Netflix Really Wants You To Upgrade

It turns out Netflix isn’t solely interested in recouping lost revenue due to password sharing as both our Roku and Fire TV streaming devices spammed prompted us to upgrade the Ultra HD (UHD) tier earlier today. Upon selecting the account holder’s profile, the above interstitial appeared, before my daughter could pull up Captain Underpants. The … Read more

Caavo Launches Netflix Watch Party

Caavo has repurposed their deep-linking, time-stamp smartness to launch a timely and hardware-free Netflix watch party. Well, the Watch With Friends experience does require some hardware. Just none produced by Caavo. Whomever is hosting would establish a watch party in the Watch With Friends iOS or Android app for Roku and Apple TV playback. Folks … Read more

Netflix DVD Marks 20 Year Milestone

Time flies when you’re having fun? It seems like just yesterday I purchased my first DVD player, on steep discount, via an online auction in 1998. And, as a grad student on a tight budget, I’d swing by the local video rental shop to suggest which titles of the newly introduced format they should stock … Read more

T-Mobile Now Bundles Netflix

Yep. We just did that. America’s Best Unlimited just got even better – @TMobile ONE Family plan now includes @Netflix On Us! #UncarrierNEXT pic.twitter.com/T7CN79Phpa — John Legere (@JohnLegere) September 6, 2017

AirTV Unifies Sling TV, Netflix & OTA

After several years of development, it appears a redesigned AirTV Player is nearly here. Originally conceived as an over-the-air network tuner, like Tablo, to stream local antenna television into Sling TV’s user interface, AirTV appears to have been rethought… and nears arrival as an Android-powered, Technicolor-produced set-top box vs reusing Echostar’s Slingbox scraps, Oh, this rendition still channels live television. But that local programming is now output directly into a TV, presumably merged within Sling’s guide, along with over-the-top streaming applications — specifically Netflix (!) and the Play Store itself…. based on support documents and the bundled universal, voice-capable Bluetooth remote that sports a Google logo.

Get the live channels you love and the shows you can’t miss. Watch Sling TV on AirTV Player, and enjoy live sports, shows, and movies with the simplicity of an app. With the AirTV Player, cut the cord and keep the TV experience. You’ll have a single platform for watching Sling TV, Netflix, local channels, and more.

AirTV combines all your live programming with Sling TV and your favorites on Netflix. When you launch your player, you will land in the screen. This screen allows you to customize your favorite channels on Sling TV and launch your favorite Netflix shows and movies

Merging over-the-air and online video into a single interface is pretty compelling stuff… which Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku cannot do (without assistance). So I’m quite interested to see exactly where Sling lands, especially since it’s not clear if this redesign retains risky (for Sling) out-of-home OTA streaming. The wait probably won’t be long given a newly launched support page and an FCC waiver —  a CES announcement next month seems likely, if we don’t hear something sooner.

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Netflix Tests New Auto-Playing Interface (on Roku)

As Netflix is wont to do, they’ve rolled out a new interface to select users on select platforms. So, while I’ve received this update on my Roku 3, you may not see it on the exact same hardware and it hasn’t been pushed to my Apple TV, Fire TV, or TiVo.

Upon initial launch, I’m presented with five “Now Playing” vertical tiles, comprised of both in-progress television series and two Netflix Originals I’ve never touched – plus some visual indication there may be additional options below. With this revision, Netflix seems to have merged the traditional “Continue Watching” row with my former content discovery pane up top.

However, the results are mixed. As, without interaction after 2-3 seconds, the first vertical tile expands horizontally and automatically begins playing background video at full volume — either introductory material, as seen in Louie above, or, for an episode in progress like Archer, the show itself. Further, a superimposed 20-second timer counts down to full playback of the given episode which ultimately expands to fill the screen as the GUI chrome fades away. Scrolling right or left cycles thru these tiles, resulting in similar auto-play behavior. I don’t mind the opening jingles so much, but playback of existing content is potentially disruptive and that countdown clock is anxiety-provoking. Navigating up and down reveals mostly familiar Netflix interface elements.

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Netflix To Launch “Fast” Speed Test

Beyond their monthly ISP Speed Index ratings and hot on the heels of the recently introduced mobile app bandwidth configurator, Netflix appears poised to launch “Fast” – an online service and app functionality to provide customers even more insight into their connections and streaming video potential. From Netflix’s newly filed USPTO trademark application: Downloadable computer software for testing and … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… Amazon Echo on sale for $153.71. Amazon Prime Video, now available as a stand-alone service for $8.99/mo. Will Verizon replace FiOS TV set-tops with OnCue IPTV hardware? As Netflix subscriber growth slows, company considers offering downloads.