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Amazon Orders Original Programming for Subscription Service

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May 31, 2013

Amazon has ordered two live-action comedies and three children’s shows to be offered on its subscription service Amazon Prime. The original programming was selected from 14 pilots the company made available to subscribers last month, from which customer reactions helped guide the selection process. The new series include a political comedy starring John Goodman and a show about a group of friends looking to launch the next social networking app. Continue reading Amazon Orders Original Programming for Subscription Service

Shift to Mobile Devices Makes Hotels Rethink Entertainment

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May 2, 2013

LodgeNet, which provides television services to hotels, has revamped its video-on-demand and Internet programs after claiming bankruptcy. Hotel video-on-demand programs have been shifting as an increasing amount of travelers have started bringing their entertainment with them. Hotels are now trying to find new ways to keep cable and Internet packages without losing profits and customers. Continue reading Shift to Mobile Devices Makes Hotels Rethink Entertainment

Risk-Taker: Amazon Betting Big on Prime Customer Loyalty Program

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November 16, 2011
  • Amazon is willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually on the Amazon Prime customer-loyalty program because of the increased consumer spending it creates.
  • “The cost of Prime underscores the willingness of Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos to shell out money as he continues the company’s transition from an online retailer of paper books, to an Internet megamall that sells an array of products from various companies, to a seller of digital goods and even its own devices, such as the Kindle Fire tablet computer,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
  • “[Fiona Dias, VP of rival service Shoprunner] estimated that after joining Prime, members tripled the amount of money they spent on Amazon to $1,500 a year,” the article indicates. “She estimated up to 40 percent of Amazon’s domestic revenue, which totaled $18.7 billion in 2010, comes from Prime members.”
  • Some investors look unfavorably on Amazon’s subsidizing (the company loses $90 a year on each Prime subscriber and sells each Kindle model at a loss of $10+), but analysts say the costs are offset by Amazon’s profitable website.
  • Prime will be offered free for 30 days on the new Kindle Fire.

Do American TV Viewers Prefer Streaming Over Transactional VOD?

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September 2, 2011
  • Online video subscribers of Netflix and Amazon Prime paid almost $50 on average for video subscriptions during a recent six-month period.
  • According to new research from Parks Associates, subscribers spent less than half of that amount on a la carte video purchases.
  • The number of movie and TV show downloads declined 56 percent from 2009 to 2010, and movie rental downloads decreased 70 percent.
  • “Based on the reported usage of video download services by U.S. survey respondents in Q4, consumer spending on a la carte video during a six-month period ranged from $12 to $26,” reports Home Media Magazine. “Comparable spending on video services subscriptions during that same period reached at least $48 per household.”
  • “The all-you-can-eat-style subscription approach taken by Netflix has proven successful in the U.S. market,” Parks said in its report. “It has helped to drive up consumption — and spending — for online video.”
  • Netflix ended the most recent fiscal quarter with more than 25 million subscribers in North America.

Elgato HDHomeRun App Provides Yet Another Streaming TV Solution

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August 22, 2011
  • The HDHomeRun iPad app from Elgato paired with one of SiliconDust’s new HDHomeRun Prime CableCARD tuners allows users to play and record cable channels that are sent without encyption or are marked copy freely.
  • Currently, the $17.99 app is iPad-only and can only handle standard definition MPEG-2 channels. According to the press release, “The HDHomeRun PRIME App lets the user record programs directly to their iPad with the option of transferring those recordings from the iPad 2 to a Mac or PC.”
  • Engadget reports: “…in a market suddenly flooded by CableCARD tuners maybe this extra functionality is just what’s needed to tip the balance between one device or another.”
  • The post includes a brief video demo.

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