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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.

“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.

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.

• Early Google TV review.
• AppleInsider review of Apple TV
• More Apple TV reviews.

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.

Going by the mantra “silent, cool and small,” Steve Jobs has reintroduced the AppleTV.

No longer merely a company “hobby,” the device looks to be a strong contender in the race to win broad consumer acceptance of streaming video flowing through widescreen TVs.

The price is $99, down from $299 on the much larger original product. The new AppleTV should be available in four weeks.

Speaking at an Apple press conference, Jobs introduced the second-generation AppleTV with a list of the things consumers sought in an entertainment center black box:

“The No. 1, 2 and 3 thing they want: They want Hollywood movies and TV shows whenever they want them. They don’t want amateur hour. They want everything in HD.

And, Jobs said, they want living room boxes to be “”silent, cool and small.”

The movies and TV shows come as HD rentals only, via iTunes. The debut prices are $4.99 for a film and 99 cents for a recent TV episode.

“They get cheaper as time goes on,” Jobs said.

As expected, Apple’s network TV partners are ABC and Fox. “Not all of the studios wanted to take this step with us,” Jobs said. “Maybe they’ll see the light.” ABC was a gimmie as Jobs holds the cards on the board of Walt Disney Co., which owns the alphabet network.

Netflix users get their Watch Instantly, well, instantly. “This is by far the best implementation of Netflix so far,” the Apple chief said.

Demonstrating the AppleTV’s horizontal navigation (with dropdowns), Jobs showed how to import music, pictures and video from a nearby computer — and the iPad.

But, he said in an apparent dig at Google TV, consumers “don’t want a computer on their TV. They have computers. They go to their widescreen TVs for entertainment. This is a hard one for people to understand in the computer industry. Consumers understand. They get it.”

YouTube, MobileMe, Flicker and Internet radio stations are in the mix as well.

The AppleTV reveal came as the “one more thing …” segment of Apple’s product news conference in San Francisco. The news had been widely expected.

The other products were an upgraded iPod Touch, an iPod Shuffle that returns buttons to the device, a smaller Nano with a touch screen (and no buttons) and a social network-driven update to iTunes.

Google TV debuts in the fall, with Android apps. It will run on cable boxes and Sony HDTVs, along with other entertainment hardware TBA.

The networks previously rejected Apple’s plan to rent the TV programs on iTunes at that price point, but Fox reportedly is now in advanced talks with the computer innovator.

Viewers would be able to rent episodes from News Corp.’s Fox for two days, sources told Bloomberg. They’d be available within 24 hours of first-run broadcasts.

ABC also appears ready to cut a deal, Bloomberg said.

Apple’s Steven Jobs is the major player on the board of Walt Disney Co., which owns the alphabet network. (Jobs, left, is shown with the old AppleTV box.)

There remain sticking points in the iTunes negotiations, the New York Times reports. (Both Bloomberg and the Times quoted anonymous sources close to the talks.)

TV episodes currently sell for $2 to $3 on iTunes. The networks feared that cheap and easily available rentals of their primetime shows would dilute their value for retransmission, and for DVD/Blu-ray. So what changed?

Apple is widely expected to unveil its iTV product on Sept. 7. Speculation has it that the new box would replace the wobbly AppleTV product at a lower price. Reports over the summer said that the simple $99 version iwould be an “iPhone without a screen” — complete with apps and streaming video, some of it in 1080p HD. (The operating system and user interfaces would be similar to those on the iPhone and iPad.)

In early June, Jobs was downbeat on chances for a game-changing set-top box:

“The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everyone a set-top box for free or for $10 a month. That pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation because nobody’s willing to buy (an expensive) set-top box,” he said.

“I’m sure smarter people than us will figure this out,” Jobs said, referring to the marriage of the Web and television.

Google TV debuts early this fall.

The bugs seem mostly ironed out, and you do get a glimpse of home video’s future via its user-friendly menus and features. We’re seeing more high definition movies via the stream, which look pretty good on a big-screen.

The biggest problem, which Netflix has been scrambling to address, is its limited catalog. The hits are in short supply and everything feels, well, used.

Looks like a partial fix is on its way. Netflix just confirmed an online streaming deal with the three Hollywood studios that own the little-known pay TV channel Epix.

That brings Netflix subscribers Epix movies from Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate to Netflix, beginning Sept. 1.

You won’t be able to “watch instantly” — there’s a 90-day window after the films’ debut on premium TV and on-demand subscription services — but the move clearly means a quantum leap in Netflix’s online offerings. (Watch Instantly is three steps down the distribution channel.)

It’s not clear how many recent boxoffice hits will be flowing through the channel. Epix movies of the moment include “Iron Man,” the latest “Star Trek,” “The Cove,” “G.I. Joe” and “Crank” — almost all more than a year old.

Catalog titles include the “Godfather” trilogy, “Blood Simple,” “Star Trek” movies, “Dances With Wolves” and “Last Tango in Paris.” That the cream of the archives, however: Anyone for “976-Horror 2″?

Epix immediately becomes profitable with the deal, studio executives pointed out. Good thing, since its current distribution is approximately squat.

Netflix’s stock picked up even more speed with the news, posting a 7 percent gain on announcement day.

The deal runs for five years and is worth as much as $1 billion, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters said.

Netflix outputs its streaming content to computers, game consoles such as the Xbox 360 and to various consumer electronics devices such as Blu-ray players.

“Adding Epix to our growing library of streaming content, as the exclusive Internet-only distributor of this great content, marks the continued emergence of (Watch Instantly),” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix.

The DVD rental giant recently pacted with Warners for rights to show “Nip/Tuck,” “Veronica Mars” and various catalog TV shows.

Its month-old deal for guy-oriented Relativity Media films (“Robin Hood,” “Get Him to the Greek”) allows for streaming during the “pay TV window.” Netflix said this would mark “the first time that studio quality theatrical feature films will be streamed via subscription by Netflix instead of being broadcast by the traditional pay providers.”

The price of these treasures = $9.99 a month. Fair enough, but you’ll still be looking at ads.

No launch date was announced for Hulu Plus, and the service appears to be in a working beta that rolls out in stages.

Early adopters can get in on the Hulu Plus preview, if and when they’re selected. Another possiblity: Follow Hulu on Twitter and Facebook, and hope you’re picked at random. (Apply and you’ll be asked about your age and related electronics.)

Here’s what’s known about features:

“Current Season Ticket” – The full season of primetime shows from ABC, NBC and Fox. The Hulu Plus promo page lists 33 shows, including “Dancing With the Stars,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Glee,” “The Office,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Happy Town” and “Lost.”

Previous seasons — “Every episode of every season from many of TV’s greatest shows,” including “The X-Files,” “Heroes,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Ally McBeal” and some of the series listed above.

Going mobile — Connections to the service are made via broadband, 3G and wifi.

iThings — iPhones (3GS up), the iPad and iPod Touch (third generation). All via the Apple App Store.

TV devices — Some TVs and Blu-ray players from Samsung, Sony and Vizio.

Game consoles — PlayStation3 and Xbox 360, with PS3 up first and the Xbox sometime in 2011.

HD — “High def” in 720p resolution for HD-native content. That means all top current TV shows.

In a perfect world, all this would be an upgrade to the existing free Hulu, but the media giants who own the shop made it clear in the past year that revenues had to start flowing from viewers’ pockets. Hulu tried to monetize itself solely with advertising revenues, but that didn’t prove rich enough for its owners.

“Hulu Plus is not a replacement for Hulu.com,” Jason Kilar writes on the online video service’s blog. “Hulu Plus is a new, revolutionary ad-supported subscription product that is incremental and complementary to the existing Hulu service.”

He then repeats the corporate mantra that this business model will “work for all three of our customers, and those are our end users, our advertisers, and our content suppliers.”

The new revenue source could attract other networks such as CBS and HBO. Fierce Online Video has an interesting analysis about how Hulu Plus will affect Netflix and cable’s TV Everywhere initiative. Comcast, the force behind the cable online video service, is about to acquire NBC, making things even more interesting. In any case, one winner of this battle royal will be consumers.

“On first blush, Hulu Plus throws an industrial-sized wrench into the plans of the TV Everywhere engine, while at the same time pushing the fortunes of over-the-top delivery and online video to new highs,” Fierce Online Video wrote.

Update: Silicon Alley Insider makes the argument that Hulu Plus is no replacement for cable TV service — assuming someone thought it was.

NewsCorp.’s Chase Carey floated the Hulu paid content concept last fall.

For consumers, Hulu offers this video pitch:

Overall, 85 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online videos, comScore said in its report for the latest month, May.

The DIY site YouTube, of course, is never challenged in total views (where it’s reported as “Google Sites”), despite the fact that its rivals all feature professionally produced content such as TV shows and films.

YouTube outscored closest competitor Hulu 14.6 billion views to 1.2 billion.

Hulu’s total is actually less than the number of views YouTube added since the April report. Hulu had 3.5 percent of overall online videos viewed.

In unique visitors, the top three were Yahoo/Google (144 million), Yahoo (46 million) and Vevo (45.5 million).

Vevo continues to surge, jumping a position on the uniques chart and adding about 10 million views since April.

While YouTube landed at 101 videos played per viewer, Hulu had 27. No mystery: Hulu’s content extends to hourlong dramas, while YouTube videos are short by design.

Here are the top online video destinations by number of views (rounded numbers):

1. Google sites (YouTube): 14.billion/43.1 percent share
2. Hulu: 1.17 billion/3.5
3. Microsoft sites: 642 million videos viewed/1.9 percent share
4. Vevo: 430 million/1.3
5. Viacom Digital 347 million/1.0
6. Yahoo sites: 336 million/1.0
7. CBS Interactive: 333 million/1.0
8. Turner Interactive: 332 million/1.0
9. Fox Interactive: 328.5 million/1.0