You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Well, we’ve been waiting to hear who would wind up purchasing the struggling Hulu, and now we know — nobody! Instead the service will see an infusion of cash totaling $750 million from its current owners. Hulu has actively courted new owners on multiple occasions, and it seemed as if this time a deal was imminent. Both Yahoo and DirecTV were in the running allegedly but, for whatever reason, Fox, NBC and Disney found their offers lacking. It’s unclear right now whether the issue was over asking price or future plans for the service, but the cabal behind Hulu will instead sink more money into the property to try and grow its subscriber base further. This is turning into something of a habit for the uneasy partnership, one that is quickly turning Hulu into the boy who cried wolf. The official press release awaits, after the break.
Amazon is still determined to snag every TV exclusive possible, and it just scored one of its better deals — or at least, one of the more forward-thinking. It now has the sole unlimited subscription streaming rights to the previous seasons of five NBCUniversal shows. The highlight could be Hannibal, which will reach the service later this year; gamers may also like the crossover SyFy series Defiance, which should be ready in early 2014. Those who just can’t wait to stream something will get their fill through exclusives for Covert Affairs, Grimm and Suits, all of which are in the catalog today. Amazon isn’t completely shutting out rivals like Netflix, however: its expanded NBCU deal includes regular deals for Alphas, Eureka, Smash, Warehouse 13 and a collection of children’s shows destined for Kindle FreeTime Unlimited. While we’d prefer that there be as few exclusives as possible, there’s no question that some Prime members will feel better about springing for that $79 yearly fee.
[Thanks, John]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Amazon
Source: Amazon
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.
The original premise of NBC’s show Revolution is that in the near future some unknown worldwide catastrophe devastated all electronic devices, plunging everyone into a blackout. As the plot has progressed however, in limited cases the power is coming back on. That includes a nanotech machine a couple of characters are planning to use to perform emergency surgery — by shoving what appears to be a USB stick into an open wound — and its configuration is enabled thanks to a very familiar looking $35 device. Keen eyed viewers spotted a Raspberry Pi (top center) as it popped on screen a few times, however like our own prime time cameo it flashes by very quickly, the screencap above may be your best look at it.
[Thanks, Gene]
Filed under: Peripherals
Tonight NBC revealed it is bringing back comedy Community for a fifth season. While NBC has been criticized for shifting the premiere date for this last season and dumping showrunner Dan Harmon, Variety suggests its renewal may be related to something apart from the show. The Sony Pictures-produced show could have followed the path of Cougar Town to cable but there’s also new competition for content from sources like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. All are willing to pay for quality original content and would love to snatch up the audience that’s already watching on NBC.
One needs only look at Arrested Development or the Kickstarter for Veronica Mars to see how much hype “saving” a show brings in the digital realm. Another boost for the show is likely to come from reruns on Comedy Central, all of which adds up to a renewal order which at one time seemed unlikely to happen. Finally, NBC has other elements that are certainly in play, like stabilizing a Thursday night lineup with familiar shows as it prepares for the Winter Olympics early next year. When the show comes back it will unfortunately be without Chevy Chase’s Pierce Hawthorne character, so a Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne 2 is probably not on the table. If you’re not familiar with the show’s pursuit of “six seasons and a movie” and wonder what all the hype is about, check after the break for one man’s theory of Community as a “postmodern masterpiece.”
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Alison Brie (Twitter), Joel McHale (Twitter)
According to the Wall Street Journal, Nielsen’s TV ratings are about to get some company, with a system that covers internet watchers. A “Nielsen Digital Program Ratings” pilot program will debut with participation from NBC, Fox, ABC, Univision, Discovery and A&E, tracking the viewership of streaming video they post on their websites. AOL (parent company of Engadget) is also reported to be participating, as the networks compare the data to their internal statistics before the ratings system gets a wider rollout. Of course, even the system they’re testing will only jump so far into the future — while it will track viewing on computers, it’s still leaving out phones and tablets. Networks want to track anywhere content is viewed — one of the issues we’ve been told they have with tech like Aereo or TWC TV — to sell ads against it, we’ll wait for more details to see if they’ll have any success extending the current model to other types of screens.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Wall Street Journal
Second screen experiences connected to TV shows haven’t exactly set the world on fire, but NBC will give it another try with a new game show this fall. The Million Second Quiz is being promoted as a non-stop, twelve day trivia game with an “unprecedented level of interactivity” for viewers. In a move that harkens back to our memories of 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live a few years ago, viewers at home can play along and possibly win a spot on the show. While the competition will go on around the clock, the show airs during prime time. It will broadcast live from an “hourglass-shaped structure” located in Manhattan where the four reigning champs will reside as long as they can stay on top throughout the two week competition. Once the million seconds are up, the four champions will face off for a cash prize of up to $10 million. We’ll need more details before we can decide if this is more Ultimate Ninja Warrior or Oh Sit! / Splash / Bet On Your Baby (these are all real game shows, we promise), but it’s one to keep an eye out for when the all new shows debut.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: The Million Second Quiz (Facebook), Million Seconds (Twitter)
The folks at Bloomberg chatted with two sources said to be involved in some private talks that Twitter is undergoing with Viacom and NBCUniversal about offering their content on the microblogging service. The sources, who won’t named, said that discussions with Viacom concern displaying TV show clips and ads, but the subject of its talks with NBCUniversal weren’t specified.
The talks with NBCUniversal were said to be about content partnership, and so we assume it is also about displaying video clips in conjunction with advertisements. Such partnerships would bolster what the microblogging service has to offer, and will encourage users to hang around the site longer, using it for more purposes and to connect with more modern content.
As Bloomberg points out, Twitter already has partnerships with ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, and the Weather Channel, and its goal is to populate its service with more news and entertainment video content, according to the sources. The revenue that is generated by the video content will be split by the social network and the video clip’s broadcasting company.
Financial breakdown of how that split will take place wasn’t provided, however. It may not take too long to get more details on the alleged pending partnerships, with the sources saying that at least one of the deals could go through by the middle of May. Twitter and Viacom turned down Bloomberg’s request for a comment on the rumor, while NBCUniversal failed to get back to them.
[via Bloomberg]
Twitter reportedly in talks with Viacom and NBC over content partnerships is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Now that Twitter has very tentatively launched Music integration, Bloomberg is reporting its next media target is TV. According to unnamed sources, Twitter is “close” to cutting deals to integrate video clips into the timeline, and sell advertising next to them. As we’ve seen with the new Cards it revealed earlier this month, bringing in more content about what users are discussing is key to its new strategy, and short TV clips fits into that idea perfectly. The report claims the first deal could be struck as soon as next month, with the possibility of other networks following afterward. Also playing into the strategy is its purchase of Bluefin Labs in February. Bluefin’s focus is tracking how much users talk about particular TV shows, and Twitter claimed at the time that it sought to “create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV.” Think that fits?
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Bloomberg
After hosting The Tonight Show for 21 years, Jay Leno will be stepping down from the helm, and current Late Night host Jimmy Fallon will be taking his place at some point during the spring time next year. Leno became the host of The Tonight Show in 1992 after becoming a permanent guest host in 1987 when Johnny Carson held the lead position.
This move has been rumored for a couple weeks now, but NBC finally made it official today. Jimmy Fallon will leave his current post as host of Late Night, and will move to the earlier 11:35 PM time slot for The Tonight Show. As for who will replace Fallon on Late Night, that has yet to still be determined, but speculation and predictions are already flying around.
However, while The Tonight Show has been based in Los Angeles, California for the past 22 years, Jimmy Fallon will remain in New York City, which means The Tonight Show will move to the show’s original home in the Big Apple at 30 Rockefeller Center. It’s expected that Fallon will officially take over the reigns sometime after the 2014 Winter Olympics in order to give Fallon’s new show a strong start.
While Leno started hosting The Tonight Show in 1992, it hasn’t been a consecutive run. Conan O’Brien took over the show in 2009, but after realizing there were disagreements between O’Brien and NBC, the red-haired comedian left the show just a year later, in which Leno was reinstated as The Tonight Show host in 2010.
Image via Flickr
Jimmy Fallon to replace Jay Leno as The Tonight Show host in 2014 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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