Make the move to Screen & Stream
Posted on April 9, 2011
Filed Under Streaming | Leave a Comment
Dear readers: Download Movies 101 is history; welcome Screen & Stream, which combines this blog with its sister DVD review site. Current RSS and email subscribers can keep the content flowing by going to the Screen & Stream Feedburner signup.
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Netflix online service has that remote look
Posted on January 6, 2011
Filed Under Netflix | Leave a Comment
Netflix’s familiar red logo soon will be showing up on remote controls.
The streaming media pioneer said the direct route to its Watch Instantly service will be offered this spring on Blu-ray players made by companies such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba.
Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba also will place the Netflix one-click button on remote controls for some Internet-connected TVs, Netflix said Jan. 4 as the Consumer Electronics Show got under way in Los Vegas.
The agreement gives Netflix a physical presence on gear made by most of the major TV and video player manufacturers.
“No more turning on the TV, going to a home screen and searching for the Netflix icon,” exec Neil Hunt said in a statement. “With the Netflix one-click remote, it’s simply a matter of pushing the Netflix button to (watch streaming content).”
Other partners for the remote are Best Buy’s in-house Dynex brand, Haier and Memorex.
Would-be viewers must be Netflix DVD subscribers (in the U.S.), although the Watch Instantly streaming content is available to them at no extra cost.
Netflix continues to beef up its streaming movie library, but many of the offerings come from the fringe — for example, a string of Cantonese gangster movies.
Netflix has more than 16 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
A recent survey by international bankers Credit Suisse found that 30 percent of young adults who subscribe to Netflix (ages 25-34) have dumped cable and broadcast TV.
Facebook fades in online video rankings
Posted on October 14, 2010
Filed Under comScore ratings | Leave a Comment
Facebook’s turn at No. 2 in the online video rankings lasted but a month, as Yahoo returned to the second slot.
“Google sites” — meaning YouTube — pulled in 144 million unique visitors, slightly down from August’s count, comScore said in its monthly online video rankings.
Yahoo (sites) was good for 54.4 million uniques, followed by Facebook at 52 million. In August, Facebook slipped past Yahoo with a showing of 58.5 million (vs. 54 million), so the September ranking was a result of pullback in Facebook uniques.
Hulu made it back into the Top 10 in September, pulling in 29.9 million uniques to edge Turner Networks for 9th place.
Overall, 175 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content during the month, for an average of 14.4 hours per viewer. That’s more than 5.2 billion viewing sessions in September. Almost 84 percent of the U.S. Net audience watched some online video, comScore said its monthly report.
In minutes per viewer, Hulu totaled 162.6 minutes, second only to Google/YouTube. Hulu outpaced all competitors in number of video ads viewed.
Hulu IPO seeks $300 mil, report says
Posted on October 9, 2010
Filed Under Hulu | Leave a Comment
Hulu reportedly is ramping up for an initial public offering, seeking up to $300 million.
While the IPO rumor was floated earlier this year, a source now tells Reuters that the filing would come this year, with the offering as early as the first quarter. The IPO is “contingent on the renewal of rights to carry shows,” the source says, noting that “some expire in a year.”
Morgan Stanley reportedly would bring the Hulu IPO to market.
Hulu’s backers include Fox (News Corp.), NBC and ABC (Disney). CBS is not currently in the mix and new NBC owner Comcast built its own streaming service (for cable subscribers only).
Hulu’s new premium (paid) service looks like a bust so far, with most of its content already available for free.
Hulu rival Netflix, meanwhile, reached a new deal with Sony Pictures that won’t thrill renters. Selected Sony fare will be subject to a 28-day holding period after the titles’ retail street date — same as with Warner Bros., Universal and Fox.
Hulu says its end of the deal brings more streaming content from Sony to the Watch Instantly service, which needs it. (Hulu recently launched the digital service in Canada.)
Apple TV and Google TV are making their way into the market as well.
Young Netflix subs dumping cable, pay TV
Posted on September 18, 2010
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Cable companies that think they’re on top of the threat from online video should think again.
A survey by international bankers Credit Suisse found that 30 percent of young adults who subscribe to Netflix (ages 25-34) have dumped cable and broadcast TV. The news was worse for cablers in the pay TV arena, where 37 percent jettisoned their service.
Credit Suisse analysts then downgraded the entertainment sector to “underweight,” citing the revolution in online video delivery via broadband.
“Netflix’s low-cost subscription streaming service is our biggest worry (about cable) and could become ‘good enough’ for consumers with moderate income and TV usage to use as a substitute for pay TV,” Credit Suisse’s Spencer Wang wrote in a report on the entertainment industry.
Cablers have been fighting back with initiatives such as the TV Everywhere online service, free to subscribers only.
The online video industry might want to keep that champagne on ice, however. Credit Suisse found that overall, only 17 percent of Netflix subs have substituted the rental giant’s Watch Instantly service for cable TV. (And the survey was of 250 Netflix subscribers, an adequate but relatively small sample.)
“In the near term, we submit that Big Media has a small window of opportunity to control its own destiny,” the analysts said.
And Credit Suisse’s track record on Netflix leaves a good bit to be desired.
In the year that Netflix shares soared 150 percent, the bank had an “underperform” advisory on the stock — just now updated to neutral. The analysts’ target of $90 for Netflix stock had become a joke, with the price now at roughly $142. The new target for Netflix at Credit Suisse is $140 — meaning these guys still think there’s no growth ahead.
Gratuitous disclosure: I’ve owned Netflix stock throughout this surge … heh, heh.