Negotiations between Starz and Netflix to renew the companies’ partnership yesterday collapsed, causing Netflix’s share price to drop 11 percent. The existing contract between the pay-TV operator and video distributor ends February 28, 2012. READ MORE
Amazon has expanded it bank of on-demand videos to 100,000. Only about 10 percent of those videos are restricted to Prime subscribers; the rest are available at rates of $0.99 for a television show and $3.99 for movies. READ MORE
If you’ve ever even considered watching Internet content on your television, you’ve probably heard of Boxee. Using either a “Boxee Box” purchased from the company, or built from a spare computer and free software, Boxee lets users watch online video of all types, and has partnerships with providers such as Netflix, Pandora, and Major League Baseball. READ MORE
Hollywood entertainment sales declined over the last quarter, according to a report by Digital Entertainment Group. Sales of DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and other packaged goods declined by 16.3 percent. Digital rentals showed meager growth, 0.29 percent. The only significant positive growth was seen in the area of DVD-by-mail and video-on-demand services, which grew by 24 percent. READ MORE
Personal publishing website Scribd has launched a digital newsstand, called Float, that allows users to access a variety of online news sites at the same place without having to sign up for each one individually. READ MORE
Movie buffs are about to have another option to choose from for online video streaming and renting. Walmart announced Tuesday that it will join the ranks of Netfix and Amazon by offering its own online streaming and rental service using VUDU, a video service the company purchased last year. READ MORE
Netflix customers’ dissatisfaction with the company’s recent price hikes is becoming all the more apparent with its forecast earnings and revenue for the third quarter. Netflix announced that its customer deflections and cancellations would take away from its subscriber count, and it would close the third quarter with only a slightly higher number than the previous quarter. READ MORE
Hulu, the online video service that streams popular TV shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox, is reportedly shopping around for potential bidders, according to Dan Rayburn, an analyst with Frost and Sullivan. Rayburn says Hulu and its owners have been meeting with suitors from Yahoo, Google, and Apple, and are seeking as much as $2 billion. While none of these meetings have been independently confirmed, most of the rumors say Apple will be the company to purchase Hulu. The belief is that acquiring Hulu would bolster Apple’s iTunes Store and help it compete with Netflix’s subscription streaming service with one of its own. “Content is king,” says James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research. “People spend four to five hours a day watching TV. If you get them to your platform, it immediately becomes relevant.” Hulu currently streams TV episodes and movies on many devices, including the Roku, Xbox 360, iPad, and iPhone through its monthly subscription service Hulu Plus. An alliance with Apple might mean pulling Hulu off other devices, but Rayburn asks, “then why spend $2 billion to get it?” Hulu says it will have one million Hulu Plus subscribers by year’s end. Read more from USA Today.
LinkedIn is delving into the “future of job applications” with their new button, “Apply With LinkedIn.” This feature is embeddable, allowing employers to feature the button for socially-savvy potential employees to submit their LinkedIn profile in lieu of a traditional resume and cover letter. With redundant information available on LinkedIn, the social media company is directing their services employers looking to eschew the traditional resume. READ MORE
Customers are up in arms! Or at least, media outlets are up in arms over Netflix’s announced split of its streaming service and by-mail disk service into two separate subscriptions starting at $7.99 a month each. For users who currently get one disk at a time plus streaming, that translates to a near-60 percent price hike, from $9.99 to $15.98 per month. READ MORE
