Entertainment

Comcast this week announced new software for its set-top boxes, opening a window into how cable TV companies hope to retain customers tempted to move their eyeballs to online-only alternatives. Comcast X2 blends cable offerings like on-demand movies, program guides and digital video recording with o...

Zynga is slashing 18 percent of its workforce in an effort to better allocate costs as it attempts to develop more gaming hits across multiple digital platforms. It will eliminate about 520 positions by August. The cuts were necessary but not something the company ever expected to face, CEO Mark Pin...

DirecTV and two other unidentified bidders reportedly are offering upwards of $1 billion to buy Hulu. DirecTV could be planning to add Hulu's digital offerings to its TV packages. Hulu offers both free and paid content, with about 4 million subscribers to its premium Hulu Plus service. Together, ads...

Amazon announced this week that it has ordered five original television series, including two live-action comedies and three children's shows. While Amazon Prime subscribers have been able to stream movies and TVs from other content providers, they will now be able to view Amazon's own programming.

Fanhattan unveiled its new Fan TV set-top system at D11 on Thursday. It aims to streamline the television and digital entertainment experience by integrating several media platforms into a single streaming box. Fan TV is designed to solve three big consumer complaints about the state of TV: 1) It el...

Pandora's boost in Q1 revenue, thanks largely to an increase in subscribers who want to listen to ad-free Internet radio, helped the streaming media company turn in a quarterly report Thursday that beat expectations. The Internet radio service reported $126 million in revenue, a 55 percent increase ...

Actor Ashton Kutcher has his hand in more than just the show Two and a Half Men and other roles, including his portrayal of Steve Jobs in the upcoming film Jobs. While other actors venture into businesses such as clothing lines or fragrances, Kutcher actively invests in the tech community with a ven...

Microsoft may cash in its Points virtual payment system. The company reportedly will discontinue Points in favor of a cash-based system that will accept credit and debit purchases, as well as gift cards purchased at retail outlets. Microsoft Points are the virtual currency for Xbox Live. Players pur...

Google on Wednesday unveiled Google Play Music All Access, a $9.99 per month subscription streaming music service that allows users to discover and curate music on the company's platform. The company announced All Access during the keynote of this year's I/O Developer's Conference, its annual gather...

Aereo -- the lawsuit-embattled company that provides Internet-streamed, live, and recorded over-the-air broadcast television content -- may have started a trend. None other than Time Warner may be considering the redistribution of public broadcast content over the Internet too. What it comes down to...

YouTube unveiled a new subscription plan this week and will allow select channels to charge for monthly viewing plans. It's the first time the online video hub will charge for content. Channels including Jim Henson's TV will show episodes of Sesame Street for subscriptions starting at $2.99 per mont...

It's hardly a surprise that cable and satellite television service providers are in trouble. Take decades of complacency, add in mostly awful customer service, mix liberally with resistance to change, and you have an industry heading toward self-inflicted extinction. These aren't the only issues tro...

The market digested the earnings report Amazon released on Thursday, and toward the end of trading Friday it was clear investors were less than pleased, with the company's stock down by about 6.5 percent. Little wonder: Amazon reported that its net income decreased 37 percent to $82 million in the f...

The market is popping champagne corks over Netflix's latest earnings report. A day after the company delivered boffo results and beat Street expectations for the first quarter, its stock has soared by some 25 percent. Among the goodies in Monday's report: Netflix posted net income of $3 million, com...

Twitter has officially announced its forthcoming push into the digital music space. After weeks of rumors, including one that promised such a service would officially launch over the weekend, Twitter has announced that something, indeed, is coming. On Friday, Twitter made public its music website. T...