Big Media

HBO and studios working out deals to allow iTunes Movies in the Cloud

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 12, 2012 a 4:02 pm

[caption id="attachment_101985" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="HBO and studios working out deals to allow iTunes Movies in the Cloud"]

PSA: Your favorite sites aren't down, they're protesting SOPA and PIPA

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012 a 1:00 pm

If you're browsing to your favorite site-that's-not-iMore today, for example Wikipedia or Reddit, and notice it's either blacked out or otherwise differently-functional, don't worry, they haven't gone down, they haven't been hacked, they're just protesting some wrong-headed U.S. legislation known as SOPA and PIPA (and I'd ask kindly they add ACTA to the list).

Viacom and Time Warner Cable are officially at war over TWCable TV app for iPad

By Andrew Wray, Thursday, Apr 7, 2011 a 9:50 pm

Time Warner Cable issued a press release today announcing they have filed a request for declaratory judgement related to its recent TWCable TV app debacle, which forced them to remove a number of channels from the iPad app last week.

Time Warner Cable pulls channels from TWCable TV app for iPad

By chrisoldroyd, Friday, Apr 1, 2011 a 8:41 am

Time Warner Cable has had to remove channels from its iPad application, TWCable TV with immediate effect. We already heard that this may be happening but Time Warner has now confirmed this with a company statement. The networks that seem to have taken umbrage with Time Warner are Discovery Communications, Fox Cable and Viacom. This means the next time you fire up your TWCable TV application on your iPad, you will be missing Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC, FX, National Geographic, BET, CMT, Comedy, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1.

Bon Jovi: Steve Jobs killed the music business

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Mar 15, 2011 a 9:34 am

Proving once again that being a successful entertainer does not afford business insight any more than being a good businessman affords singing talent, Jon Bon Jovi has decided to hold Apple's Steve Jobs personally responsible for killing the music business:

Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it. Having laid the groundwork for finger-pointing, the aging rocker launched his final insult:

God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’. Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.

Is Apple trying to block Spotify streaming music in the US?

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Oct 8, 2010 a 8:08 am

Is Apple trying to block popular European streaming music service Spotify's US launch? In addition to labels being uncertain as to Spotify's business model, it's ability to monetize, and the future of ad-supported music, CNET is reporting:

In meetings in Los Angeles recently, Apple executives told their music industry counterparts that they had serious doubts about whether Spotify's business model could ever generate significant revenues or profits, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

NBC: No one will watch our shows more than once

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Sep 22, 2010 a 11:47 pm

Doesn't look like NBC will be joining iTunes' $0.99 TV show rental service anytime soon, as CEO Jeff Zucker thinks it's not enough to charge for 22-44 min. of... whatever soon to be cancelled sitcom they've shoved up against that inane reality show on that other network:

We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content. ... We thought it would devalue our content," Zucker said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference. He pointed to the fact NBC shows are already available for $1.99 for download on Apple's iTunes service.

Warners: $0.99 iTunes TV rentals too cheap

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Sep 17, 2010 a 11:17 am

$0.99 TV show rentals are too cheap according the Warner CEO Barry Meyer, and would hurt full season TV show purchases.

Meyer said the deal was not a good value for the studio subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., which sells permanent downloads shows such as "Gossip Girl" on iTunes for $2.99 each.

I'm running out of quips to make about the oblivious myopia of old media. Seriously.

Grooveshark for iPhone pulled from App Store following complaint from Universal Music

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 a 6:35 pm

Grooveshark's iPhone app has been pulled from the App Store following a complaint by Universal Music Group UK. According to their blog, Grooveshark is at a loss to explain it:

This comes as an absolute surprise to us, and we are not sleeping until we figure out exactly how to fix this—and get Grooveshark for iPhone back in the App Store. Above all, our biggest concern is damaging the service we provide to all of you guys—our loyal (awesome) users.

Mashable's Christina Warren has an idea, however:

iTunes cloud-based music taking a back seat to streaming video?

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Aug 3, 2010 a 8:01 am

When Apple bought Lala, everyone anticipated that iTunes.com streaming music service was on the horizon, but now CNET hears it might be on hold as Apple works on... streaming video.