The U.S. video entertainment market — including pay TV, box office, Blu-ray, DVD, video-on-demand, and paid-for online video — is getting ready to reach an all-time high. According to a new report from researcher Futuresource Consulting, the market is expected to make $123 billion in retail value in 2015. Futuresource notes that the video market reached $120 billion in 2013, a 2 percent increase over the previous year. Per household spending on video in the U.S. is the highest in the world. Continue reading U.S. Spends More on Digital Video Than the Rest of the World

By analyzing the acoustic properties of songs on Spotify, intern and PhD student Sander Dieleman hopes to advance the streaming service’s recommendation algorithms to aid users in discovering new and lesser known music. Rather than basing recommendations on the choices people with similar tastes make, they would be based on songs the user listens to. This method, which requires deep learning, would then mix more obscure but user relevant songs into the recommendations. Continue reading Spotify Intern Creates System to Improve Recommendations

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced recipients of the 66th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, which will be presented at January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the ninth consecutive year. Apple, Microsoft, Roku, Sony and TiVo will be recognized for television enhancement devices. HBO and Netflix will receive awards for second screen navigation. Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Corporation will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Continue reading NATAS Announces 66th Tech Emmys, To Be Presented at CES

RightThisMinute, a TV show that focuses solely on online videos, has become the number one syndicated new show in the U.S. The show airs on HLN and local channels, with two million viewers per half-hour episode. Because the show consists only of online videos, rather than hiring writers, the producers and talent search for featured videos. The popularity of the show highlights a shift that makes the second screen — featuring content from YouTube, Hulu and Netflix — our first screen. Continue reading TV Show Highlighting Popular Online Videos Tops Syndication

With two million paid subscribers, Rhapsody International says it is the clear number two streaming music service, behind Spotify. The parent company of Rhapsody and Napster points to international expansion and carrier partnerships as reasons for its success. The services also use locations to help identify artist preferences, boosting international popularity. Through joint ventures, the company hopes to continue growing its audience, despite Spotify’s popularity. Continue reading Rhapsody Expanding Music Services with Carrier Partnerships

The Pirate Bay and TorrenTV have released new platforms to make it easier for people to download media content for free. The Pirate Bay has launched a mobile site known as Mobile Bay, which includes separate TV, music and movie sites. Later, the site hopes to add support for personalized RSS feeds so that users can launch torrents from anywhere. TorrenTV has introduced a new app for Mac, Windows and Linux that streams torrents directly to Apple TV. Continue reading Torrenting Just Got Easier with Mobile Site and New PC App

Sprint is in the process of introducing Virgin Mobile Custom, a cheaper wireless plan that allows users to access only specific websites. For $12, subscribers can choose between sole access to either Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. For $22, users can have unlimited use of all four. For an extra $5, subscribers can have access to a music app with unlimited streaming. The program is expected to help customers that have less money afford wireless Internet access.

Continue reading Sprint Introduces $12 Wireless Plan for Use of Specific Apps

Amazon plans to beef up its investments in original, Web-only, video programming. The company’s CFO Tom Szkutak explained that Amazon is slated to spend about $100 million on “many new pilots” during Q3 2014. Amazon’s Prime Instant Video has been trying to keep up with Netflix, but has yet to reach the success of hits such as “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black.” However, $100 million was the amount Netflix gambled on the first two seasons of “House of Cards” alone. Continue reading Amazon Plans to Make Major Investment in Original Programs

British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), the largest pay TV broadcaster in the UK and Ireland, is making an additional $400,000 investment in Jaunt, a Silicon Valley company developing 360-degree virtual reality cinema tech. The British broadcaster invested $350,000 in Jaunt last December, hoping to get one step ahead in the future of television. Jaunt’s technology, which uses Oculus Rift VR headsets, could be rolled out commercially as early as three years from now. Continue reading BSkyB Makes Another Investment in Cinematic VR Developer

Nokia is testing a new service in Munich that would allow viewers to get TV broadcasts from the Bayerischer Rundfunk company through airwaves on the LTE network. Nokia has already tried LTE-Broadcast technology in the U.S., but this trial is more like a traditional broadcast network because it sends out the same video signals to everyone. LTE-Broadcast is an industry standard, and if it’s successful, broadcasters will be able to reach millions of people through their mobile devices. Continue reading Nokia Experiments with Broadcasting TV Through LTE Network

Viacom’s Music Group is partnering with Spotify to provide consumers with free music from featured artists via their website and apps. The company will also provide music from its series and franchises, including MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop,” CMT’s “Party Down South” and the “MTV Video Music Awards.” More than 150 Spotify playlists will be available across Viacom’s network of sites, while Spotify will promote them to its 40 million global users. Continue reading Viacom Music Group and Spotify Form Streaming Partnership

Amazon Instant Video offers more than 150,000 titles for purchase or rental, 40,000 movies and TV episodes for streaming, and now YouTube-like Video Shorts. The new category includes music videos, movie and game trailers, live performances, beauty tutorials, how-to videos and more. The short-form video category also adds YouTube to Amazon’s list of competitors, which already includes Netflix and iTunes. Currently, the service includes hundreds of thousands of videos.
 Continue reading Amazon Instant Video Offers Video Shorts to Rival YouTube

Google has signed a $1 billion deal to acquire popular streaming platform Twitch.tv, according to sources familiar with the matter. Google’s YouTube division is in charge of the deal, which reflects the popularity of live Internet streaming and, in particular, the rapidly evolving interest in competitive gaming as a spectator sport. San Francisco-based Twitch currently touts more than 50 million monthly users. In addition, more than 1.1 million of its members broadcast videos each month. Continue reading Google to Purchase Live Game Streamer Twitch for $1 Billion

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a statement to remind Internet Service Providers that they must remain clear about anything that impacts a consumer’s broadband experience. Any ISP that defies the transparency order is subject to censure and fines from the FCC. Wheeler did not direct the message at any specific provider, but claimed that the FCC has recently received numerous complaints. The agency did not make any comments about ongoing investigations. Continue reading FCC Chair Reminds ISPs to Adhere to the Transparency Rule

Netflix reported second quarter earnings higher than analysts’ estimates, and announced that original series “Orange Is the New Black” helped lift its number of subscribers past 50 million. Net income more than doubled to $71 million, while sales grew 25 percent. Netflix added 570,000 domestic streaming customers, bringing its U.S. total to 36.2 million. During the quarter, the company raised fees $1 to $2 a month for new customers of its online service to help finance original content. Continue reading Netflix Reports Strong Q2 Earnings, Unveils International Plans