As we hit the afternoon of second day of the new year, many Friends fans might already be eyeballs deep streaming the entire series after its Jan. 1 release on Netflix. But with the super fans come super powers of observation, including a discrepancy noticed by a Consumerist reader we’ll call Gunther. He wondered why the Netflix episodes seemed to be shorter by about three minutes on average than the episodes included in his complete DVD set, noting that the originally aired episodes would’ve been closer to the length of the Netflix episodes. [More]
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Netflix Will Help Parents Trick Kids Into Going To Bed Early On New Year’s Eve
By 12.29.14
It is well known in younger circles that it is a right granted by Father Time himself that on one night every year, children are allowed to stay up way past their bedtimes, all the way to (gasp!) midnight. New Year’s Eve is the weapon children wield against parents who’d rather see them snug in bed by the time the ball drops, but this year, parents have their own instrument to gain an edge in the bedtime battle. [More]
Verizon: We Can Basically Charge Netflix For Peering Forever And There’s Nothing The FCC Can Do To Stop It
By 12.18.14
The FCC is facing a lot of opposition this year, but Verizon in particular just really seems to thrive on challenging the agency. The latest move from the telco giant is a message to the FCC that even if they use Title II to regulate net neutrality, there is nothing the commission can do to prevent interconnection fee spats like the one Verizon and Netflix had this year. [More]
Netflix Now Available On Dish Subscribers’ Boxes
By 12.17.14
Netflix and traditional pay TV companies are ever at odds in the public eye. But behind the scenes, it seems they are getting ever more cooperative: as of today, Dish subscribers now have access to Netflix on their set-top boxes. [More]
Survey Says: Yes, Everyone Really Is Binge-Watching A Lot More Netflix (And Cutting Back Cable)
By 12.10.14
Americans watch a lot of TV. But increasingly, we don’t watch it “on TV.” If you feel like everyone you know is spending Saturday devouring whole seasons of programming on Netflix instead of channel-surfing on the cable box, you’re not alone. At least half the people you know are doing that, a new survey confirms — and those numbers just keep going up. [More]
Nielsen To Finally Peel Back Curtain On What’s Actually Popular On Netflix, Amazon
By 11.19.14
Sure, there’s a “Popular On Netflix” category on the streaming service, but are those actually the most-watched Netflix videos? For years, only Netflix has known how many of its users were watching which videos — and the company has not been eager to share that information. But the folks at Nielsen reportedly are going to start collecting ratings data for Netflix and Amazon videos, pulling back that curtain of secrecy. [More]
Amazon Prime Won’t Charge Extra For Streaming Ultra HD Video
By 11.12.14
With prices dropping — and some sets available for around $1,000 — Ultra HD or 4K TV is gradually grabbing a foothold in consumers’ homes. Yet there is still little native content available for these sets. That may change soon with Amazon confirming it will begin offering 4K video to Amazon Prime customers before the year is out, and it won’t charge extra. [More]
Netflix Goes Down, The Internet Proceeds To Freak The Heck Out
By 11.3.14
Were you just settling in for yet another episode of Gilmore Girls/The Walking Dead/S? Tough luck, as it appears that as of this writing just after 9 p.m. ET, many Netflix customers are reporting problems watching content on the site. [More]
Surprise: Verizon FiOS Now Offering Free Netflix Subscription To Some New Customers
By 10.28.14
Netflix and Verizon haven’t exactly been the best of friends this year. As the quality of the streaming video service got progressively worse for Verizon FiOS customers, the two companies spent months taking pot-shots at each other before finally resolving the problems in recent weeks. And so it comes as particularly surprising news that Verizon FiOS, of all the broadband and pay-TV companies out there, has become the first of the big players to offer Netflix subscriptions to new customers as part of their subscription bundles. [More]
Every Episode Of ‘Friends’ Will Be Available On Netflix In January 2015
By 10.15.14
As if you didn’t already spend enough time binge watching TV online, Netflix has announced that every episode of Friends will be available starting January 1, 2015. Because apparently countless rounds in syndication just isn’t enough. [More]
Netflix-Verizon Connection Agreement Finally Pays Off: FiOS Users Seeing Fastest Streaming Speeds
By 10.14.14
Netflix and Verizon have done a lot of very public verbal poo-flinging at each other this year over the abysmal connection speeds FiOS customers have had when trying to stream video from Netflix. Last mongh, FiOS customers finally started to see some relief (and some smoothly playing TV). It looks like the paid interconnection agreement between the two, though, has finally led to some cooperation and is bearing fruit, as Verizon FiOS customers are now seeing faster average Netflix streaming speeds than from any other large ISP in the country. [More]
Ultra HD 4K Kevin Spacey On Netflix Now Costs $3 Extra
By 10.13.14
Ultra high definition 4K video is still a pretty new thing. The TVs themselves are still pretty expensive, and there’s not all that much 4K content out there to watch on them. On top of all that, now, there’s another price penalty for early adopters to pay: Netflix is raising the price for their 4K streaming video. [More]
You Are Now Watching 93 Minutes Of Netflix A Day, You Lazy Bum
By 9.25.14
Cable companies hate Netflix. They pretend it’s because the streaming video service puts up a fuss about having to pay a toll just to be carried that last mile of the Internet to customers’ homes. But really, as new data shows, it’s because people are now spending an awful lot of time watching Netflix instead of watching TV. [More]
Netflix Customers Waiting A Very Long Time For Baffling Array Of DVDs
By 9.22.14
Our readers have confirmed: they are, indeed, waiting for-freaking-ever to get some discs from Netflix. These include classic films, animated movies, television series, and new DVD releases. Is there some kind of nationwide DVD shortage, or is Netflix trying to strangle its DVD business? [More]
Netflix CEO Asks: Why Aren’t Cable Companies Paying Us?
By 9.22.14
For years, as cable companies and other Internet Service Providers have tried to round up support for their desire to charge a toll to bandwidth-heavy content providers like Netflix, they have repeatedly said that they deserve to be paid for carrying all that data to subscribers… even though they are already being paid by their own customers, and even though they are only carrying that content for a small fraction of its journey. Now the CEO of Netflix wants to know why that argument doesn’t swing both ways? [More]
Spoiler Alert: New Netflix Site Reveals Endings Of TV Shows & Movies
By 9.22.14
Want to know who killed Laura Palmer without having to be bothered with the Log Lady or the secret romance of Big Ed and Norma? Or maybe you’re a few seasons into Lost and just can’t wait to get to what has to be a satisfying, logical conclusion that doesn’t at all backtrack on everything the show’s creator promised he wouldn’t do? Then Netflix has something to spoil your afternoon. [More]
Netflix Speeds Finally Rebound For FiOS, U-Verse Customers
By 9.9.14
For years, Verizon has bragged about the fast data speeds available to subscribers of its FiOS broadband service. Meanwhile, the company was allowing Netflix streams to bottleneck, resulting in real downstream speeds that were slower than some DSL providers. And even months after Netflix agreed to pay Verizon for better access to its network, the speeds didn’t improve — until now. [More]
Netflix Hoping Shorter Clips Can Win Over Mobile Users
By 9.5.14
Netflix says that 87% of its mobile users stream videos from the service for fewer than 10 minutes at a time. After all, it’s hard to keep the attention of a user looking at a small smartphone screen, especially when it competes with incoming texts and other messages. Wireless users may also be reluctant to check out more than a few minutes of video out of fear of hitting their monthly data caps. Problem is, Netflix doesn’t really have any content shorter than 10 minutes. The solution? Go shorter. [More]
