtime posts "United States of Tara" on YouTube

Watch the premiere episode now online on Showtime's YouTube Channel - if you are in the US that is. Here in Switzerland we get a "This video is not available in your country" message.

[via TV Tattle]

CBSSports.com Streaming College Football Online

A heavy Saturday is coming up for CBSSports.com, reports The Washington Post, including streaming the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship between unbeaten Alabama and would-be giant-killer Florida.

AT&T is sponsoring the webcast, which CBS is pitching as "the biggest football game ever broadcast simultaneously on TV, the Internet and mobile."

Sesame Street on Hulu, iTunes and YouTube

Favorite chidlrne's program Sesame Street is taking to the Internet, with episodes hitting iTunes and segments on YouTube and Hulu. Digital Trends reports.

Complete episodes of Sesame Street will be available on Itunes for $1.99 each (with 70 percent of the revenue going to Sesame Workshop), and with online video sides YouTube and Hulu also setting up Sesame Street sections featuring clips and segments.

TV-Video.net - Watch TV Shows Online

TV-Video another good web portal where you can watch episodes from favorite TV shows.

In their own words:

“TV-video.net is an online cost-free video service site for all fans around the world who are interested in TV shows.”

Gizmodo's Quick Links to Free Streaming Shows

Gizmodo's Internet TV remote has the best links to every prime-time show currently streaming online at full length.

Bookmark it and check back often, we'll update it as new shows come out... *Note: Many of these streams will not work outside of the US, but if you're out of the country and need your fix, you know where to go without any help from us.

I was able to watch full (official) episode of Dexter from Switzerland

Great news! I was able to watch full length episodes of both "Dexter" and "Californication" on YouTube from Switzerland, following CBS and Showtime's announcement on Friday to offer full length television shows on Google's video sharing site.

Up until now, episodes available for viewing on a network Website or on Hulu.com were not available to viewers outside of the US, but for some (good) reason, I was able to watch them on YouTube, including commercials. Hopefully this is not an oversight that will be corrected!

There have always been pirated full length episodes on video sharing sites, but these videos I'm pretty sure, are the official ones.

See below screen captures of Showtime's endorsed "Dexter" episode as well as a capture of the “theater view” option.

Time Warner Cable shows customers how to get TV for free

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has been an outspoken critic of the networks' online efforts, arguing that free, ad-supported TV sites such as Hulu undermine the subscription-TV revenues that the industry depends on. LA Times Blog reports.

Recently, however, Time Warner Cable has been urging its customers to use those very sites -- and to watch them on their TV sets, no less. Among other things, the company is offering a quick video tutorial on how to connect a PC or laptop to a TV set.

And if customers can't figure out how to make the connections on their own, Time Warner employees will provide the necessary cables and help with the installation.

... What's behind the latest move? A dispute between the LIN TV group and Time Warner over "retransmission consent," or the fees cable operators pay for the right to carry local stations' broadcasts."

Television on the Internet taking off for real

It's been a long time coming but television on the Internet appears finally to be taking off, opening up a new viewing experience for free and helping to fight online piracy. The Associated Press reports.

One of the newest services, Hulu which was launched a month ago in the United States, is backed by media giant NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The online video-on-demand (VOD) service "will let you watch your favourite programmes anytime for free", Hulu's youthful CEO Jason Kilar told a conference at the giant MIPTV audiovisual entertainment industry trade show this week.

Kilar said the plan was to make Hulu available outside the US. But this will take time as the company would need to negotiate content rights issues for each country.

... Setting aside their rivalries, the networks plan to hit back at the growing challenge posed by hugely successful Internet video-sharing sites such as YouTube, where their programmes are regularly illegally downloaded.

Both Joost and Babelgum were launched last year but industry experts are starting to question what sort of results they and other fledgling web TV services are notching up.

These services have been criticised for not offering enough content and for incomplete TV series, and recently some have started to change track.

Joost is now concentrating on partnering with major studio and TV networks. Babelgum is focusing on independent films, sport, nature and travel, and Vuze is specialising in the sci-fi and animation genres popular with young males.

Tudors viewed as many times online as on TV

For the second year in a row, the season premiere of “The Tudors” was viewed as many times online as it was on television, according to data shared by Shwotime on Tuesday, reports TV Decoder.

"The network estimates that the most recent episode of “The Tudors” was viewed about one million times online, thanks in part to a concerted effort to get people to watch it at no charge.

Showtime spread the episode across the Internet, posting it on YouTube (where it received over 300,000 views) as well as sites like Comcast.com, Yahoo and Sho.com. A similar strategy last year led to about one million views online and on-demand, Showtime has estimated."

Hulu: The Next Step in TV on the Web

Time magazine gives Hulu - out of beta testing and officially launched - a thumbs up review.

"Hulu could do to television what iTunes did to music. That's because Hulu frees TV shows from their networks and instead lets (US viewers) watch legal versions of programs à la carte, whenever they choose — for free on the Web.

Though TV shows have gradually become available on individual network sites over the past few years, the merit of Hulu is that it lets you go to a single, easy-to-use site to watch any episode you want — without having to sift through all the promotional clutter on official TV sites.

The best part, you don't even have to know which network a show airs on. "People don't associate The Biggest Loser with NBC. People identify with shows, not a network," says Hulu's CEO, Jason Kilar.

ITV signs Bebo video deal

ITV is to make its TV shows available viaBebo in a deal that aims to tap into the young internet generation increasingly attracted to social networking websites.

The first ITV show to be made available on Bebo will be US acquisition "Gossip Girl", which airs on ITV2, which started Monday at www.bebo.com/gossipgirl. Not available though to Swiss viewers: "The video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from your current location or country".

[via The Guardian]

Video streaming in China is getting state of the art

Analysts say there are hundreds of video-sharing Web sites in China today, reports Investors Business Daily.

The most popular, like Tudou, can attract 100 million viewers a day. The programs range from full-length TV programs to home-made amateur video clips.

Streaming videos on the Net are one of China's hottest new businesses and officials hesitated to crack down for fear of hurting the economy.

Video streaming in China is getting state of the art.

On Feb. 25, for instance, content distributor ChinaCache said it was introducing flash video streaming services in partnership with Adobe China, a unit of U.S. software maker Adobe Systems.

China's eight top video-sharing firms have received about $190 million from private investors since 2005, according to consulting firm BDA China."

Tudou Ordered to Shut Down?

NewTeeVee reports that China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has ordered leading Chinese video-sharing site Tudou.com to shut down, according to reports from Netease.

The shutdown is reportedly over government concern that Tudou is hosting pornographic and other banned content.

For those who watch US TV series online, Tudou is one of the most prolific sources. It would be devastating for Europeans and Asians if it was shut down. This morning it's still working. According to some sources, the shutdown story is a vicious rumor started by a competitor website.

According to DANWEI's correspondent this is just a shake down for penalty fees, and a shot across the bows of all the video sites to warn them that big brother SARFT is watching.

The accusations of pornographic content are absurd: Tudou is one of the least salacious video hosts out there. Lots of the smaller ones seem to be trying to compete by pushing the boundaries of what's permitted, but Tudou and the other big ones don't have the same sexy, sexy movies. Copyright infringement's a different story, but there again, Tudou is no worse than any of the others.

Final Episode of Dexter Online ahead of Network schedule

The final episode of Dexter has been online for nearly a week. I only realized yesterday that it was posted ahead of the network schedule.

This is the first time a Dexter episode has been aired on YouTube before Showtime TV.

Who leaked it?

Fox: Our Viewers Will Want To Watch TV Online - Someday

Forbes interviews Fox Digital Media President Dan Fawcett on the future of watching full length shows online. He believes in it.

"Fawcett is convinced that viewers will want to watch full episodes of tv shows on their computers. He also thinks hey'll stream them more than they'll download them, and that they'll watch them with ads.

How important do you think repurposed full-length programming is going to be for you online?

I think it's going to be very important. Certainly short-form has played very well on the broadband platform but I think as part of our NBC venture, we're going to have a lot of long-form programming available. We think people will watch that when, where and how they want to, whether it's in the privacy of their bedroom or in their office or on their PC, wherever they may be.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]