Increasingly, the Name of the Game is VOD

Despite some promising disc sales numbers as we near the end of 2013, the VOD segment shows not sign of halting its growth or lessening its assumption of an increasing share of the home entertainment ecosystem. For studios and major distributors, this has a direct effect on the bottom line, with fewer discs being sold […]

Blockbuster Bids Farewell

Blockbuster, as a physical presence, finally threw in the proverbial towel and has called it quits. Home Media Magazine reports that plans are in place to close the last remaining brick-n-mortar stores by the end of the year. The brand will continue to live on, however, as Blockbuster@Home through parent company Dish Network. It’s an […]

Making Waves In the Home Entertainment Business

With the all the news about expanding VOD solutions and new VOD platforms debuting, seemingly every day, it would be easy to think that discs’ sales revenue had dropped off a cliff. And yet, this isn’t the case. One need look no further than Home Media Magazine‘s retail sales chart for the latest reporting week […]

Netflix Continues to Surprise

Not long ago, perhaps a little over a year, it seemed like Netflix was a bit lost, disconnected from consumers and beaten up by major content providers like WB and HBO. It was tough times for the best-known name in streaming video. (Read about it here and here.) But that was then. This is now. […]

Giant Happenings at the EMA’s Digital Media Pipeline

We’ll post more about this in a future blog, but we wanted to share a glimpse into the Entertainment Merchants Association’s Digital Media Pipeline 2013, held Tuesday, September 24 at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. Reported attendance topped 500 industry executives from every part of the mediascape including technology partners (like Giant), studios, digital […]

Time-Warner and CBS Lead the Charge…in the Wrong Direction

It seems counterintuitive that Time-Warner cable and CBS haven’t made peace and returned the cable universe and America’s primetime viewing back to normal. It’s the last thing you’d think that a cable company would want to do: Give viewers the glimmer of what entertainment delights are available elsewhere. Worried talk of ‘cord cutters’, those viewers […]

The Model of a Modern Major Network

I was a little frustrated when I discovered that Hulu only had season 4 of Parks & Recreation. Though I’m a little late to the party for this smart comedy, I had dreams of binge-viewing the entire run…and now those hopes were dashed. Thinking that I’d have to start at Season 1 on disc, I […]

How Precarious Is Netflix’s Lead in VOD?

Netflix has been the lightning rod of the VOD revolution for a long time, whether for good or ill. As a subscriber since 2000, I’ve followed the company’s evolution from DVD distributor to VOD leader and for this entire period, Netflix has had the privilege of being the name mentioned first and most often when […]

Managing a Cornucopia of Entertainment Choices

Christmas brought a bit of a tech upgrade at mi casa. Twas a long time coming… I finally knuckled down and hooked up the Roku which I got from FlixFling about a blue moon ago, which meant Hulu+ (for my wife’s Scandal fascination) and my Amazon Prime were quickly inaugurated. Our Apple TV arrived too, […]

A Second Golden Age of Television…Delivered Digitally

Fast on the tail of the WSJ article about Binge TV viewing comes another TV-viewing-related news item in which Neilsen reports that Netflix customers are increasingly likely to be using the service to watch television series rather than movies. “Nineteen percent of survey respondents said they prefer to use Netflix for TV programming, an 8% […]

Tag: Netflix