netflix

Utilizing a mobile device app to control another device has become commonplace. Indeed, build a new home theater with the right equipment, and it's fairly easy for an iPod to provide more funtionality controlling the equipment than a remote control. In the last couple of years, we have also seen networks and streaming services explore how to tap into mobile devices as supplementary second screens, extending the experience and encouraging viewership. Netflix sounds like they might be looking to mash these two ideas up by using the second screen to control the service across multiple devices. The basic idea would be to allow users to engage in their browsing and searching from their mobile device, a task for which the devices are generally better suited than the 10-foot interface apps deployed for Smart TVs and settop boxes, and also control playback on the television from the mobile device. The Smart TV or settop box would still be doing the heavy lifting of streaming, unlike a system such as AirPlay where the mobile device is pushing the content to another device, but it would instead bring all of the discovery and remote control functionality into one place on the user's mobile device. 

Netflix is getting ready to let users control the playback on their TV with their mobile phones. The company recently added support for such AirPlay-like features to the PS3, and is now looking to extend support to a number of other connected devices.

GigaOm

Many folks were left scratching their heads when Dish Network bought up the crumbled shell of Blockbuster. The once mighty movie rental chain had been felled in large part by Netflix's DVD-by-mail rental service, with Netflix's streaming service and Redbox's kiosk rental model swooping in for the final kill. Not that Blockbuster didn't try to fight back. It was in Blockbuster's own DVD-by-mail rental service, brand recognition, and retail footprint that Dish thought it saw an opportunity to turn Blockbuster into a Netflix-killer and enter a new market competing with the likes of Verizon and AT&T. The retail locations, once trimmed of unprofitable locations, would become the retail outlets for new Dish devices that would tap into special sections of Dish's satellite spectrum for an LTE service for data and video streaming. Alas, that plan is unlikely to pass FCC muster, so Dish is scaling back its plans for Blockbuster, at least in the short-term. These details do go a long way toward explaining the limited roll-out of the Dish-exclusive Blockbuster Movie Pass streaming service. Without FCC approval for Dish's new devices and spectrum usage, there wasn't much reason for announcing the big picture plans that would bring Blockbuster Movie Pass to everyone. There do not seem to be any immediate plans for changes in what Blockbuster is doing or the services it's offering right now, though the Dish-specific Blockbuster services are being rebranded to Blockbuster@Home. The most interesting details revolve around how Dish's approach to handling Blockbuster has left Dish confident that the company will, at worst, break even on the purchase. 

Dish planned to entice consumers to buy its wireless services by streaming Blockbuster movies on mobile devices. Without the wireless network, a nationwide streaming service would function a lot like Netflix, except Blockbuster would be starting from scratch against a big incumbent, Ergen said. Netflix has 24 million U.S. streaming-video customers.

Bloomberg

It has been over two years since HBO unveiled HBO Go, a streaming service that makes all of their content available online for free to subscribers of their premium channels. HBO Go has been immensely popular and the company has frequently fielded questions about the possiblity of HBO Go becoming a standalone product. The company has been steadfast in their stance that HBO Go is only intended to be a complementary product, an additional service for their traditional subscribers, and with good reason. A standalone HBO Go would be unlikely to return the margins that they enjoy on their traditional subscription TV contracts, anger their cable and satellite partners, and cannablize their current subscriber base.

However, if you really wanted the standalone equivalent of HBO Go, you could do worse than to make the move to Sweden next month. HBO announced that they were planning on making a move into Scandanavia ealier this month, the same day that Netflix announced that they would be expanding their service into the same region to take on the incumbent Amazon-owned LOVEFiLM, but at the time, HBO was not providing many details about what the freshly dubbed HBO Nordic would look like beyond that it would be multi-platform. This week, HBO announced that HBO Nordic should launch in October and in addition to a 24-hour premium channel offered through local distributors, HBO Nordic's streaming service would be a standalone offering. To further sweeten the pot, HBO Nordic will also stream content from HBO rivals Starz and Showtime  as the companies lack international businesses. While getting HBO, Netflix, and LOVEFiLM all in the same region with the same basic business model should serve to create some amusing fireworks, it is still somewhat disappointing that the only reason Scandanavia is going to get so many choices is because HBO has so little entrenched business interest to protect in the region.

Premium TV channel HBO will launch a Web-only service in Nordic countries that does not require the customer to be signed up with a pay TV service such as cable or satellite.

HBO Nordic, which is a joint venture between Time Warner Inc -owned HBO and Parsifal International, will roll out both a premium TV service and the Web service in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland from mid-October.

Reuters

Netflix recently released their Q2 results, announcing a return to profitability after taking a $5M hit in Q1. The company didn't bring on as many new subscribers as expected, including a narrow miss in Latin America, the UK and Ireland where the company recently launched. In spite of this miss, the company plans to go in the red again next quarter in order to fund an expansion deeper into Europe. Netflix also spent a part of their report talking up the advantages of convincing HBO to come onboard with Netflix, irregardless of the two companies' recent rocky past. 

Looking at those two sections from Netflix together, it reads like a love letter or to be more precise, a pitch to HBO to collaborate. If the back seasons of one current hit HBO show were on Netflix (i.e. Game of Thrones), think how many HBO subscriptions that could drive. 

Tech of the Hub

HBO has put a tremendous amount of effort into their HBO GO service, steadfastly refusing to license their content to any other streaming service. HBO and Netflix have both described each other as primary competitors, and given that HBO may be producing the most coveted content on TV today, finding a way to collaborate would be a major coup for Netflix, even if such a collaboration also increased interest in HBO subscriptions. However, it doen't appear that we will learn how mutually beneficial such a relationship might be anytime soon.

HBO rushed to pour cold water on the possibilities that the Netflix CEO raised in a letter to shareholders, making it clear it had no intentions of making a deal with Hastings, who often singles out HBO as a chief competitor.

Reuters