You get on the Netflix plan thinking you’ve scored such a great deal. Unlimited movies per month! By the time I’m done plundering the cinema archives, I’ll be only paying cents a film! Take that, movie theater and rental store! But then slowly your interest wanes as the novelty wears off. Soon that early Bergman flick is collecting dust and you realize you’re paying a monthly fee for a red and white coffee coaster… [More]
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TWC Offers New Cheaper Cable Package
By 11.22.10
Time Warner is offering a new tier of cable package called “Essentials” with fewer channels and a lower price. [More]
What Fictional Products Do You Wish Were Real?
By 11.16.10
Re-watching the Back to the Future movies recently, I remembered how deeply the tween me once longed for a hover board like the one Michael J. Fox races around the Hill Valley of 2015. While it’s unlikely that we’ll see a real hover board on the market in the next five years, the 30-something me still wants one. [More]
Best Buy Plasma TV Prices Crash Below $400
By 11.12.10
Attention morons who’ve smashed their TVs by using the Xbox Kinect in a room with a ceiling fan: Best Buy is offering a 42-inch plasma TV for under $400 as part of its Black Friday sale. Just find another room to put it in before hooking up your 360. [More]
Cable's Losing Subscribers Faster Than The Cowboys Are Losing Games
By 11.8.10
In an exodus that would make Moses proud, cable customers are fleeing their costly monthly habit for greener pastures. [More]
Dish, Fox Hug It Out, Give Customers Back Channels They Were Paying For
By 11.1.10
Ending a standoff that lasted nearly a month, Fox and Dish decided late last week to stop bickering over viewers’ subscription fees and return It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and related inferior programming to the masses. [More]
DirecTV CEO Answers Customer E-mail On A Saturday Evening, Promises Help
By 10.28.10
Daniel’s problem was very simple. He is a DirecTV customer, and subscribed to the satellite provider’s NFL Sunday Ticket package of football awesomeness. He decided not to renew this year, then discovered that DirecTV had already helpfully renewed the package for him. He wasn’t happy, and sent out an executive e-mail carpet bomb to a nice selection of executives. Who answered him, within an hour and a half on a Saturday? President and CEO Mike White. [More]
Hulu Plus May Drop To Half Price
By 10.26.10
Currently in its testing phase, Hulu Plus let subscribers who shell out $10 a month while willing to sit through ads watch its meager programming on the PlayStation 3, iPhone and other devices. [More]
South Park Creator Apologizes For Plagiarism 'Mistake'
By 10.25.10
If last week’s episode of South Park seemed familiar, it’s because you might have already seen the jokes and dialogue when they were first created, for a College Humor video. [More]
Fox Blacked Out Hulu For Cablevision Subscribers
By 10.20.10
A small skirmish in the pissing match between Fox and Cablevision could have major repercussions. [More]
Xbox 360s Will Become AT&T U-Verse Receivers
By 10.13.10
Starting Friday, Xbox 360 owners who watch TV through AT&T U-Verse will be able to consolidate their “set-top boxes” into one, because the Xbox 360 will act as a TV receiver and DVR. [More]
Should Hasbro Be Allowed To Own A Kids' TV Channel?
By 10.6.10
New kid-centric cable channel The Hub hasn’t even debuted yet, but it’s already receiving a lot of criticism from parental and consumer watchdog groups, not because its programming is too violent or racy, but because it’s co-owned by toy and game giant Hasbro. [More]
Senate Passes Bill Banning Loud Commercials
By 10.1.10
Everyone hates loud commercials, which is why Senate Republicans and Democracts were able to agree on something and Wednesday unanimously passed a bill banning them. The bill would require commercials to be broadcast at the same sound level as the programs they’re interrupting. [More]
"World Progress Report" Latest Incarnation Of Vision Media
By 9.16.10 — Updated: 10.8.14
In April, NPR reported on how Vision Media was calling up non-profits, promising them a Hugh Downs-anchored PBS special. All they would have to do is underwrite the production costs. Instead, those who signed up and paid up got a pile of poorly made ads on DVD, and no airtime. Now the firm seems to once again changed names and hosts. They’re going by “World Progress Report” and the ostensible anchor is former Good Morning America newscaster Joan Lunden. [More]
Spike TV: Home Of The 10-Minute Commercial Breaks
By 9.13.10
How long can a cable channel run commercials before viewers forget what they were watching and — literally — tune out? That’s the question that the folks at Spike TV appear to be tacitly asking their audience, as it stretches the length of some of its commercial breaks well past existing standards — some to as long as 10 minutes. [More]
Are The Glasses A Dealbreaker For Buying 3D TVs?
By 9.10.10
Whether or not it will last, 3D is still a growing trend at the movies and with TV manufacturers. However, a new survey shows that most people won’t buy a 3D TV just because they have to wear the required glasses. [More]
Time Warner Cable Reaches Deal With Disney, Customers To Get ESPN 3 Access
By 9.3.10
On the last day of the NFL pre-season, football fans are rejoicing — or at least the ones who subscribe to Time Warner Cable. The company has finally reached an agreement with Walt Disney Co. that will keep Disney-owned channels like ESPN from being blacked out during the first week of the the NCAA and NFL seasons. And TWC customers will now have access to ESPN’s online video portal ESPN3. [More]
Hulu Explains Why Hulu Plus Shows Ads, Has Limited Content
By 8.26.10
Underwhelmed by Hulu Plus, Hulu’s pay service that lets users watch programming through the PlayStation 3, iPhone and other devices for $10 a month, Helen wrote the company about her disappointment. Hulu responded with an email that explains the service’s quirks: [More]
