Apple, Amazon Joining Battle for Your TV

Steve Jobs and crew are getting closer to an online subscription service

(NEWSER) - Apple is getting closer to launching an online television subscription service, and MG Siegler relishes the challenge it could pose to cable companies. “Just as Apple transformed the music industry thanks to the iTunes/iPod combination, and the mobile industry thanks to the iPhone, a device that offered all the television content over the Internet could force the cable companies to stop sucking,” he writes at TechCrunch . More»

Streaming service works well; selection could be better

(NEWSER) - Amazon’s new Video on Demand service works well, Walter Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal, although the selection of titles could be better. The service allows users to individually purchase movies and TV to stream, with most rentals lasting 24 hours. The videos are stored on an Amazon server, which nicely remembers where you were so you can resume viewing instantly. More»

Both Battleground and Lilyhammer get mixed reviews, as streaming services branch out

(NEWSER) - Online streaming sites Hulu and Netflix both launched original series this week, as both services take baby steps toward competing with regular television, reports Gigaom . A look at each:

• Hulu's Battleground is the more conventional of the two, a 13-episode comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin that started today, with a new 22-minute episode airing each Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has solid praise for Battleground, saying it is "a smart, well-written comedy series you might find on a premium cable network." The AP is less kind, however, calling it "a light, watered-down knockoff of The Office," while the New York Daily News comes down somewhere in-between.

Emergency Alert System gets first national test at 2pm Eastern

(NEWSER) - Turn on the tube or radio tomorrow at 2pm Eastern time, and you’ll be witness to the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System. It's expected to last about 30 seconds. Though the system has been used locally for concerns like weather alerts, this is the first time it will be tested at the national level, ABC News reports. More»

New streaming deals signed with both

(NEWSER) - Finally, some good news for Netflix subscribers: More streaming content is being added thanks to an expanded deal with Disney-ABC Television Group, Mashable reports. The agreement extends the existing deal in order to introduce new shows including Alias and Switched at Birth. The caveat is, however, that Disney-ABC also signed a new deal with Amazon in order to bring shows to Amazon’s Prime streaming service—meaning Netflix's supply of exclusive content continues to dwindle. More»