Virgin Media is a pay television provider in the UK and it and Netflix have announced an industry first. Netflix is now being offered to Virgin Media subscribers marking the first time that a Web-delivered product has been integrated by a major pay-TV provider. Virgin Media plans to begin testing Netflix with 40,000 its customers […]
In an unusual move for a pay-TV operator, Virgin Media is going to enable Netflix on its TiVo DVRs in the UK. Here in the US cable company-provided TiVos are missing the app and have blamed its absence on Netflix’s content agreements with the studios. Virgin Media’s claim that its the first pay-TV operator to offer TiVo doesn’t seem quite right though, since Google Fiber TV has included Netflix and YouTube (which VM wedged into TV guide listings earlier this year) alongside regular TV since it launched, and recently added Vudu to the mix. Either way, we expect subscribers will be happy to see the option when it pops up for all later this year, a trial starting this week is limited to 40,000 households. The two will still need separate accounts and billing, at least for now, and users can create a new account within the app itself. According to the press release, this rollout comes alongside updates that increase energy efficiency while improving WishLists and recommendations — let us know if you’re seeing any changes for the better.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Virgin Media
GetGlue is continuously massaging its socially connected app for TV watchers, and the latest update reflects some of the ways TV viewership is changing. Like Foursquare’s recent changes, after an initial focus on check-ins and sharing, the new updates are all about helping users figure out what they’re doing / watching next. There’s a redesigned guide (again) in v5.0, now offering a personalized view at not only what’s on right now via traditional broadcast networks, but also video on-demand and internet services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, HBO Go and more than a dozen others. With the rise of on demand viewing from a number of sources, it will be interesting to see if GetGlue can fill in some of those viewership statistics companies like Netflix have kept private.
There’s also a new “Search & Discover” feature to find programs with browsing by genre or curated lists from GetGlue staff. Reworked show pages feature more social tie-ins, and the app also lets users directly add images, videos or news articles to their posts for some IntoNow-style meme creation and spreading. Finally, DirecTV customers can connect the app to their satellite boxes and change the channel directly from GetGlue’s guide. The new app is rolling out today, let us know if its social networking focus is helping you finding new shows to watch or if it’s just another source of oversharing on Twitter and Facebook.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
Source: iTunes
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Filed under: Misc
Netflix has been making some big moves lately, outgrowing its days as a virtual Blockbuster (remember Blockbuster?) to offer some seriously
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It’s funny. Advertising for House of Cards was plastered on every billboard and bus and subway station. Kevin Spacey would stare you down from Abraham Lincoln’s seat anywhere you turned. Arrested Development was hyped as only resurrecting the most loved TV show in the past 10 years could be. How many clips and trailers and teasers did we watch? Even Lillyhammer got buzz for being the first Netflix TV show. Orange Is the New Black? As quiet a release as Netflix has ever had. Which was unfortunate, because it’s the best TV show on Netflix. And very probably the best new TV show this year.
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Over the last couple of years we’ve gradually seen the competition for original Web streaming content grow. Netflix and its creations are a prime example, it backed House of Cards which turned out to be a major hit, bagging 14 Emmy nominations. Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black is doing well too. Amazon is also creating original content, it recently released a handful of pilots and allowed users to vote which of them they would want to be turned into a series. Hulu, another online video streaming service, announced today that it has teamed up Lionsgate Television to produce a new 10 episode series called Deadbeat.
Lionsgate Television is the studio behind hits such as Nurse Jackie and Mad Men, it plans to distribute the series internationally once it releases. The series is a comedy about a medium who helps ghosts in New York, it is scheduled for Hulu’s 2014 lineup. Deadbeat has been created by Cody Heller and Brett Konner of The Inbetweeners fame. The director’s chair will be occupied by Troy Miller, known for his work on Flight of the Conchords and Arrested Development, which Netflix picked up for a fourth season. Deadbeat is expected to go in production this fall, it will become available on Hulu and Hulu Plus in the U.S. next year.
Hulu And Lionsgate Team Up To Produce A New Original Series original content from Ubergizmo. 
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With the oncoming Arrested Development movie – yes, for real, for the thousandth time – appearing sooner than later, an interview with Rolling Stone had creator Mitch Hurwitz speaking up about Season 5 coming soon after. Though he’s still not sure when the movie will be appearing, he is working on it. He also suggests […]
After this morning’s let down with Google hauling back Chromecast’s most awesome feature
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Bad news, Bond fans. In just over a week’s time, you’re going to have find a new spy friend on Netflix. On September 2, 17 of the spy films will disappear from the site’s streaming video library. No more Goldfinger. No more GoldenEye. No more a lot of things.
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