NBC's scheduled coverage of the 2008 Olympics is absolutely breathtaking in its scope: It's broadcasting over 3,600 hours of the world's greatest athletes performing feats that reveal how shapeless and amoebic the rest of humanity is-that's 1,000 more hours than the last 12 Summer Olympics combined. The internet is a…
One thing you can say about the Vudu video wonderbox is that it gets better all the time. AVN-the Adult Video Network-is launching a dedicated porn channel on Vudu. While you'll have to pay for every flick you watch, there are at least two reasons it's better than the FyreTV streaming porn box that Chen loves so, so…
Unveiling the new Home, Sony revealed that video rentals and purchases are finally coming to the PS3. Video will be fully integrated into the PlayStation Store, which will have a new video section. And you can transfer them to your PSP via USB, and have them on multiple devices at once! Standard and high def, with…
Remember Viacom suing YouTube and Google for one BILLION dollars eons ago? That's still going on! And while a judge ruled yesterday that while Google doesn't have to reveal its secret search sauce to the multimedia giantface, he did grant Viacom's request for YouTube to turn over records of "every video watch by…
Joost, the P2P-powered TV killer we reviewed back in the heady days of the writers' strike that we found a bit wanting (and is on the skids), will work in your browser later this summer with a plug-in, rather than needing to install a whole separate app. As Valleywag points out, this might be a bit futile, since the…
Last week, we had a demo of the TV godbox we reported on last summer by Building B—now Sezmi. If anything, their claims have actually gotten bolder: They're promising the "first complete TV 2.0 solution" that rolls up traditional TV with movies, on-demand, DVR and internet video, all presented seamlessly to viewers.…
The format war over, and Blu-ray safely enthroned as the victor, Warner can now turn its sights beyond—to downloads and the infinite format war. Time Warner's chief executive announced today that Warner Bros. will release movies for on-demand systems like Comcast's and Apple TV on the same day they are released on DVD…
Warner Bros. is jumping into the online video arena next month with a pair of sites, thewb.com and kidswb.com, which will show full episodes of its biggest series, like Friends and Smallville on the former, and stuff like Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and Batman (hopefully Paul Dini's brilliant and amazing original animated…
The most consistent rationale for ISPs to throttle p2p applications or charge by the byte is that a small minority of users drain a vastly disproportionate amount of bandwidth, like the planet-raping aliens in Independence Day. Om Malik pulls a few of these numbers out of Arbor Networks' CTO, who develops all the…
Taking a page out of the Hulu playbook, but awesomer, the South Park guys are streaming every single South Park episode in full at their official site, South Park Studios. What they get right: Streams are fast and vid quality is solid; every episode, from first to most recent is available (with one exception); and…
As part of its earnings call, Netflix dropped the bit they intend to finally launch their all-you-can-eat Watch Instantly online video service for Macs later this year. The only holdup is/has been the lack of a Mac-native DRM system that Hollywood approves as sufficiently draconian. Hurray! Sorta. Mostly. [Electronista
We had heard that unlimited online viewing had been granted to select Netflix subscribers last month, and suspected it'd get a full rollout soon. Well, soon is tomorrow—as the AP notes, a day before MacWorld, where Apple is expected to unveil its video rental-killer rendition of iTunes.
Gaze into the future with us, foreshadowed by a company called MatrixStream. These wizards teased us with their 1080p HD streaming box 18 months ago, bragging about how it lets you instantly watch 1080p videos over a broadband connection. Fast-forward to today, and now they're announcing the streaming of a…
Honestly, if we hadn't been tipped to this, we probably would've been none the wiser—same as pretty much everybody else on the planet apparently—but it looks like Wal-Mart's video download store caught pneumonia and died on Dec. 21.
Microsoft and ESPN have struck a deal to sell NCAA basketball and football games, the X Games and shows like Madden Nation in the Live Marketplace. Standard-def NCAA games are $3; HD versions run $4.50, and they go live "within 48 hours" of the end of the game. ESPN content is $2 for standard def and $3 for HD. […
We've been playing around with News Corp. and NBC's answer to internet video, Hulu, for a couple of days, letting the low-traffic, buttery smooth launch day stretch out more into real time and real traffic conditions before we let loose with our judgment. Let's get this out of the way: YouTube killer it ain't. Same…
Nearly two months after the fizzle out between NBC Universal and Apple during contract negotiations, NBC U CEO Jeff Zucker spills what some of the contested terms were. Most surprising is that NBC asked for a cut of hardware sales. Not the fact that they wanted a cut, but that they actually asked for it—they'd have…
The bastard child of News Corp. and NBC's love-hate relationship with GooTube, Hulu, is making its public debut this week, with the private beta going live tonight. The log-in form's already up, but those of us at Giz who've signed up for the beta haven't gotten our invites in the mail yet, so we haven't stuck our…
During its mostly positive Q3 earnings call, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings dropped word that "in terms of enabling the viewing of online content on the television screen, we are exploring a variety of options, including Internet connected, high definition DVD players, internet connected game consoles, and dedicated…
Pushing out his review a bit before the official embargo lifted last night, our favorite Times wonder-reporter put the video store in a box, Vudu, through its paces and walked away mostly happy with the experience. Brownie points for: picture quality, slick five-button remote, pay-per-flick, and truly instant viewing.…