Displaying items by tag: Netflix

As you have probably read over the last couple of month, ok really years, ISPs (internet service providers) have really been pushing to offset the cost of maintaining and even upgrading their networks. To be perfectly honest we can see some of their point. I mean maintaining a network that has hundreds of thousands of connections cannot be easy or inexpensive. There is a lot of money and manpower needed to make any significant changes when it comes to many of the ISP level networks out there.

The FCC has published a very interesting report. The report which is called Measuring Broadband America is a survey of broadband companies in the US that spanned several months. The purpose is to gauge how well these companies are meeting the speeds their customers are paying for. Overall the industry has done quite well with most true broadband providers meeting or exceeding their advertised speeds even at peak hours. There is one company that, well let’s just say is not doing what it should be. The fact that they have been in the news about this lately only makes the information more damning.

Netflix just can’t seem to stop pissing off ISPs. At a recent panel they took a few shots at both AT&T and Comcast, just for fun. Things got started when Netflix went after AT&T’s paid peering program. This is where content providers have to pay extra to ensure proper service levels to customers on an ISP’s network. AT&T says that Netflix has always paid these, it is just that the name has changed and well they are really not charges anyway.

When last we left our arguing couple Verizon had a few demands for Netflix, including a cease and desist letter that had some pretty strong wording. In the letter Verizon was trying to shift blame from themselves to Netflix and their choice of backbone carriers. On top of that Verizon demanded to know exactly who Netflix had sent messages to and the data that justified them. The message we are talking about is one that claimed “The Verizon network is crowded right now”. Failure to comply with the demands, so the letter went, would result in Verizon seeking legal remedies.

The “debate” over net neutrality has gotten a little heated between two players in the struggle. These two players are Netflix and Verizon and has reached the lawsuit threatening stage. The story goes like this: Netflix decided to change the message they present to customers when there movie streaming needs to adjust. Instead of the usual “we are adjusting the quality” message that was previously used the video streaming company decided to drop in messages that specifically call out the ISPs that they are running over. In the case of Verizon the message stated “The Verizon Network is crowded right now”.

The popular service for streaming video and movie/TV series renting, Netflix, on Monday announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2014. According to the data, Netflix in this period achieved revenues amounting to $1 billion and received 4 million new subscribers. Now they have more than 48 million subscribers, which is still less than HBO's 130 million.

Looks like Yahoo wants to invest a lot of money in its future. First they purchased Tumblr last week for 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, then for an unspecified amount obtained PlayerScale, and now Hulu is their next target. The company is reportedly ready to offer 800 million U.S. dollars for this acquisition.

The Netflix App for Android devices has finally received a face lift! The lists of titles for viewing has been dramatically increased, the user interface has been greatly improved with short cuts and new features, and things have been moved around to be more user friendly and easier to navigate.

One of Hulu's first investors, Providence, decided to sell its stake in the streaming media company for $200 million, which is twice as much they invested in Hulu back in 2007. That investment gave them a 10% stake and an independent position on the company board. They decided to move from the company back in April and earned themselves a decent amount of money. With Providence moving out the only investors left are NBC Universal, Disney and Fox. This move could have a huge impact on Hulu's future, as Providence made some big moves in their past like bringing Disney in as a new investor.

Netgear has decided to upgrade their existing line of media players and has come out with three new ones. They hope that these will be decent competition for Apple TV and Roku's streaming boxes. The basic model the Neo TV will be available for $49.99, while the NeoTV Pro and NeoTV MAX will go for $59.99 and $69.99 respectively. The new line will have HTML 5 support and more content sources compared to previous models, also it will have Push2TV media streamer for pushing media from smartphones or laptops to the big screen.