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Xbox TV and the Mainstreaming of IPTV
Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer told a convention center full of financial analysts that Xbox TV will launch in time for this year’s holiday season. That would give families another reason to put an Xbox 360 on their gift list. He didn’t give any content specifics, but Ballmer did say it would be similar to what’s available via Xbox’s partnerships with Sky TV in the U.K., Canal Plus in France, and FoxTel in Australia.
Netflix Customers, Meet Your New DVD Service Qwikster [with video]
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings published a blog post Sunday evening, apologizing for how the company handled its recent price increase. His thoughts undoubtedly were concentrated by the precipitous drop in Netflix’s share price late last week. Hastings also took the opportunity to announce that Andy Rendich has been promoted to CEO of the physical disc rental operations, however, and that this service will be rebranded as Qwikster within the next few weeks. Additionally, Qwikster will begin to offer video game rentals alongside movies and TV shows.
Free 'Portal' Downloads to Teach Physics [with Video]
Valve Corp. is giving away Portal, one of its best-known titles, to encourage use of the game to teach principals of physics and critical thinking. The only catch is that people must first install the company’s Steam game platform client to their PC or Mac. That’s free too, but it does require registration. It’s part of Steam’s “Learn with Portal” campaign and runs until Sept. 20, when the game returns to its $10 regular price.
Subscribers Leave Netflix, Investors Follow [with Infographic]
Subscribers got hit in their wallets by the recent Netflix price increase, but they weren’t the only ones. The company had to revise its domestic subscriber estimates downward by 1 million customers and its share price nosedived by nearly a fifth. Even so, Netflix confirmed its international subscriber guidance and its financial guidance for the quarter.
LightSquared Fires Back at Republican Lawmakers
Reston, Va. - The head of Reston-based wireless broadband firm LightSquared has begun firing back following allegations from Republican lawmakers that the company has received special favors from the Obama administration. The Daily Beast first reported that the White House allegedly pressured Air Force Gen. William Shelton to change his testimony before Congress and downplay the potential effects of LightSquared's satellite signals on the Global Positioning System (GPS).
New Tools to Tweak YouTube Videos Online [with video]
Google’s YouTube has responded to a need, as requested and as is evident to viewers, for a simple video editor that can be used after a video has been uploaded. These new Edit Video editing functions leave the video IDs intact, so things like view count, comments, and existing links from other sites don’t get lost in the process.
VideoSurf Expands on TV Search, ID While Mobile
Video identification, search and discovery company VideoSurf Inc. continues to expand its reach by today launching a free iPhone app, which VideoSurf said is the first technology to use the iPhone camera for video recognition of TV shows. The product follows VideoSurf’s release of the Android version, which was updated earlier this month.
Sirius XM Raises Fees, Stock Price Follows
Sirius XM released details of its subscription price increase and issued its 2012 guidance Wednesday, and the stock market showed its general approval by pushing its share price up by 6.8 percent. CEO Mel Karmazin confirmed the basic Sirius and XM Select subscription would rise to $14.49 a month, effective January 1, 2012, with similar price adjustments for other programming packages.
Conan O'Brien Sparks Interest in TV Everywhere
Turner Broadcasting is using the talents of Conan O'Brien and other stars from TNT and TBS to get viewers familiar with TV Everywhere, including what it can do and how to connect with it. The spots don't explain the entire process, however, since that would take longer than 30 seconds and is available only to pay-tv subscribers.
Row 44 Makes It More Difficult to Escape Gleeks
In-flight broadband entertainment platform Row 44 has added movies and TV shows from Disney, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. to the library of content passengers can watch on their own Wi-Fi devices. Among the new additions are episodes of “Friends,” “Glee,” “The Office” and “Modern Family,” and movies such as “Avatar,” “Harry Potter,” “Inception” and “Toy Story.”
