Back in June Hulu announced Hulu Plus, a $10 a month broadband video subscription service that is supposed to allow users to access entire back catalogs of TV shows above and beyond what’s available on free Hulu, albeit still with commercials. In August, a scathing study showed that the service really wasn’t worth much with 88% of the content already available for free via normal Hulu.

After significant criticism, Hulu is now considering reducing Hulu Plus to $5 a month according to Peter Kafka at AllThingsD:

Hulu is considering cutting the price of Hulu Plus, the subscription service it began testing in June, sources tell me. I’m told the video site is talking about slashing its $9.95 per-month fee in half, to $4.95… a price cut would indicate that consumers haven’t bought in to the pitch. That shouldn’t be a shock, considering the other video options that consumers have, and the limits that Hulu’s content providers have placed on the service.

As we noted earlier this week, Hulu’s made it very clear they don’t want to truly disrupt and reach their full Internet video potential for fear of upsetting their broadcast owners and that’s before they become part of an even larger Comcast media empire. Like other recent decisions, charging and paywalling first and considering whether you’re offering real value later falls right in line with typical broadcast/cable thinking.

It’s not clear if $5 a month would be any more compelling, though if you act now, Hulu will buckle to the most ridiculous demands of broadcasters at no additional cost.

Link to the original article…

As part of their franchise agreement with New York City, Verizon was required to deploy FiOS services to every home in New York City by 2014 though the agreement allows Verizon lawyers to wiggle over, under and around those obligations should Verizon not see the kind of service uptake they’d like. According to Verizon, they’ve now passed about 1.8 million homes and businesses, or 58% of the roughly 3.1 million households in New York City.

Verizon says they’re ahead of their agreement to pass 54% of NYC premises by the end of this year. Of course while Verizon is moving forward with FiOS deployment in several cities where they’ve signed franchise agreements, they’ve frozen overall FiOS expansion elsewhere.

Link to the original article…

When I first wrote about Sym-Bionic Titan in March 2009 [ article here ] I knew that Genndy Tartakovsky wouldn’t disappoint.

Cartoon Network is bringing animator/director Genndy Tartakovsky back to prime-time television with a new sci-fi series called Sym-Bionic Titan.

The show, one of several announced Wednesday as part of Cartoon Network’s dramatically expanded development slate, will focus on three extraterrestrials from the war-torn planet Galaluna who crash-land, only to be swept up in high school and the fate of the Earth as we know it.

Last night, Cartoon Network finally debut Sym-Bionic Titan and while the cartoon comes across as equal parts: Voltron, Samurai Jack, Gundam, mixed alongside some high school drama and a mysterious villain with a past; I’m seriously happy with what I saw. And like prior Genndy Tartakovsky offerings, expect a whole lot of action, fighting, and backstory.

Almost 18 months later, I’m pleased with the premise.

[ Links: Sym-Bionic Titan ]

With Apple TV and Google TV both vying for our attention from our desktops to our televisions, there’s plenty of more room for other media center devices, right?

The Amino Freedom is designed to support common Internet formats such as Adobe® Flash® and Microsoft® Silverlight® and is powered by the first generation of Intel and Nokia’s MeeGo for the TV – enabling us to innovate at Internet speed and keep you one step ahead of the next big thing.

Cool thing, it’s powered by the Intel/Nokia operating system, MeeGo. Bad part, it’s not due out until 4th quarter of this year. Well that and pricing is also to be announced.

[ Links: Amino Freedom ]

Apple today unveiled their new Apple TV device, which as rumors had suggested costs $99, tops out playback at 720p and is focused on renting TV episodes for a dollar or new films for five dollars.

There’s no hard drive in this incarnation, with everything streamed via either 802.11n Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity. The unit also comes with Netflix streaming service embedded. As rumors also suggested, broadcasters are still afraid of cannibalizing their traditional TV cash cow, so Apple scrapped a more interesting subscription-based TV service for this fairly standard rental model, which only features content from ABC and Fox.

Great price, great option if you were looking for one that has no internal storage is basically a “rent only” device; however it is not for me.

Link to the original article…

HBO hasn’t exactly warmed to the broadband-driven Internet video revolution. Over the years they’ve been accused of poisoning copies of their TV shows available for download via BitTorrent, petitioned the FCC to make DVR recording of subscription video-on demand illegal, and even hinted at possibly suing Slingbox for allowing the re-transmission of their content.

Now as Netflix streaming gains in popularity, HBO Co-President Eric Kessler tells Bloomberg the company has no intention of letting Netflix gain access to HBO content:

“There is value in exclusivity,” Kessler said in an interview. Consumers “are willing to pay a premium for high quality, exclusive content,” he said. HBO’s stand prevents Los Gatos, California-based Netflix from gaining online access to titles from all of the major studios. Netflix members can see films from Walt Disney Co. and Sony Pictures Entertainment online through a deal between the subscription movie service and Liberty Media Corp.’s Starz channel, which has separate accords with both studios.

While that’s certainly HBO’s right, it’s possible they could stand to make more money collaborating with Netflix than competing with them. HBO’s of course protecting their new broadband-video service HBO Go. HBO Go is only available to customers whose ISP or cable provider have struck an arrangement with the company and right now, only Comcast and Verizon have.

Link to the original article…

If you think 3D TV is little more than a new old gimmick that requires annoying glasses and a new television, you might want to skip this post. If you think 3DTV is a compelling product, you might be interested to note that Verizon has been working with the New York Football Giants on broadcasting the first ever NFL game in 3D (well, preseason, anyway). Verizon will be showing the September 2 preseason match-up between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in 3D to FiOS TV customers.

If you recall, Verizon earlier this year called similar cable “first ever” 3D sports efforts “hype,” and insisted they’d be ramping up their own 3D efforts ahead of the 2010 holiday season.

Link to the original article…

Televisions, computers, DVD players, VCR players, video game consoles, compact disc players, external hard drives, stereo components, speakers… they all just end up creating a bunch of ugly wires that some people try to stash behind stands, hide under cases or wrap up in cable wraps and it can get downright frustrating. To add to the wire count, imagine wanting to play your downloaded content streamed over to your television or stereo. Seems like Wisair has come to the rescue.

The Wisair Wireless USB Audio/Video Adapter Set — an easy-to-use USB adapter system that allows home and office users to “cut the cord” and wirelessly stream content from their laptop—including pictures, movies, presentations and online media—to any HDTV, projector or monitor without the tangled mess of cords and complicated setup.

Featuring HDMI video/audio support and VGA connectivity with stereo audio support through a 3.5 mm audio jack, the Wisair Wireless USB A/V Adapter Set delivers 32-bit True Color depth and up to 1400×1050 screen resolution for high-quality images. With 48 kHz, 16-bit stereo sound and HD video resolution up to 720p, movies (Blu-ray excluded) and videos look sharp and sound crystal clear for an optimum viewing experience.

Although limited to only 720p and excluding Blu-Ray, invariably due to needed bandwidth, the Wisair Wireless USB Audio/Video dongle system seems to allow for ample room for downloaded music, movies and other streamed media that normally resides on your PC for viewing and enjoyment in your living room setting without the need or use of wires.

By now it should be known that I truly hate wires and avoid them at all costs – this definitely probably warrants further research. I’m not sure about the lack of Blu-ray support – but it still looks interesting nonetheless. Priced from $129 – $149 at various online retailers, the Wisair Wireless USB dongle will hopefully remedy having wires run from your PC to your TV.

[ Links: Wisair ]

Last year it was noted how Netflix was planning to offer stand-alone broadband video streaming in certain unspecified countries, as long as you’re not spelled with the letters U, S and A where Netflix oddly claims there “isn’t a demand” for this kind of service. The mystery country Netflix mentioned last year appears to be Canada where Netflix is launching their broadband streaming service without tying it to DVD rentals (in fact they’re not offering DVD rentals at all). Netflix says the service officially launches this fall:

In addition to representing its inaugural international market, Canada will also mark the first streaming-only service promoted by Netflix. At the time of launch, the Netflix Canadian service will be available in English only, but the company said it expects to add French language capability over time. Canadians interested in Netflix can go to www.netflix.ca and sign up to receive an email from the company when the service launches in Canada this fall.

The press covering this announcement seem to have forgotten Canadian broadband users face some of the most restrictive cap and overage penalties anywhere, with companies like Cogeco and Rogers charging up to $5 per extra gigabyte of usage, despite paying pennies for bandwidth, plummeting hardware costs, and being perfectly profitable under the flat-rate model.

Heavy Netflix HD streaming potentially eats bandwidth like popcorn shrimp, so you can do your own math.

Of course the result will be more timid usage of the new service as an alternative to cable and greater revenues for cable and phone companies… which is exactly why low caps and high overages are imposed in the first place.

Link to the original article…

Engadget has the scoop on Apple’s next incarnation of Apple TV, which actually sounds more interesting than the original Apple TV, a somewhat underwhelming product. According to anonymous tipsters likely countering all that Google TV discussion, Apple’s next Apple TV device will be about the size of an Apple iPhone and will cost just a hundred bucks.

It looks to have roughly the same internals as the Google TV (namely an A4 CPU and 16GB of flash storage) – though it will be capable of 1080p HD. The device also looks to have just two ports (video out and power) and may utilized cloud storage. Of course whether the device is really useful depends on what content’s available and just how obnoxious Apple intends to be when it comes to locking the device down.

Link to the original article…

Verizon has unveiled their plans to join the cable industry’s “TV Everywhere” initiative – which involves offering paying TV customers (only) the ability to watch some paywalled content online. The industry believes the idea will help them prevent “cord cutters” – or those who turn to Internet video as an alternative to those now often bi-annual TV rate hikes. Verizon says their TV Everywhere offering will arrive in June, and will initially include access to all TNT and TBS shows – assume you subscribe to both FiOS Internet and TV:

FiOS customers who subscribe to both FiOS TV and FiOS Internet will be able to watch the programs on their personal computers or laptops – at home or away – using any broadband connection. Using their Verizon Online user names and passwords, FiOS customers will be able to access the online programming at either www.verizon.com/fiostvonline or soon-to-be launched TNT and TBS websites. After successfully completing their initial login, consumers do not need to sign in again for up to 30 days. Online programming from additional content providers also will be accessible via FiOS TV Online or the provider websites.

Of course Verizon doesn’t want to offer this content to just their Internet customers – lest they cannibalize their own TV revenues. According to the company, access to this content via mobile devices is something that’s in the works.

Link to the original article…

AIPTEX has presented its portable pico projector PocketCinema T30 for mobile phones and media players during CeBIT 2010.

The PocketCinema T30 allows you to connect external media players to project videos and pictures up to 65-inch screen. The pocket size design and the embedded rechargeable battery enables you to watch and share your favorite movies, music videos or photos at anytime and anywhere with your friends.

Link to the original article…