Freesat is launching a revamped TV guide to pull together content from your satellite dish and the Internet.
Continue reading Freesat launches ‘Free Time’ TV Guide to help you waste yours
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Freesat launches ‘Free Time’ TV Guide to help you waste yours originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Freesat has been around in the UK for a long time and offers free access to satellite TV programming to users who purchase set-top boxes compatible with the service. Freesat has announced a new partnership with Netflix that will make viewers of its service very happy indeed. While viewers will be glad to get access to all the programs on Netflix, the partnership is certain to put pressure on BSkyB.
BSkyB believes that Netflix is already a significant threat to its own offerings. The new Freesat box will allow more than streaming Netflix programming. Buyers of the new box will also be able to access other new on-demand services allowing them to rent films and TV programs via streaming services.
One interesting feature that the new Freesat box will offer is on-demand downloads allowing viewers to go backwards through program listings to watch shows up to eight days after they air. That sounds like a very interesting feature; I wish my set-top box could do that. In the UK Virgin Media and YouView already offer similar services. However, Freesat will be the only satellite TV company to offer this feature.
Freesat launched in 2008 allowing homes equipped with satellite dishes to view free to air television programs. The company also offers services to homes that use aerial antennas. Freesat has sold 2.6 million set-top boxes since it launched. I’m sure with the new features of its coming set-top box they will sell many more.
[via Telegraph]
Freesat and Netflix partnership puts pressure on BSkyB is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Netflix making good on those investment promises for its UK viewers, with the streaming service set to be included in a new set-top box coming tomorrow. According to The Telegraph, the new device will link straight into Netflix services. Freesat‘s satellite TV offering launched back in 2008, with both BBC and ITV behind the project, while the new set-top box is rumored to add on-demand downloads and the ability to view programs up to eight days since they first air — catching up to similar services from BT, Virgin and Sky. We’re likely to hear more tomorrow, but Freesat’s hoping it will be enough to make Brits reconsider those wallet-thumping Sky subscriptions.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Netflix coming to future Freesat satellite TV boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
I think that a bunch of people here in the United States and in other countries that would gladly cancel the cable subscription if they could get HBO Go programming as a separate subscription. However, in the US and everywhere else HBO only allows access to its online streaming HBO Go service if you have a qualifying cable subscription. HBO is reportedly set to change that for some viewers.
Nordic fans of HBO shows such as Game of Thrones will be able to subscribe to HBO Go without having to pay for a subscription on their cable network or satellite provider. The move by HBO is seen as an attempt to go head-to-head with Netflix and will certainly raise the hopes of fans in the US that a similar deal may be offered. The official announcement came from a press conference yesterday held in Stockholm where HBO Nordic AB announced that the streaming subscription offer will launch in the middle of October.
HBO will launch a website called HBONordic.com and will offer online subscriptions for under €10 per month. The service will also be available as an add-on to basic pay-TV subscriptions in the region. Sadly, and HBO spokesperson said that the launch in the Nordic region doesn’t reflect a change in company policy and any of its current markets.
That means just because the Nordic region can get HBO Go with no cable subscription doesn’t mean fans in other places will be able to. Honestly, I’ve had very bad luck streaming anything from HBO Go. The streaming quality is significantly worse than Netflix in my home to the point that HBO Go is simply unwatchable. The HBO Nordic AB service will offer subtitled versions of the same programs available in the US. It will also feature content from rival networks in the US such as Showtime and Starz, which is very odd.
[via Variety]
Nordic viewers can get HBO Go with no TV subscription is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
While in the US, requests for an HBO Go subscription option that brings the channel’s programming without being tethered to a cable or satellite-TV package go unheeded, HBO revealed today that its Scandinavian offering will do just that. While the HBO Nordic joint venture between HBO and Parsifal International will be available over “local distribution partners,” it is also available strictly as an over-the-top service for VOD and subscription access to premium content for less than €10 when it launches in October. It brings all the HBO current and catalog content you’d expect (subtitled for the local markets in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) and it’s also tossing in content from other providers, like the popular Canadian show Continuum. CEO Hervé Payan says it will be available on “any” internet connected device, and says the decision to go over the top is because its target group of viewer have changed their consumption to multiple screens.
Netflix revealed its own plans to expand to the region this fall on the same day HBO Nordic was originally announced, and CEO Reed Hastings welcomed the competition with a message on Facebook asking when HBO would bring the service to the USA, and joking that it expected the first match-up to be in Albania. In case you forgot, that last dig was a reference to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes 2010 statement comparing Netflix to the possibility of the Albanian army taking over the world. The battle is on this fall, we’ll see if it’s just a dry run for other regions soon.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
HBO Nordic to offer internet streaming subscriptions, no cable or satellite service required originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Netflix has offered what it calls its People Search feature on the PS3 for a while. Anyone that used Netflix on the PS3 and has conducted a search for a movie has used the function whether you knew it or not. The way the search function works is as you type in letters, content related to those letters pops up on your screen. People Search is now available for Xbox 360 Netflix users as well.
If you start typing any letters, you will be greeted with a bunch of movies that have those letters in the title as well as the names of actors and directors. In the instance of searching for “nic” you would get people results for Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, and others. If you’re looking for movies that have those specific actors in them, all you need to do is click their name to drill in and see their films.
Once you click their name, more results featuring those actors will be offered on the page. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of People Search on the PS3 because I think it returns too many results that have nothing to do with what I’m looking for. I’d rather see search results only return movie titles that start with the letters I enter rather than movie titles with those letters in the middle or people’s names – or at least give you the option to toggle between title and people modes.
Netflix is one of the most popular and widely used video streaming platforms out there. People can get access to Netflix using all sorts of hardware devices from smart TVs to video game consoles. Netflix is currently available on both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. PS3 users have been able to conduct a people search for a while now.
Netflix has announced that the People Search feature is now available for the Netflix app on the Xbox 360. Apparently, People Search landed with the update that brought the Just for Kids section to the Xbox 360 and Netflix is now shining the limelight on the feature. Netflix says that the feature is available when entering text into the search box using either a controller or Kinect.
The search will begin offering content related to the text you enter including TV shows, movies, and actors or directors. I typically find this feature on the PS3 to be of very limited use. You end up getting search returns having nothing to do with the text you type in my experience. Netflix uses an example of users typing “nic” into the search field.
That example, and the screenshot above, shows how random the search feature is. You end up with returns for Anna Nicole Smith, any movie with the letters “NIC” in the title, and returns for actors such as Nicholas Cage, Nicole Kidman, and Jack Nicholson. If you happen to be looking for a film with Nicholas Cage, you can click his name and movies on the service with Cage will be offered. I wish you could turn some of these features on and off in search. When I run a search I’m looking for a specific title and it would be nice if only films that start with the letters I type in showed up. Am I the only one who feels that way?
Netflix for Xbox 360 gets People Search is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Netflix will be expanding its streaming offerings a bit next year, thanks to a content deal struck with the Weinstein Company’s Radius-TWC distribution label. The multi-year deal will be bringing films like the Sundance “sensation” The Bachelorette and the Tobey Maguire / Elizabeth Banks movie The Details to the service, along with Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn’s followup to Drive. The fruits of the deal will hit Netflix’s watch instantly early 2013. More information, meanwhile, can be found in the press release after the break.
Netflix inks deal with Weinstein Co.-owned Radius-TWC, films coming to watch instantly next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Beloved UK supermarket Sainsbury’s is making a big push into digital media, after snapping up e-book retailer Anobii and music company Global Media Vault, it’s now partnering with Rovi for a digital video service. Launching later in the year, it’ll offer video-on-demand and downloadable copies of “major” film and TV titles, available the same time the discs are available in store. It’ll initially be limited to computers, before rolling out to Smart TVs, connected Blu-Ray players, smartphones and consoles. The only question we have is if we’ll be able to collect Nectar Points on our purchases — if so, we’re sold.
Continue reading Sainsbury’s pairs up with Rovi for video service, stays ahead of the techie curve
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet
Sainsbury’s pairs up with Rovi for video service, stays ahead of the techie curve originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I barely have the patience to download a movie from a legal source like the Playstation Store, let alone torrent it. I cannot be the only one. More »
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