Everyone’s got one — the movie that makes you who you are, the one that turned on all the lights in your brain and opened your mind to a new reality, one that can only exist upon viewing that particular film. So when your best friend/boyfriend/wife/second cousin Thurman admits to have never seeing The One Movie Essential To Your Being, you insist they must watch it and be enlightened. And now Netflix wants you to put that pressure on your Facebook friends with a new social recommendation feature. [More]
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We Want This Netflix Hack That Adjusts Color Of Room Lights To Match Screen
By 8.21.14
Engineers at Netflix have figured out a way to connect the streaming video service to new “smart” lightbulbs so that the lights in a room respond to color changes on screen, providing a much more immersive experience. Alas, we might never get to try this for ourselves. [More]
Netflix Is Also Paying A Toll To Time Warner Cable To Improve Speeds To Users
By 8.19.14
Months after Comcast and Verizon allowed Netflix data to bottleneck so badly that the streaming video company had no other option but to pay for a more direct connection to end-users, Time Warner Cable has confirmed that it too is now collecting a toll from Netflix. [More]
Are You Waiting For-Freaking-Ever To Get DVDs From Netflix?
By 8.7.14
Jason is a longtime Netflix subscriber, and he doesn’t remember anything like his current problem happening before. Simply put, he has a lot of new movie releases in his DVD queue, and he’s in for a “very long wait” for most of them. He wonders: is this because Netflix is trying to slowly kill its DVD business? [More]
Here’s What It Would Take For The U.S. To Get Standalone HBO Go Service
By 8.4.14
Since 2012, HBO has been offering a standalone streaming service to customers in parts of Europe, and it’s now reportedly planning on expanding that type of over-the-top service to other European and Asian markets. Yet the cable network still maintains that it has no plans to try it out stateside. We believe it could happen, but it would first require a handful of changes. [More]
Netflix Is So Slow On FiOS That It’s Faster To Watch Videos Through VPN
By 7.18.14
Even though Netflix and Verizon supposedly made a deal — in April — that was supposed to result in improved streaming speeds for FiOS users, Verizon customers are still seeing sub-DSL speeds, which have only gotten worse in recent months. For one user, who pays extra to Verizon for faster service, it was actually faster to stream Netflix by connecting through a VPN. [More]
Netflix Killed Off Saturday DVD Deliveries In Early June And No One Noticed Until Now
By 7.18.14
The worry for Netflix DVD subscribers used to be that the United States Postal Service would stop Saturday mail delivery, thus putting a kink in movie-consuming schedules. Instead, the time has come for Netflix to put down Saturday DVD delivery all by itself. Actually, the time already came and it’s already dead, just not a lot of people noticed. [More]
Verizon, Netflix Stepping Up Battle To Blame Each Other For Poor Streaming Service
By 7.11.14
The heat of high summer is a great time to stay inside and marathon a million hours of TV. But for some Netflix customers who use Verizon as their ISP, the summer streaming season is a slow and choppy dud. Even though the two companies came to a paid peering arrangement earlier this year, service is still going from bad to worse. Netflix blames Verizon, Verizon blames Netflix, and while service is still cooling down, their very public fight is heating up. [More]
25 All-American Movies & TV Shows You Can Stream This 4th Of July
By 7.3.14
While we usually think of fireworks, backyard barbecues and the hot sun beaming down on red, white and blue parades around the country, this year’s 4th of July celebrations might be somewhat dampened as many parts of the country face some wet weather. Or heck, maybe it’s too hot to leave the AC. Either way, we’ve got 25 movies and TV shows you can stream to stay in the American spirit. [More]
Watch These 79 Streaming Movies Before Netflix Takes Them Away Tomorrow
By 6.30.14
Perhaps you were envisioning a relaxing long weekend at home, curled up watching Chinatown, Dr. Strangelove and Beavis and Butt-head Do America (because of course, best combination). I’m here to shatter your dreams and cast your desires into the dirt: Those and 76 other movies won’t be available to stream on Netflix starting tomorrow. [More]
FCC To Look Into Data Bottlenecks And Pay-For-Access Deals With ISPs
By 6.13.14
The whole point of net neutrality is that Internet Service Providers like Comcast and Verizon shouldn’t be allowed to actively prioritize or degrade the data they help to deliver; it should all be treated equally. But as we’ve seen with Netflix speeds over the last year, ISPs can passively allow downstream data to bottleneck, effectively telling the largest content providers that they have to pay for more direct access. After omitting this latter issue in his controversial net neutrality proposal, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler announced today that it’s time for his commission to consider it. [More]
Netflix Speeds On Verizon Do Not Improve Even After Agreeing To Pay Up
By 6.9.14
When Netflix agreed to pay Comcast earlier this year for better access to the Comcast network, the streaming video service’s downstream speeds bounced back almost instantaneously and are now faster than they were a year ago. Netflix and Verizon announced a similar deal in late April, but the latest data shows no signs of improvement just yet. [More]
Verizon Sends Netflix Cease & Desist Notice About Buffering Message
By 6.5.14
Yesterday we told you about Netflix using on-screen messages to point the finger at ISPs like Verizon for problems with customers’ streaming video feeds. Looks like Big V didn’t take so well to being called out in front of the rest of the playground and has called in the lawyers to fight back. [More]
Netflix Tests Passive-Aggressive Buffering Messages To Call Out Slow ISPs
By 6.4.14
When your streaming video of Charles In Charge comes in pixelated and is regularly interrupted by pauses for buffering, is it the streaming service or your ISP? New messages being tested by Netflix attempt to point the finger straight at the other guy. [More]
Netflix CEO Says Comcast Is Coming For “The Whole Internet”
By 5.29.14
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings delivered some pointed thoughts about Comcast’s play for national broadband dominance and the world of net neutrality while speaking at a conference in California this morning. [More]
What A Difference A Payoff Makes: Comcast Customers Now Seeing Decent Netflix Speeds
By 5.12.14
Nearly three months ago, Comcast and Netflix revealed that after months of rapidly degrading data speeds for Netflix subscribers on Comcast’s network, the streaming video company and the country’s largest ISP had reached a deal where Netflix would pay for more direct access to the Comcast network. In the short time since, Comcast has jumped from the rear of the pack to near the front. [More]
Here’s What Netflix, Dish & Others Said To The FCC About The Comcast/TWC Merger
The period for leaving a comment about the Comcast/TWC merger with the FCC closed on Monday. Roughly a zillion members of the public — individuals, nonprofits, state and federal politicians, telecom companies, tech trade groups, and consumer advocates — have weighed in, including several big names in pay TV who are staunchly against the deal. [More]