When I first read that CinemaNow has added new programming via deals with Showtime and A&E, I didn’t think too much about it. After all, iTunes already already offers the same programming and, generally speaking, buying television shows at $2 a pop doesn’t appeal to me. However, CinemaNow must have some sort of exclusive deal with Showtime — They’ve got the first episode of Sleeper Cell, Season 2 (and for free!)… which is MIA on iTunes. While I have a DVR (or several), I don’t subscribe to Showtime… So buying episodes is not an entirely unreasonable proposition in this case. (I Netflix-ed the first Sleeper Cell mini-series.)

In the past, the SVideo output from my laptop (to TV) has worked well for iTunes video playback. But, as an Xbox 360 and Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) owner I should be able to stream CinemaNow (and Movielink) content to my TV — somewhat more convenient than setting up the laptop and, more importantly, providing a remote to pause and rewind. As you can see, I’ve “purchased” that first episode (58 minutes, 670MB) and will give it a shot tonight!

I’ve never been bothered by the envelope ads that Netflix sends out with my DVDs each week, but when it comes to putting ads on their website I’ve never been a fan of the strategy. Netflix has such an amazing website that I’ve found their banner ads really take away from the overall experience of the site. For a long time Netflix resisted the temptation of adding ads to their homepage, but with the heavy demand that they’ve seen for their mailer ads, it was only a matter of time before we saw them to be tempted to monetize the massive amount of traffic that comes to their site each day.I may have been critical of Netflix when they made their foray into banner advertising, but one thing that I love about the company is that they always do plenty of testing with any change to their business model and it appears that banner ads have been no exception. While we haven’t heard any official word on the state of these advertisement experiments, Netflix Fan is reporting that an anonymous source has told her that the ads simply weren’t worth the trouble and that Netflix will begin phasing them out over the next few months. (more…)

A periodic roundup of relevant news…

• Netflix Previews signal upcoming download service: Hacking Netflix
• Microsoft patents DVR targeted advertising: Engadget
• Delphi SkyFi3 reviewed: Orbitcast
• 12 days of Sling Media giveaways: Sling Community

Snooze you lose! I see an Xbox 360 in my future… as soon as new hardware (larger drives?) and/or lower prices are revealed in the next two weeks. All year I’ve been saying VOD is coming to the 360:

Ultimately, Microsoft will want to simplify the process by taking a home computer out of the equation. Right now customers have the ability to directly download a variety of movie trailers and game demos which has served as a proof-of-concept, both as a technical demonstration and a demonstration of consumer acceptance: 70 million pieces of content downloaded.The next obvious step is to monetize by renting movie downloads directly to the 360.

And here we are:

On Nov. 22, Microsoft will begin offering movies and television on demand through its Xbox Live service. The four million Xbox Live subscribers, including those who use a free barebones service, will have access to movies from the Paramount and Warner Bros.studios, including Mission: Impossible 3 and Superman Returns. They’ll also be able to download TV shows from CBS and MTV such as various flavors of the CSI franchise and South Park. What’s more, since the Xbox 360 can handle high-definition content, many of the available programs will be in high-def as well.

Obviously the Playstation3 (Sony is a movie studio) and Apple iTV are on the way and will feature similar TV-based VOD functionality at some point, but Microsoft gets here first and therefore gets my cash. Anyone interested in a lightly used Moviebeam?

One of the pranks I used to play in college was to dial the phone number of one of my friends, who typically was having relationship problems, and as soon as their phone would start ringing, I would immediately put them on conference call and dial their recent ex and then sit back and watch as both people thought that the other person was calling them. In retrospect it probably wasn’t a very nice thing to do, but the results were always unpredictable and hilarious.

Sometimes they’d just start fighting, other times they would actually make up, but most times there would be a certain awkwardness as both parties thought the other had called, but couldn’t figure out why. While it may not have been the nicest practical joke, today Forbes magazine played a similar version of this gag when they invited some of the top technology firms to interact with Hollywood fat cats at their MEET (Media Electronic Entertainment Technology) 2006 conference.

The list of technology experts was a literal who’s who of the geek world. TiVo, Sling, Netflix, Apple, Google, YouTube, you name it, the list went on and on. While many of these technology companies came to court Hollywood into embracing them as business partners, they faced a tough crowd and a hard sell for an industry that hasn’t been forced to make significant changes in the last 30 years. In a nice overview of the conference, Paul Bonds with The Hollywood Reporter, gives a great run down on some of the more memorable recaps.

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Never enough time…

• Summary of 3Q Netflix subscribers and finances. (Hacking Netflix)
• TiVo, the thrill is gone. (Denver Post)
• Q&A with Sling Media’s European VP. (e-consultancy)
• AT&T U-Verse getting HD model and web console in November. (EngadgetHD)

Recently, I was looking at some of the online data that is available on GameFly and I remarked to Motley Fool contributor Daniel Rubin, that I was surprised to see that internet video game rentals hasn’t turned out to be more popular option for consumers. Online video games have been something investors and customers have been very vocal about wanting, yet Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings has stood steadfast in his commitment to stick with just DVD rentals. Rubin’s response to my comment was a true testament to how much Reed Hastings has shown an uncanny ability to understand the DVD market better then anyone in the industry.

Isn’t this yet another spectacular display of strategic leadership by Reed Hastings? The guy’s like a Starship captain flying this sucker through an asteroid storm and outmaneuvering every one and every thing.The man has thrashed Blockbuster (one of the biggest brands in busines history), beat off Wal-Mart, scared off Amazon, and now may have dodged a huge bullet by having NOT wasted time on a failed venture at this critical juncture when time is of the essence. I’ll take Red Envelope Entertainment and the value that will come from proprietary content over video games any day.

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If you’ve got some free time and programming skills, Netflix has a job for you… www.netflixprize.com.

Reuters says: Online DVD rental company Netflix Inc on Sunday announced that it would pay $1 million to the first person to develop software to improve the accuracy of Netflix’s movie recommendation system by 10 percent. Netflix’s Web-based recommendation system “learns” what kinds of films subscribers like by asking them to rate the films they watch. The system then recommends lists of similar titles, unique to each user.

Seattle Post says: The differences will be tracked by a program that quantifies how well the recommendation systems predict which movies will be liked or disliked by a profiled consumer.