Hasta La Gadget!

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has threatened a bidding war with UK Broadcaster BSkyB for premium movie rights, and he could have the war chest to back it up — the company also hit the million subscriber mark in the UK only seven months after launching there. Netflix UK boasted that it even got there faster than Twitter or Facebook did globally, and chalked up the success to most British households having at least one household streaming device. Meanwhile, Hastings said the US company intends to pry premium Hollywood movie rights away from BSkyB, promising to be “really aggressive in our bidding.” The streaming service will have to overcome more than money, however — the UK’s Competition Commission granted BSkyB a rights extension to protect it from the very likes of Netflix.

Continue reading Netflix nabs a million UK subscribers, promises to ‘invest heavily’ to outbid Sky for movie rights

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Netflix nabs a million UK subscribers, promises to ‘invest heavily’ to outbid Sky for movie rights originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A day after upgrading its cloud music player, Amazon has delivered a native Amazon Instant Video app for iPad (not iPhone or iPod Touch, yet) to the App Store. It has access to streaming Prime Instant Video for subscribers, as well as downloaded or streamed video on-demand. Other key features include access to the Watchlist / queue, and automatic access to any shows subscribed to with a Season Pass the day after they air on TV. The free app is available in the iTunes store right now, however like the sudden appearance of Hulu Plus on Apple TV yesterday we don’t have any official PR to share just yet.

We’ve had a chance to play around with it and we must say, Amazon is really coming after Netflix with this one. The app runs smoothly, and while the video player itself gets just the bare bones iOS treatment, every other part of the app seems polished, including the Watchlist. Add in the fact that you can watch things via subscription and seamlessly jump to fresher / premium content available for purchase or individual rental (with the notable caveat that you can’t actually browse the VOD content, or purchase or buy it from within the app itself) and there’s a serious competition going on.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablet PCs

Amazon Instant Video iPad app now available, iPhone and iPod Touch still left wanting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 08:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the battle between Aereo, a service that brings OTA TV broadcasts to the internet, and the broadcasters that began suing it before it even launched continues, a judge ruled today against a request for a preliminary injunction to shut it down. Reuters reports that the basis for the decision is that while the broadcasters demonstrated they faced “irreparable harm”, Aereo too faced harm from a potential shutdown, and the balance did not tip heavily enough in the broadcasters favor. So, for now the subscription feeds from those microantennas to NYC residents shelling out $12 a month will continue — we’ll wait see if the upstart streamer’s streak continues.

Continue reading Aereo avoids a preliminary injunction, keeps its antenna to internet TV service on the air for now

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Aereo avoids a preliminary injunction, keeps its antenna to internet TV service on the air for now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe’s primary tool for tweaking and organizing photos was always destined to be part of the Creative Cloud offering, but for whatever reason it didn’t make it in time for launch. As of today though, Lightroom 4 is available to download on PC or 64-bit Mac (or both, since you’re allowed multiple installations) as part of a CS6 monthly license. The additional title may not be enough to sway cloud doubters, but even they can’t dispute that the subscription approach now delivers more software than the full-on $2599 shrink-wrapped Master Collection.

Lightroom 4 finally floats into Adobe’s Creative Cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 03:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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