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Netflix, Weinstein announce streaming deal

The Weinstein Company and Netflix announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will bring certain foreign-language, documentary and select other movies exclusively to Netflix streaming service in the US. The titles will become available for streaming for a time exclusive to Netflix before premium cable gets the chance.

While anyone familiar with Netflix streaming knows foreign films, documentaries and second-tier films are the stock and trade of their streaming service, this year does provide Oscar-nominated films such as The Artist, and Undefeated.

It’s not very often a foreign film is nominated for Best Picture, so I wouldn’t expect this arraignment is going to have much long-lasting effect.

Other films which will premiere on Netflix include Sarah’s Key, The Intouchables, W.E., and Coriolanus.

Disney ready to implement DVD rental window

During a recent quarterly conference call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned a potential strategy of imposing a 28 day window for DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases at retail before making them available for rental.

While I’m sure the movie studios do their own market research, I’m not sure what these windows actually accomplish. The stated goal is to hold up retail sales of newly released DVDs and BDs, but I just don’t know how this strategy works. If I’ve waited 6-9 months to watch a movie instead of seeing it in the cinema, why do I care if I have to wait another 28 days to rent it? Are there enough people so excited to watch the movie that they’d rather purchase it instead of renting it?

Furthermore, rental agencies don’t even have to abide by these agreements if they purchase the movies through retail instead of through wholesale. Unless the studio is looking to boost their retail sales by forcing rental agencies to buy their movies at Target, this seems like a nonstarter. The studios probably even make more on their wholesale business than at retail!

Iger admitted the strategy wasn’t a panacea during the same call, noting the other studios who have implemented the policy were “not seeing any effect from these dollar-rentals on their sell-through business.” But in spite of the reality that this doesn’t do anything to help retail sales, Iger still justifies the position citing industry-wide declines in disc sales.

Other studios to implement the window include Warner Bros., Universal and Fox.

Source: LA Times

New FCC rule may require cable set-top box

The cable tuner built into TVs may soon become obsolete. Just a few years after the analog antenna tuner was wiped out by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandating a transition to digital broadcast, a new FCC provision in the Cable Television Protection and Competition Act may allow cable operators to encrypt basic tier cable.

This move would allow cable operators such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast to require the rental of a cable descrambler for all cable channels. Basic tier is not the same as “basic cable,” which usually means the basic tier plus dozens of popular cable networks. The basic tier is generally the broadcast stations. The FCC requires basic tier cable to be unencrypted.

“In the late eighties and early nineties, increasing numbers of cable systems started to encrypt their signals,” said Public Knowledge’s John Bergmayer, “and the rule was adopted to allow people to at least access some programming without renting a converter box.”

The public information advocate organization Public Knowledge had first supported the rule change considering many cable operators have received waives to this rule, and the rule change would possibly encourage operators to upgrade from analog to digital systems. But they are now calling for the FCC to postpone the change in order to thoroughly discover any unintended consequences after a few concerns were raised by Boxee.

Boxee has recently released Boxee Live TV, an TV tuner adapter to the Boxee Box by D-Link which allows the media player to receive over-the-air or basic cable channels and integrate it into their unique graphic user interface. Boxee is claiming that 40% of their users make use of unencrypted cable television. Needless to say, encrypting the signal would damage Boxee’s business model, as well as hamper any new innovative competition in this market, and cable systems are genuine natural monopolies.

The FCC has stated previously that they’re interested in promoting new innovative services like Boxee, which puts the commission in an awkward position. If they proceed with this provision, innovation in this space will be limited to cable operators who have no natural competition except from satellite providers or where Verizon FiOS or AT&T U-verse have managed to install their networks. Most cable companies are way behind in features, using old technologies and even shutting off new features in their current receivers, like SATA and USB storage.

Public Knowledge is encouraging everyone who uses basic tier cable to sign this petition to let the FCC know you support innovations from companies like Boxee, HD HomeRun, EyeTV, as well as tuner cards for PCs.

What do you think? Should cable operators have the right to encrypt the signals they send over their own system, or should there be room for outside competition?

Music Labels caught in hypocrisy

VEVO, the music video website owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Group, has been caught in the act of online video piracy during a recent Sundance event the site hosted. What makes this most juicy is these companies are the main force behind the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has taken a very hard line stance against online media sharing, and suing children for over $22,000 for downloading songs illegally.

Tech Crunch journalists Jason Kincaid discovered this hypocrisy while attending the event sponsored by VEVO. The video screens at this event were all tuned into a pirated video stream of an NFL playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots.

The video Mr. Kincaid recorded for this story tells it all, and it should definitely warm your heart.

Best Buy asks: Would you buy an Apple TV?

Electronics retail behemoth Best Buy has sent a survey to some customers asking if they would potentially buy a 42-inch Apple-brand HDTV that would use your iPad or iPhone as a remote control for $1,499.

More than just speculation, the survey goes into detail telling the customer, “Be one of the first to get the all new 42″ Apple HDTV at Best Buy for $1,499. Apple finally reinvents what a TV can do.”

Features included are:

• 42″ 1080p LED flat panel display
• Incorporates Apple’s operating system (iOS) found in its current Apple TV set top box which allows you to purchase and stream movies and other entertainment from the internet
• Download and use apps from the App Store. Can you imagine playing Angry Birds on a big screen in your living room?
• Supports Apple’s new iCloud service for storing your movies, TV shows, and music content that you’ve purchased from iTunes and mean them to your Apple HDTV.
• Use your iPad or iPhone as a remote control, and do everything from controlling your TV, to purchasing new shows and swapping content between your Apple devices and the iCloud service.
• Built-in convenience with built in iSight camera and microphone for Skype.
• In addition to iTunes, stream content from popular sites such as Netflix, YouTube, and flickr.
• Available for $1499

While this is just Best Buy speculating on what future sales they might pursue, Best Buy is large enough that they have been known to ask companies for specific products. Of course Apple is considerably larger than Best Buy at this time.

A few clues as to how this can’t be a real product is the iSight isn’t something Apple has used in a long time, and they would most definitely opt for Apple’s own FaceTime over the competing Skype.

What do you think? Would you buy an Apple HDTV as specified?

Amazon finalizes deal with Viacom

Amazon.com announced a new deal with Viacom to bring thousands of new titles to Prime Instant Video. Amazon already had deals with CBS, Fox, Disney-ABC, PBS, NBC, Sony and Warner Bros. Their new library now consists of over 15,000 titles.

Viacom is the parent company of MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land and VH1. These cable television channels provide popular programming such as Dora the Explorer, Yo Gabba Gabba, iCarly, Chappelle’s Show, Jersey Shore, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Prime Instant Video is included with the $79 per year Amazon Prime membership, which also provides free two-day shipping on Prime items, and free access to books on Kindle.

Amazon is one of the leading video streaming services, with access from select TVs, set-top boxes (like Roku), Blu-ray Disc players, Kindle Fire, Mac and PC.

Verizon and Redbox take aim at Netflix

Two companies who derive much of their public image from the color red are attempting to cut into a third company known for their red envelope. Verizon and Redbox are teaming up to compete head to head with Netflix in the video rental market.

This all makes sense with all of the negative reaction Netflix has taken lately. Why not offer an alternative?

Redbox, which is operated by Coinstar, recently purchased the DVD kiosks from their leading competitor NCR Corp., who mostly operates their kiosks under the Blockbuster Video brand. Meanwhile, Verizon has been edging into the cable and satellite TV markets with their FiOS service. The competitors, Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, DirecTV and Dish Network have all pushed out video-on-demand services to deliver a wide range of content instantly. With the Redbox acquisition leading to the largest network of rental kiosks, Verizon is seeking to gain as much leverage possible to compete in this growing market segment.

The plan is vague, but they’re claiming a $6 per month subscription for 1 DVD and instant movie streaming, which bests a comparable Netflix offering at $15.98 by more than 50%. Of course Verizon was squeamish on the pricing details, just claiming to seek “right pricing.”

With an initial plan of just $30 million, it’s not clear how their content acquisition will compare with Netflix who spends $1 billion per year on content.

One thing that is certain: we’ll be seeing a lot more red.