Netflix Streams Movies Direct to TV

Companies finally join forces to offer streaming video

(NEWSER) - Starting in December, TiVo owners will be able to watch Netflix movies and TV episodes on their televisions, Ars Technica reports. Consumers will need to own a compatible TiVo device and subscribe to both services to get access to over 12,000 movies and shows. The companies first discussed a partnership in 2004, but only today said they’ve begun testing the service. More»

DVD firm teams up with LG Electronics to make stream-to-set device

(NEWSER) - DVD rental company NetFlix is teaming up with LG Electronics to make a set-top box that will let customers stream movies from the web straight onto their TVs, Reuters reports. NetFlix hopes to have the device ready later this year. The deal looks set to make the crowded web video market even more competitive. More»

Digiboo kiosks offer films for your USB stick

(NEWSER) - Tired of bad airline movies? Now you can pick your own before you get on the flight. A new service called Digiboo provides airport kiosks where you can download movies onto your USB 3.0 stick in a matter of seconds, the Los Angeles Times reports. Thanks to licensing deals with Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros., and Lionsgate, Digiboo can offer 600 films at a kiosk, among them hits like Hugo and Captain America. Users can buy films for $14.99 or rent them for $3.99. More»

Billy Crystal brings the same old stuff

(NEWSER) - Last night's Oscars, like its Best Picture, was a throwback to a different time in film history. And though the show may have topped last year's Anne Hathaway-James Franco fiasco, it was boring and tired throughout:

• "The whole night looked like an AARP pep rally," writes Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times . "For a town that prides itself on tinsel and titillation, the night was pretty tame." "It all looked very familiar," but that "is perhaps necessary when so few of the nominated films are."

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.