For the last several months, Comcast Internet customers have complained about a drop in quality of the Netflix streams being delivered to their homes, and Netflix’s own data showed a massive decline in connection speeds starting in October. But today, the two companies announced they have reached a “mutually beneficial” agreement that will hopefully turn that trend around. [More]
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Why Even A Net Neutrality Rewrite Wouldn’t Alleviate Slow Netflix Service
By 2.19.14
While today’s announcement from FCC Chair Tom Wheeler that the commission would take another stab at writing net neutrality rules — thus preventing ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable from blocking or throttling access to certain sites for its customers — the re-establishment of the Open Internet guidelines still wouldn’t do much to end some of the current Netflix-related hiccups customers are seeing. [More]
Comcast Deal Means No Set-Top Box Netflix App For Time Warner Cable Customers
By 2.18.14
Time Warner Cable had reportedly been in talks with Netflix regarding a deal that would give TWC subscribers direct access to the streaming video service through their set-top cable boxes, rather than having to use a third party device like a gaming console. But that seems to have come to a crashing halt now that Comcast has agreed to buy TWC for $45 billion. [More]
Netflix Streaming Speeds Getting Worse For Comcast and Verizon FiOS Customers
By 2.11.14
Do you have broadband internet? Do you like to watch streaming movies and TV on Netflix? If so, great news: your connection to Netflix is getting faster! Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the tens of millions of Americans who use Comcast or Verizon FiOS for internet access at home, in which case it’s completely the opposite. [More]
Netflix Would Ask Consumers To Protest If ISPs Try Blocking Or Throttling Service
By 1.23.14
The upshot of last week’s federal appeals court ruling that tossed out the core of the FCC’s net neutrality rule is that Internet Service Providers can now impede access to competing or data-hogging websites by downgrading or blocking these content providers. Netflix, the country’s single largest devourer of bandwidth, had been relatively quiet on this ruling, until yesterday, when it shared its view of the future of net neutrality with investors. [More]
Premium TV Losing Subscribers? HBO, Starz and Showtime Say Recent Survey Is Wrong
By 1.22.14
It didn’t seem like much of a surprise when a survey released earlier this week showed subscription video-on-demand services were on the rise and that premium TV subscriptions had declined. But the results were a surprise, at least to the three largest premium TV networks. [More]
No Big Surprise: TV Watchers Fleeing Premium Channels For Streaming
By 1.20.14
With more and more options in premium television popping up, consumer subscription habits are evolving. So it comes as no surprise that subscription video-on-demand services are on the rise, while premium TV channel subscriptions have declined. [More]
New Nickelodeon Channel Will Let Parents Customize TV Programming
By 1.15.14
Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime owe a good deal of their success to parents of young children, who love that they can dial up one of their kids’ favorite shows or movies instantly and without commercials. The folks at Viacom and Verizon are hoping to replicate some of that experience with a new customizable cable TV channel aimed at youngsters. [More]
Is Netflix A Loser Or Winner With End Of Net Neutrality?
By 1.15.14
Yesterday’s ruling by a federal appeals court gives Internet service providers the ability to charge premium rates or additional fees to whichever content providers the ISPs want. Considering that Netflix is the single largest user of bandwidth in the U.S., many observers predict this ruling is bad news for the streaming video service, but some contend that Netflix may come out a winner in the long run. [More]
Will I Be Able To Stream PlayStation Now Or 4K Video, And Will It Shatter My Data Cap?
By 1.10.14
Streaming media: ever since YouTube became the world’s favorite source of cat videos, it’s been the wave of the future. This year’s CES proved no exception — between the idea of playing cloud-based console games on PlayStation Now and watching ultra-high-definition 4K TV on Netflix, streaming and cloud-based media are clearly still where all the tech companies want us to be. [More]
Roku TV Is The Connected TV Your Parents Might Actually Use
By 1.7.14
In an era where connected TVs and apps on gaming consoles mean consumers don’t need to clutter their living rooms with additional boxes to access streaming video, makers of streaming devices like Roku need to adapt or die. The logical solution: Roku TV. [More]
Is Saving $1/Month Worth Entirely Ditching HD On Netflix?
By 12.31.13
Netflix has begun testing a new pricing option for some streaming customers. It’s $1/month cheaper than the standard $7.99/month plan most customers pay for. What do you give up to save that dollar? HD access and the ability to stream videos on multiple devices simultaneously. [More]
If You’ve Been Waiting To Stream ‘Street Fighter’ On Netflix, You Better Do It Before January 1
By 12.30.13
Sometimes it seems to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. And by then it’s too late and you’re smacking yourself in the head for putting off that Killer Klowns From Outer Space theme party because it’s no longer streaming on Netflix and there’s no Blockbuster around so you’re out of luck. That and a whole slew of other movies will be unstreamable in the New Year. [More]
You’re Not Alone In Binge Watching: Half Of Netflix Users Finished Shows Within One Week
By 12.13.13
It’s not just you and your friends exchanging stories of That One Time I Spent Three Straight Days Watching An Entire Season Of Breaking Bad To Catch Up Before The Finale. Everyone does it, or at least, about half of the users Netflix studied are binge watching as well. [More]
Keep Entertained While Trapped With Your Family This Weekend
November 27, 2013
Don’t want to spend Thanksgiving weekend watching football with cousin Sally or you can only listen to your brother’s new Tuvan throat singing album a few dozen times before it starts to sound repetitive? Then it’s time to take your phone/tablet/laptop/Omnitool into the room that used to be yours before your mom turned it into her office/photography lab, and binge-watch your way through the weekend. Thankfully, the good people at AVclub.com have put together this handy list of older TV shows that will help you pass the time. [AVclub.com] [More]
Law Would Make It Illegal To For ISPs To Throttle Streaming Video
By 11.13.13
For years, there have been accusations of Internet service providers deliberately slowing down or degrading the quality of data from streaming video services. Recently, a company that provides a good deal of bandwidth to Netflix accused Verizon of allowing traffic to streaming video traffic to get snarled in bottlenecks. Newly introduced legislation would outlaw the practice of throttling and degrading video content. [More]
Netflix Money Is “Pure Heroin” To TV Studios
By 10.25.13
Ever wonder why a TV channel’s website or on-demand options often only include the few most recently aired shows? It’s because the network doesn’t usually own the show, but instead pays a studio for the rights to air it, and networks haven’t been willing to ante up for the extra money to stream entire seasons as they air. Now some broadcasters realize they’re losing out and want access to all those shows, but Netflix is making it difficult. [More]
