Month: July 2011

Streaming Video The European Commission on Wednesday kicked off a “consultation” (something like an agency rulemaking in the U.S.) that could fundamentally transform long-standing elements of film financing on the Old Continent. The goal of the consultation is to gather views on “how Europe can seize these opportunities [for creators and distributors] and move towards a Read More …

Deals You almost get the feeling that if Netflix thought someone would buy its DVD operation it would gladly sell it. Yesterday’s abrupt and dramatic pricing change was obviously designed to force Netflix subscribers to choose between streaming-only and DVD-only plans, neatly segmenting its users into two distinct groups. The company also created a separate management Read More …

Deals No disrespect to the Wall Street Journal, but is it really news that Netflix is not among those vying to buy Hulu, as the paper reported this morning? I understand the need for a hook and a headline to sell a story, but did anyone Netflix really would be in the running? Presumably, the idea Read More …

Net Neutrality Not sure if the timing was intentional, but it is certainly fitting that Netflix general counsel David Hyman’s very-pointed op-ed on usage-based bandwidth pricing should appear in the Wall Street Journal on day after the FCC finally delivered its long-delayed net neutrality rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the final Read More …

Copyright Content owners should probably keep this in the wishful-thinking file for now but British communications minister Ed Vaizey hinted strongly this week at an emerging trans-Atlantic alliance to recruit ISPs more fully into the battle against online piracy. Speaking at the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference in London, Vaizey called reports that a deal was in the Read More …