Thompson on Hollywood

Media Watch: Amazon Prime Instant vs. Netflix, Selling YouTube at Denny's, Zuckerberg's Regrets

Able to report some much-needed good news, Netflix renewed its contract with ABC, adding more shows including Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. After losing 800,000 domestic subscribers after its recent price increase and the controversial fissure between streaming and sending DVDs, the company is doing its best to please their remaining consumers. However, Netflix's primary rival Amazon is making its own moves as Netflix’s primary competition with Prime Instant, a video library that will include over 800 titles from Disney-ABC including Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and Felicity. Prime has also secured licensing deals with CBS, Fox, NBCUniversal, PBS, Sony and Warner Brothers.

By Maggie Lange
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October 31, 2011 4:28 AM
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Netflix, Under Fire, Ditches Plans to Split Company, Kills Qwikster

"Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that," said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings as he backed off plans to split the company in two. “There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case.”

By Anne Thompson
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October 10, 2011 12:52 PM
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Media Watch: Hulu Lets You Choose Your Ads, Amazon Splits Streaming, Transformers Streamed Directly

- Amazon's stand-alone streaming service might follow the path of Netflix, reports Fierce Online. Amazon's plans to break its streaming business from its e-commerce store marks another instance, like Netflix, in which corporations make business decisions that do not cater to their consumers. Amazon might also have plans to split Prime from its original site.

By Maggie Lange
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October 5, 2011 12:21 PM
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Media Watch: Twitter Proves People Are Happiest on Weekends, Netflix vs. Amazon

Looking at a catalogue of real-time updates from Twitter, scientists at Cornell University were able to track mood changes throughout the day and week, and found confirmation of the obvious: people are happiest on their days off. Cornell University analyzed over 500 million Tweets from 2.4 million people, from 84 countries and using a computer program to look at words indicating positive or negative moods, found that positive attitudes peaked early in the morning and then again around midnight. Moods dipped in the middle of the workday and peaked on weekend mornings.

By Maggie Lange
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September 30, 2011 6:19 AM
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Amazon Expands Instant Video with 100k+ Library Titles

Netflix beware. At the end of July, Amazon announced a partnership with NBCUniversal to provide some 9,000 streaming movies and TV shows to its Prime subscribers.

By Jacob Combs
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August 18, 2011 4:14 AM
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Sundance Institute Pushes Deeper Into Digital Distribution Alternatives--Analysis

Festivals

Two things pop from this week's announcement from Robert Redford's Sundance Institute about their "Artists Services Initiative." First, who it's for--Sundance Institute filmmakers only--and second, how it contrasts with Robert De Niro's for-profit New York-based Tribeca Films, which picks up films to release, some of them from its own festival.

By Anne Thompson
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July 29, 2011 8:51 AM
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Media Watch: Amazon Streaming Goes Universal, Netflix vs. Hulu User Behavior, Fighting Piracy

Amazon is teaming up with NBC Universal to stream movies to subscribers, continuing its direct competition with Netflix. THR reports that Amazon now offers 9,000 movies and TV shows to its subscribers—Prime customers who pay $79.00 a year (compared to Netflix’s annual $96, for many more options). This after Amazon struck a similar deal with CBS last week. Movies and TV shows to stream include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fletch, Cheers, Frasier, and Star Trek.

By Maggie Lange
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July 29, 2011 5:42 AM
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Digital Platform Bookish Launches, Backed by Hachette, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, AOL

Books continue to go digital as a group of book companies--Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group (USA) and Simon & Schuster, Inc.-- put their combined might behind new digital platform Bookish.

By Anne Thompson
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May 6, 2011 5:19 AM
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Amazon Studios Offers Free and Licensed Library of 2,000 Songs

Amazon Studios -- which invites filmmakers and screenwriters to submit their works for discovery -- announces the release of 2000 free and licensed movie-production music tracks for any registered and signed-in member on their site. Amazon Studios says they added the feature: "in order to enhance the overall viewing experience of the movies they upload to the site. Amazon Studios also recognizes that it’s hard for filmmakers to get valid licenses to soundtrack music for their test movies. Sound and music are important parts of how test movies garner more engaged feedback from movie fans than just scripts alone. Every month, Amazon Studios offers a $100,000 award to the best test movie."

By Sophia Savage
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April 28, 2011 7:54 AM
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Fandor Streams Indie Video: Sundance Meets Netflix

Finally, the promise of streaming movies has become a practical reality, from Amazon to Netflix. But as multiple indie sites come and go (from Jaman and Mubi to Spout), on the eve of SXSW, a new indie site launches Wednesday, Fandor, that promises a better subscription indie streaming service via its website and Facebook. For $10 a month, you can browse, sample, clip and stream its library of 2500 films, from Fritz Lang and Maya Deren classics to Alex Cox and Derek Jarman indies or Sundance docs. (Shorts are in the mix too, especially as a mobile app comes online.)