According to new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, box office and digital revenue is expected to steadily increase over the next five years, while rentals and sales of discs are projected to sharply decline. PwC predicts that electronic home video revenue will exceed revenue of physical home video by 2016. Not surprisingly, DVDs are facing a questionable future. PwC estimates that physical home entertainment revenue will decline from $12.2 billion in 2013 to $8.7 billion in 2018. Continue reading PwC Study: Electronic Home Video to Top Physical by 2016

During Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” on HBO, John Oliver devoted more than 13 minutes, nearly half his show, to explaining the FCC’s proposed Net neutrality rules in a humorous yet detailed fashion. Toward the end of the commentary, he passionately called upon Internet commenters to direct their “indiscriminate rage” toward the FCC’s online feedback system. Viewers responded, and the next day the FCC tweeted that its site was experiencing technical difficulties due to the heavy traffic. Continue reading FCC Comments Site Slows After John Oliver’s Commentary

Google is reportedly planning to announce the launch of its Android TV platform during the Google I/O developer conference, which is scheduled for June 25-26 in San Francisco. According to multiple sources, Android TV will be a platform rather than another device. TV and set-top box manufacturers will be able to use Android TV to deliver streaming services to televisions. The platform, with its unique Pano interface, is expected to focus on online media services and Android-based video games. Continue reading Google to Unveil Pano-Powered Android TV Later This Month

Google recently released an online tool that allows Internet users to see how well different Internet providers in their area are able to stream videos from YouTube. By detecting a user’s location and averaging video consumption rates over the last 30 days, Google’s Video Quality Report displays a graph that shows the percentage of videos streamed properly in high or standard definition and patterns in video consumption during different times of the day. Continue reading Google Rates Local Internet Providers on Streaming Quality

Despite those who claim a drop in P2P activity, legal pressure and growing popularity of paid services have not led to a decline in file sharing. According to Tru Optik, 300 million users swap files via BitTorrent each month. Tru Optik estimates that more movies and TV shows are downloaded by file sharers than are sold via iTunes, Google Play and Amazon combined. The U.S. accounts for more downloaded media and software than any other country, with the exception of video game downloads in Brazil.

Continue reading File Sharing Not in Decline, U.S. Consumers Lead the Charge

In a survey of 259 marketing and business development execs in finance, retail and consumer products, Forrester Research found that one-third of the respondents were confused about big data, and only 9 percent plan to implement related technologies in the next year. Forrester also found in a parallel survey that 452 technology execs at the same companies claimed they were more familiar with big data. Despite the confusion, the report encourages companies to take advantage of data supplied by Internet users and connected devices.

Continue reading Forrester Sees Growth in Use of Big Data Despite Confusion

New data from analyst IDC finds that shipments of 4K televisions have reached over one million per month and are projected to reach upward of 15.2 million for 2014. Consumer adoption is on the rise as the average selling price has dropped 85 percent worldwide in the last two years, from $7,851 in 2012 to $1,120 in 2014. A new report from BI Intelligence predicts a faster adoption curve than HDTV, with 4K TVs to be found in more than half of North American homes within 10 years. Continue reading Ultra HD: Consumer Adoption on the Rise with Lower Prices

Redbox, the nation’s largest DVD renter, is uninstalling more than 500 kiosks, renegotiating contracts with studios for more favorable content rights, and optimizing its streaming service, Redbox Instant. These changes come as the company faces several challenges: revenue rose only three percent last year after double-digit increases in past years, good locations for kiosks are dwindling, and Redbox Instant only accounts for less than 1 percent of video-on-demand rentals. Continue reading Redbox Refocuses as Sales and Streaming Service Stagnate

According to Netflix CFO David Wells, the streaming service plans on spending $3.2 billion on streaming content in 2014. Netflix acknowledged that a large fraction of the currently available material is not necessarily popular with its audience and plans to spend more money on shows with higher potential. A content shift through the next few quarters toward more original series along with licensing exclusive and higher-rated shows will account for this extra spending. Continue reading Netflix Turns to Original Series and Licensing 5-Star Content

Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer, announced several of Netflix’s predictions for the future of TV at New York City’s Internet Week conference. He said the company is perfecting its personalization technology so that Netflix will know exactly what you want to watch, and will give you one or two suggestions rather than an endless grid of movies and shows. The vision also includes elimination of the commercial, more smart TVs, and maybe even live sports on Netflix. Continue reading Focus on Personalization: The Netflix Vision for Internet TV

Mortar Data, a New York-based company known for building and hosting custom big data applications, recently announced the launch of a recommendation engine platform that allows anyone to build their own system, and use it with their own data, for free. Recommendation systems are becoming increasingly popular, and have become a gold mine for big companies such as Pandora and Netflix, which use the services to make recommendations based on customer history. Continue reading Mortar Data Makes it Easier to Build Recommendation Engines

AT&T has agreed to acquire DirecTV for $49 billion. The two companies’ boards approved the agreement yesterday. The deal, which comes just three months after Comcast’s $45 billion agreement to purchase Time Warner Cable, will create a new pay TV giant as video consumption continues to move online. Combining AT&T and DirecTV would result in a company with 26 million pay TV subscribers in the U.S., second only to Comcast and Time Warner Cable if regulators approve their deal. Continue reading Pay TV: AT&T Agrees to Purchase DirecTV in $49 Billion Deal

Walmart announced that its VUDU media delivery service will introduce a new feature that allows customers to share content from their UltraViolet collections. The “Share My Movies” feature will enable users to share movies and TV shows with up to five friends or family members by simply entering their email addresses (they also need to be VUDU customers). The company hopes that the ability to share libraries will encourage more consumers to sign up for the service. Continue reading VUDU Allows UltraViolet Users to Share Movies with Friends

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 yesterday in favor of moving forward with proposed rules that would allow broadband providers to charge individual companies extra for preferential handling of online traffic. The ongoing debate has divided tech companies regarding the best path to keeping the Internet open. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal would ban providers from blocking or slowing sites, but leaves open the possibility of deals for access to so-called “fast lanes.” Continue reading Net Neutrality: FCC Votes in Favor of Advancing Web Proposal

Six months after the initial release of its Xbox One, Microsoft plans to offer a new version of the game console for $100 less. Beginning on June 9th, the company will offer a version that does not include the Kinect motion sensor, starting at $399. Microsoft also announced that it will begin offering new features to Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners in June. For example, Hulu and Netflix subscribers will be able to use the apps for free, without the need for an Xbox Live Gold membership. Continue reading Microsoft Will Offer Xbox One Without Kinect for $100 Less