Netflix Looks to Raise $400 Million in Cash

Netflix Inc. said it agreed to raise about $400 million in cash from selling stock and bonds that can be converted into stock, a move seen by analysts as a sign that efforts to acquire video content are proving expensive.
The DVD-rental and online-video company also expects to be unprofitable for 2012, according to the regulatory filing for the fund-raising. The company added that revenues would be flat until its subscriber base rises, but said it couldn't be certain whether such growth would happen.
The announcements come after a months-long rough spell for Netflix. Customers and investors howled after it raised prices on a popular subscription plan by 60% in July, and when it announced in September a since-aborted plan to separate its DVD-rental-by-mail service into a separate business called Qwikster.
The Los Gatos, Calif., company has said it lost 800,000 subscribers in this year's third quarter, while its shares have fallen 74% since the price hike was announced on July 12.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said the company doesn't have a pressing need for more cash, "but it's always nice to have more money than you need." He said the company has no immediate plans to use the funds. He added that subscriber cancellations have continued to decline, meaning that Netflix could soon see its subscriber base grow.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204443404577052710201759858.html#ixzz1g1x6ZVFE

Netflix 'got overconfident' this year, CEO Reed Hastings says

Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings, confirming what his critics have said for months, conceded his company "got overconfident" this year and moved too fast to get its customers to stop ordering DVDs in favor of online streaming.
He also said his company sometimes pays too much for its content.
"Our big obsession for the year was let's not live and die with the DVD," Hastings said Tuesday in an interview at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.
Earlier this year, Netflix introduced a new pricing scheme and did away with its $9.99 plan that let users watch an unlimited number of movies online and rent one DVD at a time. Now, subscribers who want that combination will have to pay $15.98 a month — $7.99 for Netflix Instant streaming and $7.99 to receive discs in the mail.
That led more than 800,000 subscribers to cancel the service and caused a multibillion-dollar drop in Netflix's market value.
"It turned out to be a little too fast," Hastings said, adding that Netflix took an image beating similar to the one that Bank of America got for trying to charge monthly fees for use of its debit card. Ultimately, he said, this will be forgotten in a few years when streaming content becomes the primary way people view content.
"Streaming is the future," he said.

Read More - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/12/netflix-ceo-hastings-fears-hbo-go.html

Netflix Canada to get more quality content in 2012

TORONTO — Netflix is promising that 2012 will be a big year for the company in Canada, with plans to double its acquisition spending for movies and TV shows and give Canadians access to more quality content -- although it still won't match the selection available in the U.S.
In a letter to shareholders in late October, Netflix said next year's spending boost would give the the Canadian service "comparable content quality" to the U.S. site.
In a recent interview, vice president of content Jason Ropell said the statement implies that Canadians will get access to the same calibre of top-tier films and TV shows available in the U.S., although he conceded the quantity of those titles will still limited north of the border.
Given that Netflix's streaming service has been up and running in the U.S. for about five years and has more than 21 million customers, expecting the same breadth of catalogue on the Canadian side -- which has been online for a little over a year with more than one million subscribers -- isn't realistic, said Ropell, a Canadian himself.
Netflix Canada has "more than a third of the content they have (in the U.S.) but we've only been operating less than a fifth of the time," Ropell said.
"We're already doing fairly well if you compare the two over the same period of time, but within a year I don't see us ramping up to that quantity. But quality, I think we can get closer."

Read more - http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111204/netflix-canada-service-quality-111204/20111204/?hub=CalgaryHome

Netflix’s CEO Sees ‘Arms Race’ to Dominate Video Streaming

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said he sees an “arms race” to dominate Web-based TV viewing, with Time Warner Inc. (TWX)’s HBO Go service his top competitor.
“The competitor we fear most is HBO Go,” Hastings said today at a UBS media conference in New York. “HBO is becoming more Netflix-like and we’re becoming more HBO-like. The two of us will compete for a very long time.”
Hastings downplayed the emergence of other competitors, such as Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), saying rivals will have to spend $1 billion to $2 billion a year on content. New competitors also will have to get their offerings on more devices in the home, particularly so-called smart TVs with built-in Web connections, he said.

Read more - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-06/netflix-ceo-sees-arms-race-to-dominate-streaming-labels-hbo-top-rival.html

Netflix shares tumble to 20-month low after company raises $400m by selling back convertible debt

Netflix Inc's shares dropped as much as 7 per cent on Tuesday after it warned of a loss for 2012, a move that prompted several Wall Street analysts to cut their price targets for the online video and DVD rental company.

Analysts at Caris, Janney, UBS and Wedbush Securities all slashed their price targets for Netflix, citing the company's outlook.

Netflix had previously said it anticipates a loss only in the first quarter of 2012.

The problem, it said, is that the company has recently lost a ‘significant’ number of customers, who objected to Netflix's decisions to raise its prices and split up its streaming and DVD business -- an idea it later dropped.

Netflix's outlook adjustment came in a late filing on Monday, which said it had raised $400 million in new capital by selling convertible debt to long-time backer Technology Crossover Ventures and stock to funds managed by T.Rowe Price.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064963/Netflix-stocks-free-fall-shares-tumble-20-month-low-raising-400m-selling-debt.html#ixzz1f07x4Vey

LEGO Harry Potter: Fair review for years 5-7

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is the 2011 game in the Lego video game franchise, developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by Warner Bros. Released on November 11th, 2011 in North America and the 18th in Europe along with the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Blu-ray/DVD release.
Based on the Lego Harry Potter line and the final four films in the Harry Potter series we thought it would be a good idea to check out a review of the popular wizard and his friends in LEGO attire. After the recent LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars III, it is intriguing to see if latest edition is worth a mention.
Cheat Code Central regarded this game as well textured and much like the movies. The animation is good with great characters presenting the relevant body language including wonderful audio sounds. The puzzles and spells give a realistic and authentic LEGO experience. Repetitive usage of abilities when completing puzzles can feel more like a routine than a game. The combat side is weak and the Star Wars version was preferred to in this aspect.

Read more - http://www.inentertainment.co.uk/20111121/lego-harry-potter-fair-review-for-years-5-7/

Netflix subscribers offered class-action payout from Wal-Mart

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Millions of current and former Netflix customers woke up Wednesday to an e-mail about a class-action lawsuit involving the price of online DVD rentals.
It's legit, and it's the latest twist in a legal saga that started two years ago.

In May 2005, Wal-Mart and Netflix struck a pact: Wal-Mart would scrap its struggling DVDs-by-mail subscription service and instead encourage its customers to sign on with Netflix. In return, Netflix agreed to promote Wal-Mart's DVD sales business.
But in 2009, a group of Netflix subscribers banded together and filed a lawsuit charging the two companies with collusion. The gist of their complaint is that the two companies agreed to carve up the market and stay off each others' turf: DVD rentals for Netflix and DVD sales for Wal-Mart. The deal helped Netflix entrench itself as the market's dominant player and raise its subscription prices, the lawsuit alleges.

Article source - http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/16/technology/netflix_class_action_lawsuit/

New releases for Nov. 8, 2011: Rascal Flatts’ first live album out today, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ out Friday

Country music trio Rascal Flatts, which includes Picher-bred guitarist Joe Don Rooney, release today “The Best of Rascal Flatts LIVE,” the group’s first live album. Actually, the album is coming out on Lyric Street Records/Hollywood Records, the band’s former record label.
The album will include “Bob That Head,” “Bless the Broken Road,” “Still Feels Good,” “Here’s to You,” “Stand,” “These Days,” “What Hurts the Most,” “Life Is a Highway” and a medley of “I’m Movin’ On,” “Skin (Sarabeth)” and “Feels Like Today.” For an encore, the album offers the band’s cover version of Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time” and the Edgar Winter Group’s “Free Ride.”
Rascal Flatts recorded for Disney’s Lyric Street imprint until the label shuttered in 2010; Hollywood Records is another Disney imprint. The trio is now signed to Big Machine Records, which released the Flatts’ latest record, “Nothing Like This.”
The hit-making band will compete for the title of Country Music Association vocal group of the year during the 45th Annual CMA Awards, airing live from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday on ABC. The band also will perform duets with pop star Natasha Bedingfield and R&B legend Lionel Ritchie. Make plans to follow my live blog of the show Wednesday night.
Read more - http://blog.newsok.com/bamsblog/2011/11/08/new-releases-for-nov-8-2011-rascal-flatts-first-live-album-out-today-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-out-friday/

Netflix represents 32.7% of North America's peak Web traffic

Despite losing 800,000 members, Netflix still accounts for a whopping 32.7% of all North American peak fixed access downstream traffic, according to Sandvine's fall 2011 Global Internet Phenomena Report. That's up nearly 10% since spring 2011 and almost double the peak traffic of the next largest source, HTTP at 17.5%.
Netflix pumps nearly three times as much bandwidth as YouTube and it accounts for 29% of peak aggregate traffic, ahead of HTTP's 16.6% and BitTorrent's 13.5%. In fact, the only statistics not dominated by Netflix are upstream-related. It's responsible for 7.7% of upload traffic, behind HTTP's 11.5% and BitTorrent's 47.6%.
As evidenced by its loss of nearly a million subscribers, Netflix has been treading some harsh water in recent months following several unpopular decisions. While this has prompted many to question the company's future, Sandvine doesn't foresee a significant decline in the service's traffic because it's so widely available.
"With so many Netflix-capable devices, the addressable market of the service is already enormous and will only increase, so it's hard to envision a scenario in which absolute levels of Netflix will decline," the report said. "However, Netflix is facing increased local competition, and as a result new services might grow at a faster rate."
Read more - http://www.techspot.com/news/46048-netflix-represents-327-of-north-americas-peak-web-traffic.html

The Downfall of Netflix

Shortly after Neflix’s CEO Reed Hastings’ decision to split the Netflix DVD delivery and online streaming services into two companies with separate usage fees, customers responded by dropping their subscriptions entirely, leaving Netflix with 1 million less customers and a severe drop in stock prices. In a desperate attempt to keep up with the evolution of DVD and home entertainment, Hastings moved to create Quikster, a company under Netflix, to manage the DVD delivery service while the original Netflix focused on internet-based streaming media. The split was followed by a 60% price increase from the usual Netflix fee, which included both streaming and DVD delivery at a flat rate. Now the price for the two separate services amounts to $18, a price that many Netflix customers are unwilling to pay.
Read More - http://www.thepacifican.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3399&Itemid=100016

New on DVD: ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and ‘Attack the Block’

This week’s DVD releases are topped by films about people who fight injustice and evil.
“Captain America: The First Avenger”: Chris Evans — the guy who put the heat in the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” movies — steps into the boots of the latest comic-book-inspired film champion.
He plays Steve Rogers, a 90-pound weakling who, through the magic of science, becomes the hunky Captain America. The film isn’t a major disaster, but it generally could use some work. Director Joe Johnston’s uneven direction, combined with some iffy special effects, has the film spinning from heroic to horrific.
Evans always looks like he showed up late at a costume store and had to wear whatever could be cobbled together.
Everything about “Captain America: The Last Avenger” is uneven. There are moments of focus when the film is a battle royal, but it’s not sustained, leaving this latest comic book effort a candidate for a dishonorable discharge.
“Attack the Block”: Director Joe Cornish offers a fresh look at the aliens-vs.-humans genre with this tale of what happens when a housing complex becomes the subject of an attack. Instead of the military, it’s a gang of South London teens who have to save the day.
Read More - http://www.sj-r.com/features/x493116986/New-on-DVD-Captain-America-The-First-Avenger-and-Attack-the-Block

Netflix continues to redefine its place by assessing the viability of bringing the hit Comedy Central series ‘Reno 911!’ back from cancellation after two years.

First came the news that Netflix would be competing against the likes of Showtime for the privilege of airing the new episodes of Arrested Development – and now word is the company will seek to bring the Comedy Central favorite Reno 911! back as well. If this keeps up, the former by-mail rental house (and current overlord of streaming content) is going to be accused of necromancy.
At present, the extent of the interest stems from meetings Reno 911! producers Michael Shamberg and Stacy Sher (Contagion, Pulp Fiction) have had with Netflix – specifically Netflix chief creative officer Ted Sarandos – regarding the company’s desire to begin the somewhat complicated process of bringing this idea to fruition.

Read More - http://screenrant.com/reno-911-returns-netflix-yman-135319/

The Inbetweeners Movie DVD release date rumoured for December

The film, which has been a box office success, will reportedly be released on December 12, according to Den of Geek.
Although the movie website claims this date is not 'confirmed' yet.
So far, The Inbetweeners Movie, which revolves around a lads holiday in Malia, has raked in £43m at the UK box office.
The film made £13.2million in its first weekend of release, recording the biggest box office opening ever for a UK comedy.
Simon Bird, who plays Will McKenzie, recently claimed yet to receive a single freebie from companies and brands desperate for a celebrity endorsement.
He told The Sun: 'I haven't had anything. All I really want is a Pizza Express.
'No one's even sent me a briefcase,' he added, referring to his character's 'Briefcase W***er' nickname.


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/film/877505-the-inbetweeners-movie-dvd-release-date-rumoured-for-december#ixzz1Zu6t1ts3

DVD Releases: 'As If I Am Not There'

As If I Am Not There (2010), the second feature from Irish writer-director Juanita Wilson and starring Stellan Skarsgård, Miraj Grbic and Natasa Petrovic, opens on a young woman tearfully looking at her unwanted newborn baby, before taking a shower as blood trickles into the drain. Of all the films based around the conflict in Bosnia, few have focused solely on the plight of ethnically cleansed civilians, and none are likely to be as relentlessly sombre in tone. Yet as uncomfortable as it is to watch, it's also extremely powerful and engaging.

We follow the plight of Samira (Petrovic), a young, middle-class teacher from Sarajevo who begins teaching classes in a remote hillside village just as the Bosnian war is beginning. Serbian troops arrive soon afterwards and their barbarism is swift and ruthless. After executing all the men, they bus the women and children away to a military camp, to live in diabolical conditions, where they are either forced into hard labour or mercilessly raped and abused. Word to the wise: this is not a date movie.

Depictions of such unforgiving recent histories will inevitably put some viewers off, and the brutal rape scenes will certainly echo long in your memory. But Wilson consistently makes her biggest mark in quieter moments. For an adaptation from a novel, dialogue is sparse, and impact is felt when we don’t see things. When the men of the village are led outside by the soldiers, the camera remains indoors, lingering on the women as machine gun fire is heard, and their expressions pack a desperately emotional punch. Wilson demonstrates impressive patience and thoughtful pace.

This also provides room for a breathtaking central performance from the Macedonian newcomer. In her first lead role, Petrovic carries As If I Am Not There with a gravity that belies her age; her face conveys emotions that dialogue could not articulate.

Samira is a more complex lead than the usual helpless victim we're used to, and eventually starts using the soldier's sexual appetite to her advantage, a grim compromise that wins her no friends with her fellow detainees. But as one of the soldiers tells her, "You're only doing what you have to do to survive - just like me".

Indeed, it is a resolutely human drama - save for the end title, the war on which events are based is not mentioned, nor are the motivations behind the Serbian's ethnic cleansing; and you sense that the reality was even worse. Political or historical grounding is deliberately bare, and no comforting conclusions are offered. Such endless hopelessness is only offset by almost inconsequential lifelines: when Samira is raped, she concentrates her attention on a tiny fly, giving meaning to the title. But these are small mercies.

Bleak and hard-bitten though it is, As If I Am Not There is also immensely compelling, a film to be admired if not necessarily to be enjoyed. Thoughts and emotions are stirred and provoked, and despite the lack of historical context, that it is 'based on real events' cannot fail to rouse strong feelings. As If I Am Not There has been announced as Ireland's official submission to next year’s foreign language Oscar, and richly deserves a nomination, at the very least.
Article source - http://www.cine-vue.com/2011/09/dvd-releases-as-if-i-am-not-there.html

DVD Releases: 'Cat O' Nine Tails'

In only his second film as director after the sublime Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Dario Agento was determined to demonstrate new facets of his talent, enthusing that Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) - starring James Franciscus, Karl Malden and Catherine Spaak - would be a different beast to its giallo siblings. An over-simplistic diagnosis perhaps, but the only discernible difference between the film and his masterful debut seems to be that only one of them is any good.

Opening abruptly with the blind (and impossibly saintly) Franco Arno (Malden) and his niece overhearing a particularly delicate conversation between two shadowy men in a parked car, the film quickly falls into a familiar trajectory of death and paranoia. The men's words gather more relevance as the pair investigate following a string of murders related to a pharmaceutical company's research into criminal gene theory, another underexploited and potentially interesting angle on an otherwise generic piece.

Article source - http://www.cine-vue.com/2011/09/dvd-releases-cat-o-nine-tails.html

"Technique is nothing more than failed style" offers John Water's Cecil B. DeMented (2000), but the inverse is equally applicable in Argento's early career, with films such as Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Deep Red (1975) exuding an inventiveness, even playfulness, born out of the filmmaker's desire to push the technical and visual boundaries of the medium. You can practically see the director's eyes lighting up as the ideas sparked: 'What would happen if we put the camera on a bungee rope? Or if we attached the knife to the camera?'.

Cat O' Nine Tails opts for a more classical approach, unfolding predominantly in wide and medium compositions, panning slightly to accommodate movement. In the hands of a more versatile filmmaker, this would hypnotise - in Argento's hands, it looks like bad television, a verdict confirmed by the hammy delivery of a script which, though ludicrous and exposition-heavy, could have actually been a lot of fun.

Later Argento films are similarly flat but always boast astonishingly designed set pieces that elevate even the most routine or ridiculous to a higher plain - what Cat O' Nine Tails lacks in its moments of suspense or, in one particular instance, body horror, is consistency. There are flashes of brilliance and what the filmmaker would later coin 'violence as art', including one particularly memorable shot of a falling man's hands smoking as they clasp an elevator cable. Sadly these moments are sandwiched between such obvious and mundanely executed elements, making it hard to determine whether these flourishes are truly as inspired as the appear, or simply more favourable by comparison.

To bring myself explicitly into the proceedings for a moment, I must say that I found myself scouring the film for silver linings or fresh takes, attempting to impose the filmmaker's talents and preoccupations onto areas of the film where neither are present. For those who have read my previous pieces on Argento's cinema, my own stance on the director's work is clear, making it all the harder for me to denounce Cat O' Nine Tails as a failure of only passing interest to lovers of Argento's work.

DVD releases: September 23, 2011

'Bride Flight'

 Music Box Films

(★★★): It's been a while since one of those sweeping historical dramas wrapped around a tale of star-crossed lovers has come along. The new Dutch film "Bride Flight" is satisfying in that way, weaving together the fates of four young Dutch strangers caught up in the post-WWII migration to New Zealand. Fiances await the three girls; adventure the guy; all in a land they believe holds infinite promise. Director Ben Sombogaart begins the story in the present day with a wonderfully weathered Frank (veteran actor Rutger Hauer playing a rugged youth in his later years) surveying his vineyards, stopping in to taste the latest vintage. Soon, three women — scattered around the world and defined by different lives — are opening letters with news of Frank that will bring them together again. The answers to the mystery raised by those first few scenes will come in time as the filmmaker takes us back to the start of the engrossing story. 130 minutes; R for a strong sex scene and some graphic nudity.


Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/22/DVD_releases_main_0923/#ixzz1Ym4iWcYe
- vcstar.com

DVD releases: September 23, 2011

'Bridesmaids'
(★★★ ½ out of four): This takes the typically clichéd wedding movie genre and completely upends it and reinvents it into something surprisingly daring and alive. But it also takes the Judd Apatow-style buddy comedy, with its mixture of raunchiness, neurosis and sentimentality, and tailors it to female experiences and sensibilities. That the film achieves both of these ambitious goals simultaneously while remaining (mostly) hilarious is a testament to the power of Kristen Wiig as co-writer and star, and to the awesomely eclectic ensemble cast of strong comedians who surround her. Wiig plays Annie, a Milwaukee woman who's recently lost her bakery and her boyfriend. The one bright spot in her life is her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph), who's just announced that she's getting married and wants Annie to be her maid of honor. But Annie ends up competing with Lillian's new BFF, the perfect and passive-aggressive Helen (Rose Byrne). Meanwhile, Melissa McCarthy steals the whole film as Lillian's wildly inappropriate future sister-in-law. The film was released in May and became an immediate sensation, taking in $281 million worldwide. Not too shabby for a film that cost $33 million to make. 125 minutes; R for some strong sexuality and language throughout.


Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/22/DVD_releases_main_0923/#ixzz1Ym4VD3NY
- vcstar.com

A grab bag of new DVD releases

An early film starring the young John Cusack, the latest episodes in an excellent historical drama from Britain and two fresh takes on World War II are among the more intriguing recent DVD releases.
-"Better Off Dead" (CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment, $21.99 Blu-ray, rated PG): Unless you're gripped with an enduring nostalgia for the kind of hi jinx portrayed in '80s teen comedies, writer/director Savage Steve Holland's 1985 film (making its Blu-ray debut) starring the young John Cusack as a love-sick high school student may leave you colder than the ski slopes on which Cusack's character competes. The cliches run rampant and the plot, when it's not borrowing from Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude," is predictable to anyone who's gotten within spitting distance of the genre. Example: The bad guy here, who steals Cusack's girlfriend, is blond, good-looking, egotistical, athletic and mean, his name is Roy Stalin (was Sam Hitler taken?) and he deserves the comeuppance we know he'll get in the end.
Still, Cusack, early in his career (he had just made "The Sure Thing"), is charmingly offbeat as the hapless Lane Meyer, who resorts to a variety of failed suicide schemes after getting dumped by Beth (Amanda Wyss). And amid the suburban stereotypes of the ineffectual dad (David Ogden Stiers), the mom (Kim Darby) whose cooking is run-away-from-the-table disgusting, the tech whiz of a younger brother (Scooter Stevens) and the goofy sidekick (Curtis Armstrong), there's a bunch of very funny, quirky scenes. My favorite features Vincent Schiavelli as a nerdy math teacher whose class is filled with adoring students who pay rapt attention to his complex geometry and algebra lesson, are passionate about their homework assignments and groan when the bell rings to end their class. Scenes like this and running gags like the paper boy obsessively trying to collect his bill ("I want my two dollars!") have helped make "Better Off Dead" a cult classic.


Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/01/3050034/a-grab-bag-of-new-dvd-releases.html#ixzz1UGJTBOLx

Netflix Licensing Deal a Boon to CBS' Quarterly Net Income

Broadcaster CBS more than doubled its net income in the second quarter, in what is just the beginning of new revenues generated from Web TV licensing deals - a boon that will likely continue to pay big dividends to traditional media companies.
In an earnings call Aug. 2, CBS executives said company revenue was largely boosted by its relationships with so-called emerging platforms including Netflix and soon, Amazon.
CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves attributed the strong quarter to not only these relationships but also diversifying its revenue base with additional non-advertising sources.
“Despite a lack of political dollars, tough comps and some challenging macroeconomic factors, revenue was up 8 percent, OIBDA was up 51 percent, and diluted EPS was up 164 percent,” Moonves said during the call Wednesday.
Q2 revenue grew to $3.59 billion, up from analysts’ forecast for $3.55 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Analysts suggest CBS’s Netflix deal could be worth about $200 million over two years,” the report added.
CBS struck a licensing deal with Amazon a few weeks ago that will allow Amazon customers to stream television shows from CBS’s vast television library. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This deal is another example of how we are capitalizing on the value of our content by selling it to new distributors without taking away from established revenue streams,” explained Moonves.
With the deal, Amazon will add 2,000 episodes to grow the total number of Prime instant videos to more than 8,000 movies and television shows, and offer full seasons for 18 popular television series, including “The Tudors,” “Numb3rs,” “Medium,” the complete “Star Trek” franchise, “Frasier” and “Cheers.”
Read more http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/204107-netflix-licensing-deal-boon-cbs-quarterly-net-income.htm

Google may be latest to challenge to Netflix

The list of Netflix competitors keeps growing, this time with Google reportedly looking to step up YouTube's video streaming service.
According to the New York Post, the Internet giant will give more prominence to its movie streaming service, which it launched in May, on YouTube, and may also be looking to add its service to Android devices.
YouTube's video streaming service boasts 6,000 titles, Once they purchase the rental, customers have 30 days to begin viewing, but once they do, have just 24 hours to watch it. Currently, Universal, Sony and Warner have partnered with YouTube to provide content.
This comes as Wal-Mart, Amazon and Blockbuster have also been ramping up and aggressively promoting their video streaming services.
In the past two weeks, Amazon has struck streaming content deals with CBS and NBCUniversal, bringing its library to about 9,000 titles, which compares to Netflix's approximately 20,000.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Micrsoft and NBC Universal.)

Wal-Mart announced last week that it will make many new movies available on its Vudu.com the day they come to DVD. It will also advertise Vudu.com more prominently on its Web site and in stores.

Blockbuster, which was bought out of bankruptcy by Dish Network in April, is also looking to woo back customers it previously lost to Netflix. The company sent out an e-mail to consumers last week promoting its Total Access program and lower prices.

DVD Releases

Eight minutes and counting, and counting, and …


If there’s one new DVD release that’s going to give you your money’s worth this summer, not just as satisfying entertainment but also for the number of viewings you’ll get from it, it’s “Source Code’’ (2011). Directed by Duncan Jones (“Moon’’), the time-fracturing mind-bender stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens, a soldier drafted for a mission to identify a terrorist who bombed a Chicago commuter train and who’s poised to strike again. A top-secret program dubbed Source Code enables Colter to cross over into the body of a doomed passenger - and a parallel reality - for eight minutes leading up to the blast. And he’ll keep doing it all again until he completes his mission, or real time runs out. But, oh, the twisty questions enticing you to press “play’’ one more time. Once Colter leaps into an alternate timeline, does that world continue to exist alongside our own? What happens to Sean Fentress, the man whose identity Colter assumes? Watching again, you’ll also keep finding more to like about Gyllenhaal’s performance. His crazed-and-confused inappropriateness is as much a nod to Hitchcock - think Jimmy Stewart’s kooky obsessiveness - as are the film’s macabre segues, mystery-train setting, and Herrmannesque score. Extras: In smart commentary, Jones, Gyllenhaal, and writer Ben Ripley give their definitive take on the story’s paradoxes. Pop-up Blu-ray snippets jumble cast interviews, scientists’ time-travel speculations, and thematically related trivia - with nearly as much ooh-my-head overload as the concept of Source Code itself. (Summit Entertainment, $26.99; Blu-ray, $30.49)

New on DVD; 'Das Boot: The Director's Cut' in Blu-ray

Das Boot: The Director's Cut Sony Blu-ray, $35.99

One of the most popular foreign-language films of all time, Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" adapts Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel about a German submarine crew fighting to survive WWII. The film is as exciting now as it was 30 years ago, combining nail-biting combat sequences with rich character detail about the ideological differences between the career sailors and the young Nazis. The new Blu-ray edition contains Petersen's 209-minute cut, with cleaned-up image and sound, plus a commentary track and lengthy retrospective featurettes (with fascinating behind-the-scenes footage).


Hobo With a Shotgun Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $29.98

Jason Eisener's intentionally trashy "Hobo With a Shotgun" stars Rutger Hauer as a drifter who tries to clean up a dirty town run by a sadistic millionaire. With the title object on his hip and a teenage hooker by his side, Hauer's hobo blasts the holy hell out of thugs, perverts, rich jerks and the armored warriors known as "The Plague." "Hobo With a Shotgun" is never as clever as its title, but Eisener delivers what he promises. The movie is imaginatively perverse, with gore galore and plenty of quotable dialogue. The DVD and Blu-ray are just as generous, offering two commentary tracks, deleted scenes and featurettes.

13 Assassins Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $29.98

Coen Bros.' "True Grit," "Just Go With It" Among This Week's Top DVD Releases

Following a strong box office run early in the year, Adam Sandler's romantic comedy "Just Go With It" is one of the most prominent new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week followed by "True Grit," the Coen Brothers' successful remake of the popular John Wayne western.
Thriller "Sanctum" will also hit stores following a lukewarm run in theaters and seldom seen drama "The Company Men" looks to find its intended adult demographic this week as well. Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is another title hitting Blu-ray in a special edition and Martin Scorsese fans can grab his underrated "New York, New York" for the first time in high-def.
Though Joel and Ethan Coen have been mostly noted for critically acclaimed movies with modest box office totals, "True Grit" did quite a bit to change that. An update of the popular 1969 John Wayne film of the same title, the Coen Brothers' version started slowly in theaters but ended up with $171 million in domestic revenue, making it far and away the Coens' biggest commercial success.
With an All-Star cast that includes Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, "True Grit" is an unflinching story of revenge as told through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl (Hailee Steinfeld) trying to bring her father's murderer to justice. "True Grit" ended up with a bevy of Oscar nominations, including for Best Director, Best Actor (Bridges) and a Best Supporting Actress nod for newcomer Steinfeld.

MPAA, Sony, Google vs. little guys

This seems to be the week of the big media guys beating up the little guys and the little guys fighting back.
On Monday, the Motion Picture Association of America sued the new DVD streaming service Zediva. On Tuesday, Sony said its PlayStation Network had suffered outages as a result of attacks by the Anonymous group of hackers. On Wednesday, Google said it had removed an app for the Grooveshark music streaming service from the Android Market.
Movies, games, music then, with a common thread of users trying to circumvent the usual licensing and encryption restrictions on access to media.
We wrote about Zediva when it launched last month and the service promptly fell over as too many people tried to subscribe.
The company streams users the latest DVD releases for as little as $1 each. It thinks it can avoid the usual delay imposed by the movie studios on such releases being streamed by buying the actual DVD, putting it into a DVD player in its data center and renting access to it to subscribers.
But the MPAA alleges this constitutes a “public performance” and Zediva labelling itself a DVD rental service is a “sham”.
“In reality, Zediva is a video-on-demand service that transmits movies over the Internet using streaming technologies in violation of the studios’ copyrights,” the MPAA said in a statement.
It is seeking an injunction and damages against Zediva in a federal district court in Los Angeles. A Zediva spokesman said today it was still reviewing the suit and considering its response.
Sony’s websites have become the targets of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by Anonymous because of the company’s legal action against George Hotz, a 21-year-old US hacker, and Alexander Egorenkov, a German counterpart.
Both are alleged to have “jailbroken” the PlayStation 3 so that unauthorised games could be played on it and then shared their methods with other gamers.
Sony has acknowledged “interrupted service” and says its engineers have been working to restore and maintain its network.

Latest DVDs, CDs, books: April 12, 2011

A look at some of the DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores this week:
DVDS
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" (PG-13) -- It's the beginning of the end for everyone's favorite boy wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) and his faithful Hogwarts companions Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they continue their life-or-death battle against the villainous Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Just one other recent theatrical release hits DVD today: "Country Strong" (PG-13), with Gwyneth Paltrow as a self-destructive country star who hits the comeback trail alongside a honky-tonk hunk ("Tron: Legacy's" Garrett Hedlund) and a pageant princess ("Gossip Girl's" Leighton Meester) eager to make good. Turning to movies that never made it to local theaters, "A Summer in Genoa" (R) stars newly minted Oscar-winner Colin Firth as a widower trying to help his two daughters weather their grief during a trip to Italy. Willem Dafoe, meanwhile, headlines the French Cold War thriller "Farewell" (not rated). Leading today's documentary list: the burlesque chronicle "Behind the Burly Q" (not rated) and the high-surf competition "Highwater" (not rated).
Today's TV-to-DVD transfers (all unrated) include "Car 54, Where Are You: The Complete First Season," "Dallas: The Movie Collection," "Dragnet 1970: Season Four" and "H.R. Pufnstuf: The Complete Series."

What to Rent: New DVDs This Week

Tron: Legacy
This film follows up the 1982 original Tron, with Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn. Flynn has gotten sucked into the Grid, a virtual world he created, and has been missing for 20 years. It's up to his grown son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) to enter the cold, video game-like world of the Grid to find him. Olivia Wilde also costars as Quorra, an ally in the Grid and love interest for Sam. GeekSugar loved the movie because of its impressive visual effects and eerie soundtrack, courtesy of Daft Punk. DVD extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes.


Little Fockers
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro are back as Greg and Jack, still sparring as in-laws. Though Greg has earned his place in the family, Jack still has his eye on him and the two newest Fockers, the twin children of Pam and Greg. The film has a flimsy plot — Jack wants to prevent Greg from cheating on his wife with sexy pharmaceutical rep Jessica Alba — but there are still a decent amount of laughs. Extras on the DVD include a gag reel, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and an alternate opening and ending

NEW DVD RELEASES

"Get Low"

(PG-13, 2010, 100 minutes)

There's one in nearly every good folk yarn or fairy tale: the mysterious oldster living alone in the woods. In the case of the fact-based and transporting "Get Low," he's a loner who, in an unlikely instance of self-promotion, comes to be known as the Mysterious Hermit of Caleb County, and he's played with unerring understatement by Robert Duvall in one of his finest performances. Duvall's Felix Bush is based on the Tennessee recluse who in 1938, five years before his death, threw himself a funeral party that received national press coverage. The lean and eloquent screenplay by Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell contrives an element of suspense concerning 40-year-old events, secrets Felix has held close and needs, at last, to divulge. Bill Murray plays the town's desperate-for-business funeral director, Frank. More conflicted is his assistant, Buddy (Lucas Black), a sincere young family man with a worried brow. Perhaps no one understands Felix's singularity better than the widow (Sissy Spacek) who once loved him.

"Killshot"

(R, 2008, 84 minutes)


Armand 'Blackbird' Degas (Mickey Rourke) isn't a perfect hit man, as his first scene in "Killshot" makes clear, but he at least is diligent at the art of leaving no living witness behind. Or at least that used to be the case until he tripped, fell into a bizarre partnership with Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and participated in a disastrous hit job that left no one dead and two witnesses (Diane Lane and Thomas Jane as Carmen and Wayne, respectively) alive and talking. This, obviously, cannot stand. "Killshot" doesn't make a huge production of its premise: The killers are chasing the innocents, and while there's the extracurricular matter of our witnesses heading into the last chapter of a marriage gone wrong, even that isn't used to excess. Blackbird's a well-written heavy whom you almost can root for, Richie's a psychotically hammy nutjob who is fun to root against, and while nothing "Killshot" does breaks any narrative or stylistic ground, it's a dependably engaging thriller that builds up nicely and pays off handsomely.

Valentine's Day DVDs - pick of the new releases

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the shelves of your local DVD emporium will be positively creaking with chick-flicks designed to make you curl up on the sofa with a box of Maltesers and a loved one.

The first, a sumptuous but mostly saccharine travel pic starring Julia Roberts.

She plays the unhappily married Liz who y pp y ditches her cosy life in the US for a year of wandering. Her first port of call is Italy, where the locals tell her to embrace life through eating. Her next stop is India, where a former alcoholic from Texas (Richard Jenkins) teaches her about spirituality. Lastly, she arrives in Bali and meets a charming local (Javier Bardem) before, literally, sailing into the sunset.
A movie of picture postcard landscapes and hunky blokes, this is cinematic comfort food where the answers to life's problems come a little too neatly gift-wrapped.

Next is The Rebound starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a mum of two who leaves her cheating husband for a new life in New York City, where she falls for her kids' nanny (Justin Bartha). While it might by have worked as an exploration of how women of a certain age deal with singledom, it fails thanks to a flat script and Zeta-Jones, whose face is as expressive as a satellite dish.

Finally, The Death And Life Of Charlie St Cloud  sees Zac Efron leap from the High School Musical juggernaut to try something a touch more serious. And for those who th ght h ld d g h ' thought he could do no wrong, here's very solid proof to the contrary.

The Best DVD's of 2010

 It's the time of year when every site on the planet is compiling their retrospective "Best of" lists, and we're no exception.
But when it comes to the world of home entertainment and DVDs, what exactly constitutes the "best" of the year? Is it the highest profile releases? The ones that brought in the most bank? The ones with the most expansive bonus features? Maybe just an unexpected gem that came out of nowhere? The answer, as far as we're concerned, is all of the above.

Hollywood may be feeling the recession in its pocketbook lately, but that didn't stop movie and TV fans from having a great array of DVD releases to choose from. Here are our favorite titles we added to our shelves in 2010.

The Alien Anthology 

Until Ridley Scott's as-yet-unmade prequel officially makes it into the canon, the Alien series will have to make do with this enormous, six-disc Blu-ray anthology. Shucks, right? This isn't the first time these films have been compiled together, but they've never looked or sounded better. On top of that, you get multiple versions of each movie to choose from. And then there's, oh I don't know, about three days' worth of special features for your sci-fi addled mind to wrap around. No other set this year had H.R. Giger talking about sexual imagery. Whether you're interested in isolated film scores, monster make-up, James Cameron's lack of military knowledge, special effects, or thousands upon thousands of on-set photographs, then look no further.