HIGH-FLYING NETFLIX SHARES NOSEDIVE

Netflix shares continued to slide for a third day in a row today (Wednesday) as analysts reacted negatively to the company’s plans to force subscribers to choose between an all-disc or an all-streaming package — or choose both at a subscription-price increase of more than 60 percent. Shares in the company were down $7.87 to [...]

HULU OFFERS BUYERS FIVE-YEAR PROTECTION WARRANTY

Although the three media giants and the investment company that together own Hulu, the online video site, have said they are resolved to sell it, they have thus far been able to attract little interest from buyers — largely because of the impression that some of the owners just might decide to pick up their [...]

NETFLIX NOT INTERESTED IN BUYING HULU

Although top executives of Hulu have confirmed that they’re looking for a buyer and that several media companies have expressed interest, Netflix, the media company that would appear to be a logical bidder, has expressed no interest thus far, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Monday). The newspaper said that the potential suitors for Hulu [...]

AMAZON ENTERS STREAMING VIDEO

Playing catch-up with Netflix, Amazon today (Wednesday) debuted a streaming video service that costs about $1.35 per month less than Netflix. To entice new subscribers, the online retailer is charging $79 per year, giving customers free one-month trial subscriptions, and a feature that allows the service to be shared by three family members. But Eric [...]

APPLE’S ITUNES STORE DOMINATES ONLINE DVD SALES, VOD

Apple’s iTunes Store effectively held off challenges from rivals seeking to sell DVDs online and/or “rent” them via time-limited downloads, according to industry researchers Screen Digest. Combined with other video sites, including Microsoft’s Zune, Wal-Mart’s Vudu, and Amazon Video on Demand, the market for on-demand video sales and rentals increased more than 60 percent in [...]

AMAZON BUYS “THE NETFLIX OF EUROPE”

Online retailer Amazon is buying the 58 percent stake in Lovefilm — the Netflix of much of Europe — that it doesn’t already own. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but analysts estimated that the deal likely valued Lovefilm at $300 million. In a statement, Greg Greeley, Amazon’s vice president of European retail, said: [...]

AMAZON OPENS PATH TO STUDIOS FOR UNKNOWN SCREENWRITERS

Online retailer Amazon, which got its feet wet in the movie business by acquiring the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) in 1998, is taking another step in melding interactive technology with show business. On Tuesday it announced a new business called Amazon Studios that will accept scripts and even full-length “test” movies from unknowns throughout 2011 [...]

PROTESTS FORCE WITHDRAWAL OF PEDOPHILE BOOK

Following a day when TV and radio talk shows focused on Amazon’s inclusion of The Pedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure on its Kindle ebook store, the online retailer has withdrawn the book. By Thursday afternoon, those broadcasts had prompted hundreds of postings on Facebook and Twitter calling for a boycott of Amazon, which had [...]

TV CONTROVERSY OVER PEDOPHILE BOOK GENERATES SALES FOR IT

In yet another case of moral outrage backfiring, sales of the self-published The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure zoomed on Amazon after it became the subject of radio and TV talk shows and cable newscasts on Wednesday. Richard Greaves, the 42-year-old author of the book, said that he had sold just one copy of [...]

AMAZON OFFERS DVD PLAN AIMED AT “INSTANT GRATIFICATION”

Buy a DVD or Blu-ray disc from Amazon, and you’ll be able to watch it on a PC or on an Internet-connected TV set at once. The online retailer said Tuesday that it is including a free digital copy with any of more than 10,000 new and catalog releases in its library. Customers don’t need [...]

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