A certain segment of consumers have been clamoring for years for cable distributors to break up the monolithic, 300-channel bundle into a la carte offerings. For those who don’t watch sports, the logic goes, why pay for ESPN? Why pay for TLC if you don’t watch reality TV, or CNN if you don’t give a damn about news? [More]
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Want To Break Up Your Cable Bundle But Keep Your Favorite Channels? That Could Be About $250
By 5.7.15
Here Are The Most Ridiculously Long Binge-Watches Available For Anyone With 200+ Hours To Kill
By 4.20.15
If you’re like us, you like your TV. Sure you do! But let’s say you’ve been busy: you’re all caught up on the big prestige dramas. There are no secrets or spoilers left for you in Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, or Orphan Black. There’s a TV-shaped void in your life to fill, and endless reruns on cable just aren’t cutting it. You need something that can really occupy your time. Not just a few hours, but days. Weeks. You have months to kill, and you need something to binge-watch right now. And lots of it. [More]
What It’s Like To Run Through A Toy Store And Grab Whatever You Want
By 4.7.15
Winning the chance to run through a toy store as a kid and grab anything and everything your heart could desire, Nickelodeon’s Super Toy Run was the epitome of luck, making the show’s winners the subject of intense envy back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. So what was it like to live the dream? [More]
Report: The Next Apple TV Won’t Allow For 4K Video Streaming
By 4.6.15
Just because something is new, doesn’t necessarily always mean it’ll have the newest technology — perhaps because it’s because that technology still needs to prove itself or there’s really not a need for it yet. That appears to be the reason behind Apple’s reported decision not to have its new Apple TV support 4K streaming video. [More]
FCC Proposes Treating Online TV Like Cable TV; Amazon Objects If It’ll Stop You From Binge-Watching ‘The Wire’
By 4.6.15
There’s another internet-related firestorm a-brewing at the FCC. This one is not as broad or as contentious as the now infamous net neutrality ruling, but it is bringing all the big players out to have their say. And what, you might ask, has everyone worked up? It’s the big bandwidth bugaboo of the twenty-teens: online video. [More]
TV Viewership Down 10%; Industry Blames Streaming Video
By 3.11.15
Even though many of us have hundreds of channels to choose from on cable or satellite, we’re choosing to watch less live TV. But it’s not just because we’ve all decided to go outside and take up steeplechase; it has a little something to do with the availability of subscription streaming services. [More]
Toshiba Quits U.S. TV Market, Licenses Name To Taiwan’s Compal
By 1.30.15
Toshiba will be leaving the U.S. market for televisions, but you’ll still be able to buy a Toshiba TV later this year. Confused? Like other brands in the TV market, the company will license its name to Compal Electronics. TVs made by Compal will hit shelves starting in March. [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]
Aereo To FCC: No, Really, We’re A Cable Company Now. Treat Us Like One, Pretty Please?
By 10.13.14
Streaming broadcast TV service Aereo was unceremoniously shut down by the Supreme Court last spring, but although they suspended all operations it wasn’t entirely the end of their business. Either Aereo or the law would have to change in order to get them beaming TV around again. Since the relevant law is immovable in the current political climate, that leaves change on Aereo’s end. But the last two attempts Aereo’s made haven’t ended well for them. Is the third time the charm? [More]
Some Small Cable Companies Are Dropping TV, And Customers Don’t Seem To Mind
By 10.1.14
Plenty of people have cut back on pay TV — cable and satellite — and gone to internet-only subscriptions in order to save some cash. But the individual cord-cutters aren’t the only ones realizing how expensive programming can be, and how they can live without it in the broadband era. Some small-scale cable companies are also taking the plunge, and cutting out TV service altogether. [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]
FCC Hopes To Spare Your Ears, Tweaks Rule To Turn Down Obnoxiously Loud TV Commercials
By 9.2.14
Some things haven’t changed in 20 years: you’re watching some old movie late at night on TV, and you turn the volume up because the dialogue is so quiet. Then the ad break comes and suddenly salesmen are shouting at you so loudly you could practically hear them from space and you bang your head on the coffee table in a frantic dive for the remote. Everyone hates that — and the FCC hates it, too. [More]
Soon You Can Use Your Xbox One To Stream Live TV To Your Phone (But Not In The U.S.)
By 8.12.14
The Xbox One gaming console is getting a new function added to it, Microsoft announced today. As of this fall, the late-2013, next-gen, still-new gaming and media device will also function as high-tech rabbit ears for your TV. [More]
Aereo’s Plan To Stay In Business: Okay, Fine, We’re A Cable Company Now
By 7.10.14
Aereo lost their case in the Supreme Court last month, and had to suspend operations a few days later. In that case, the Court ruled that Aereo was actually operating just like a cable company, and so needed to license content like one. Aereo is now legally trying to do just that — but the broadcasters still object. [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]
Cable Companies Keep Adding Channels, But We’re Not Watching Any More Of Them
By 5.7.14
If you’re one of those TV viewers who knows exactly where on their vast channel list to find the few stations you watch regularly, or who frustratedly skims past screen after screen of channels you not only don’t watch but don’t even know the names of, you’re not alone. In fact, a new report confirms that the average TV watcher only looks at fewer than 1-in-10 of the channels that come into their homes. [More]
AT&T Throwing Its Hat In The Online Video Ring With New Venture
By 4.22.14
Times used to be, the only kids on the block offering online video services were Netflix and Hulu. But slowly, ever so slowly, the smell of money to be made has been luring competitors like Amazon and Youtube and now, AT&T. The telecommunications company announced a new $500 million deal to start its own online video venture. [More]
FXX Planning To Air Marathon Of All 552 Episodes Of ‘The Simpsons’ This Summer
By 4.9.14
Get that vacation time on the books, vacuum out the couch cushions and lay in a stock of 11 or so days’ worth of snacks: FXX says it’s planning a marathon of all 552 episodes of The Simpsons — and it’s airing them consecutively this summer. [More]
