Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

02 Jun 2011 14:18

tags

Tech: Tennessee lawmakers pass stupid anti-password-sharing law

  • Share your password on Netflix? If you live in Tennessee, you should stop. They just passed a law that makes it illegal to share your password to sites like Netflix and Rhapsody — even with permission. They’re the first state to do this. While you don’t have to worry about sharing within the same house, you might have to worry if you have a son or daughter in college, because they just might be sharing your password with everyone on their floor in their dorm. This is because the language of the law is super-vague and punishes mostly innocuous uses of password-sharing. And the punishments are steep too — up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for $500 or less of “theft,” which the law treats as a misdemeanor. The recording industry, as you might guess, is behind this stupid law — and they hope other states will follow suit after this. source

26 Apr 2011 02:01

tags

Biz: Netflix has more subscribers than Comcast, catching up with HBO

  • 23.6M number of subscribers Netflix has — up by over 3 million subscribers
  • 28.6M number of subscribers HBO has; Netflix passed Showtime’s 20 million
  • 22.8M number of subscribers Comcast has; cable use is declining source

06 Apr 2011 11:28

tags

Biz: Dish Network’s Blockbuster buyout: Good or bad?

  • $320 million the amount Dish Network plans to pay for the bankrupt Blockbuster
  • $228 million the amount the company plans to pay in cash for the video retailer source
  • » A competitive deal? Dish Network, known mostly for its satellite dishes and for being the satellite company that isn’t DirecTV, will earn a competitive advantage by branching out with Blockbuster, which has a large infrastructure, if not money to pay for said infrastructure. For example, Dish Network could also offer Blockbuster’s Netflix-like DVD service on top of their already-robust satellite service. It’s synergy, folks! Another way to look at this: Blockbuster shares were delisted after trading for less than $1 for nearly a year. Netflix shares are trading around $250.

03 Dec 2010 17:12

tags

Tech: Level 3’s fight with Comcast over Netflix heats up, big time

  • If the dispute were simply ‘commercial,’ the dispute would have already been settled or would never have arisen in the first place. Comcast’s status as the nation’s largest provider of consumer broadband service enables Comcast to force Level 3 to pay the ‘toll’ Comcast has demanded.
  • A statement from Level 3 Communications • Complaining about Comcast’s plan to charge a toll for its handling of Netflix’s traffic – which effectively doubles the amount of bandwidth they’ll be sending to Comcast’s customers. As this could have the effect of hurting end-users by incurring more charges on them, Level 3 is right to push back here. This is a net neutrality fight that you should watch, because Comcast appears to be using their leverage as an internet provider to protect its cable business. This is bad. source

02 Dec 2010 20:59

tags

Offbeat: Two can play that game: Dude rejiggers cheating girlfriend’s Netflix

  • One Reddit user decided to hit his cheating girlfriend where it hurts. So he went to Netflix and started ratings until he was able to come up with this really harsh list of I-know-you’re-cheating classics. Wait a second … Bambi? source

30 Nov 2010 10:48

tags

Biz, Tech: Comcast offers up some net neutrality ammo for Netflix fans

  • This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access. With this action, Comcast is preventing competing content from ever being delivered to Comcast’s subscribers at all, unless Comcast’s unilaterally determined toll is paid.
  • Level 3 Communications Chief Legal Officer Thomas Stortz • Expressing anger with Comcast’s added bandwidth fees on the internet middleman, which Netflix uses for its uber-popular streaming services. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Did you hear that? Yeah, we think we did. That’s the sound of the FCC nailing Comcast for anticompetitive activity and killing their planned buyout of NBC because they aren’t playing fair. What? You didn’t hear it? We must have imagined it. We can dream, can’t we? source

22 Nov 2010 10:35

tags

Tech: Netflix prices streaming-only subscription in very desirable way

  • good Netflix added a streaming-only option to their popular subscription service (about time!). It suggests that they’re at a point where streaming is the focus.
  • bad For people who still want the DVDs (and their boyfriends to mail them when they go to work), your subscription price is likely going up about a dollar. source
 

24 Oct 2010 11:30

tags

Biz: Netflix quickly growing up, away from DVD distribution

  • 31% Netflix’s increase in revenue in the third quarter from a year ago
  • 16.9M the number of subscribers the service has right now
  • 19M+ the estimate of of subscriber growth by the end of the year source
  • » The future for Netflix: The key fact to take from Netflix’s recent subscriber results? That comes from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: “We are now a streaming company, which also offers DVD-by-mail,” he says. The company recently announced a streaming-only plan, which makes a lot of sense because that’s where much of their growth is.

24 Sep 2010 15:48

tags

Tech: NBC’s Jeff Zucker contradicts himself on Apple TV and Netflix

  • wednesday NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker is worried about “devaluing” his network’s content, so he doesn’t want to allow 99-cent rentals on the refreshed Apple TV.
  • friday NBC announces a deal to put many of their popular shows on Netflix’s streaming service, which Apple TV includes. Oh, and that Zucker’s out. source

23 Sep 2010 10:23

tags

Biz: Blockbuster’s bankruptcy: Sorry, there’s something in our eyes

  • Let’s face it, this is the possible death of an American icon. Or at least a sign of the times. A once iconic business model – Blockbuster’s movie-rental biz – is facing a tough Chapter 11 challenge, in part because of the insane amount of debt it has. So now it’s going to try to fix itself. Good luck trying to survive with Netflix and Redbox in your face. Some numbers:
  • $1Bthe amount of debt the company has right now; time to reorganize!
  • $100Mthe amount of debt it plans to have after bankruptcy ends
  • 3,000 number of stores the company has; expect that to go down source