AllThingsD » television shows

Amazon Working on New TV, Movie Service

Sam Schechner and Geoffrey A. Fowler — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:14:05 +0000

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is trying to create a service that gives paying subscribers unlimited access over the Internet to some television shows and movies, as it tries to take on Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and grab a bigger slice of the online TV business.

The Seattle retailer has in recent weeks and months proposed a Web-based subscription service to several major media companies, including General Electric Co.’s (GE) NBC Universal, Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and Viacom Inc. (VIA), among others, according to people with knowledge of the proposal.

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Dreaming of a Blu Christmas

Yukari Iwatani Kane and Miguel Bustillo — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:00:32 +0000

Blu-ray players, particularly those that can exploit Internet video services, are a hot item this shopping season.

Just 3½ years after Samsung Electronics Co. introduced the first Blu-ray player for $999, prices have dropped to as low as $80, making them an irresistible item for many consumers this year. Shoppers can now find dozens of brand-name Blu-ray players by the likes of Samsung, Sony Corp. (SNE) and Panasonic Co. (PC) in the $130 range at large retailers, with some available for $99 or less in promotions.

But shoppers are also flocking to models that cost a bit more, starting around $150, for their ability to stream content from the Internet, including movies, television shows and music from services like Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Google Inc.’s (GOOG) YouTube and Pandora Media Inc.

Sales of both basic and new-wave Blu-ray players were up 53 percent during the week of Black Friday, according to market-research company NPD Group Inc., which obtains point-of-sale data from undisclosed electronics sellers, excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)

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CES: Netflix on the Hunt

Nick Wingfield — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:01:04 +0000

Reed Hastings is prowling CES for deals. Already, in the past year, the CEO of DVD rental service Netflix Inc. has cut at least a half-dozen partnerships with consumer electronics makers to make a Netflix service that streams movies and television shows over the Internet watchable on television sets via game consoles, digital video recorders and other gadgets.

This week at CES, Netflix announced Korea’s LG Electronics will let viewers tune into the Netflix service through an upcoming line of HDTVs. A Netflix deal also announced this week with another television maker, Vizio, could be even more interesting because some of those sets will be able to get onto the Internet wirelessly, a technology that will make it much easier to get online than sets with only wired Internet connections.

“I think it will double or triple the percentage of people who have those devices and hook them up to the Internet,” Hastings said, over a cup of gelato at a café in the Venetian hotel.

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