Entertainment

"Convergence" is a popular term in information technology. It generally refers to the meshing of separate technology platforms -- telephones, computers and televisions, for instance -- to give users multiple options for accessing information. Convergence is what allows us get some of the same shows ...

Amazon on Tuesday announced the launch of video streaming. The service gives Amazon Prime members unlimited, commercial-free instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows. In the Past, Amazon's Prime membership program has mostly been about free shipping -- members get free two-days shipp...

Video-on-demand website Hulu is embroiled in internal struggles over its business model. The site is a pioneer in Internet video when it was launched by TV networks in 2008, streaming recent episodes of popular TV shows, along with a limited number of commercials, to computers and other devices. Hul...

After a year-long review, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice have approved Comcast's proposed merger with NBC Universal -- but only if a variety of conditions are met. Chief among them is that Comcast must give up management control of the video website Hulu. The mer...

MySpace CEO Mike Jones reportedly told employees on Wednesday that News Corp., parent company of the once-giant social network, was exploring strategic options for its possible spinout, sale or merger. The talk of a possible sale followed news that MySpace was laying off 47 percent of its workforce...

A hearty 65 percent of Internet users have paid to access or download online content, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project that focused on purchases of music, articles and apps. There were a number of surprises in the data. With the exception of software, which is a predominantly ...

Netflix is spending big time to become the dominant video streaming player in the nascent Web-TV world. On Wednesday, Netflix announced it has reached an agreement with Walt Disney to stream ABC programs through its online service. The deal reportedly will last one year with an option to extend for ...

Competition has been increasing in the cable television world in recent years, and we have been expecting prices to come down, but they haven't. I have been scratching my head wondering why competition from satellite and telephone companies wasn't working. Well, it's taken years, but apparently the ...

Netflix is favoring the trend toward streaming rental videos by introducing a streaming-only plan and raising its prices for discs delivered by mail. The company has launched a monthly subscription plan for streaming-only at $7.99. The cost for a combo of streaming-video plus mail delivery will incr...

MySpace and Facebook -- bitter enemies until Facebook left MySpace far in the dust -- have announced new and tighter integrations between the two. The announcement constituted a tacit, but completely unnecessary, concession by MySpace that the social networking wars were over and that Facebook was t...

Hulu Plus emerged from its four-month preview on Wednesday, opening its streaming TV service to all and chopping $2 off its price tag at the same time. The service allows Hulu users to stream high-definition video to their computers, iPhones, iPads, select Samsung and Sony televisions and Blu-ray pl...

In her third trial, Minnesota resident Jammie Thomas-Rasset -- whose fame has extended well beyond the proverbial 15 minutes -- was once again slapped with a fine for sharing 24 songs. On Wednesday, the jury awarded $1.5 million in damages to Capitol Records. That's $62,500 for each of the 24 songs ...

When you think of wireless networks, which companies do you think of? Companies like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile, right? Next question: Which do you think are the marketing innovators in that same space? Would you believe it's not the big four? Instead, it is companies like U.S.

A vestige of the music wars at the turn of the century was shut down Wednesday by a federal district court judge in Manhattan. File-sharing service LimeWire was ordered by Judge Kimba M. Wood to stop distributing its peer-to-peer software because its overwhelming use was to encourage its users to ma...

Google is actively negotiating with the big-three television networks and Hulu to unblock access to their programming to users of its new Google TV service. News Corp.'s Fox has not blocked programming but is considering the move. There have been reports that CBS content can be viewed, noted ITIC pr...