June 29 - 4:15pm EDT   The US Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by film studios and television networks of a New York court ruling that would allow a new type of digital video recorder service from Cablevision. A report says the justices refused to review a ruling made by a US Court of Appeals in New York that said Cablevision's proposed service would not directly infringe the copyrights of the media companies that produce the recorded movie and TV programs. No reason for the rejection was given. [full story]

June 25 - 4:45pm EDT   MvixUSA on Thursday announced the upcoming release and specs of its 1080p-capable Ultio networked multimedia player. The device is compatible with UPnP-standard networks and can be ordered with a 1TB hard drive. Streaming content from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other similar sites is supported, and MvixUSA says the device supports a record amount of video file formats and codecs, including the relatively uncommon RMVB or FLAC. [full story]

June 24 - 11:45am EDT   Cable providers Comcast and Time Warner today launched a new initiative to help accommodate online video with their traditional TV businesses. Called alternately On Demand Online (by Comcast) and TV Everywhere (by Time Warner), the pact will see both develop a non-exclusive system that grants web-based, streaming access to TV shows and movies for a given network as long as the customer already pays for a subscription with access to that channel or show. An authentication system will verify permission, but customers won't need to use an Internet connection from their TV provider to access those shows. [full story]

June 17 - 2:00pm EDT   US Democratic Congressman Eric Massa on Wednesday introduced the Broadband Internet Fairness Act, a measure to monitor and regulate capped, tiered Internet services. The bill would require any provider switching from a typically unlimited plan to a usage-based system to be scrutinized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and would ban any service plans that the FTC deems "unreasonable or discriminatory." Providers that ignored any imposed bans would be subject to unspecified punishment. [full story]

June 8 - 11:05am EDT   Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount today launched an invitation beta for Epix, a hybrid cable and online movie streaming service meant to supplement rather than replace regular pay-per-view TV. Anyone with a cable package that includes the channel will get access to the studios' movies weeks ahead of their regular DVD releases for "free" but will simultaneously have access to streaming, 720p versions of those same movies for their computers. The approach is ad-free, even online, and automatically scales the bitrate up or down (to as low as 500Kbps) depending on the quality of the connection. [full story]

June 4 - 3:20pm EDT   News Corp.'s new chief digital officer, Jonathan Miller, has claimed that he foresees the future of the company's Hulu service to include paid content, according to DailyFinance. Most of the content likely would remain free, although a portion of the TV shows and movies could only be accessible with a subscription. [full story]

May 29 - 11:25am EDT   Hulu, jointly operated by NBC, Fox and Disney, has launched a new desktop application meant to simplify streaming the site's video. Mac and Windows versions are available, supporting Front Row and Windows Media Center remotes, respectively; aside from controlling playback the software provides a special tracking display, and a distinct menu for browsing categories and subscriptions. Windows systems require XP, 2GB of RAM and a 1.8GHz Core Duo, while Macs differ by needing a 2GHz Core Duo and at least Mac OS X 10.4. [full story]

May 20 - 5:05pm EDT   The free online video-on-demand (VOD) service, Hulu, may be expanding for the first time to a market outside of the US, with a launch in the UK as soon as September, the UK's Telegraph reported on Wednesday. Sources close to the negotiations tell the daily newspaper that Hulu is in talks with the UK's ITV and Channel 4 for content partners, and the service would bring over more than 3,000 hours of American TV content. Content from the BBC is also being negotiated. [full story]

May 13 - 2:15pm EDT   VUDU today signaled a partial change in direction with word that it will start offering ad-supported music and video through its service. Once limited to renting as well as selling movies and TV shows, the company is tapping Brightcove to provide ads for a free Sony music video service. It also plans to expand this to include other services but hasn't set out its plans to date, including whether or not it may extend this to TV and other long-form content. [full story]

May 7 - 2:30pm EDT   Hulu today acknowleged that it's in talks to expand its Internet TV streaming service to other countries beyond the US. The NBC/Fox/Disney joint venture's senior VP of content acquisition, Andy Forssell, tells FT that negotiations are underway to bring Hulu to the "top six to eight markets" for TV and that deals have already been struck to bring shows from UK producer Endemol to the US. How soon either would arrive isn't mentioned. [full story]

April 30 - 12:10pm EDT   Disney this morning said it has obtained an equity stake in Hulu. The deal, which puts three Disney executives on the Hulu board, gives the studio equal influence along with original founders NBC Universal and News Corp. (Fox) in addition to the ability to publish content on the streaming web video service. Most of its initial lineup will center on current and back-catalog TV shows from ABC and Disney, such as Lost and Dancing with the Stars, but should also include "popular library titles" from Walt Disney Studios. [full story]

April 24 - 9:55am EDT   Video site Joost is shopping itself around to cable and satellite TV providers as their possible hub for Internet streaming, sources claim. The company has been struggling to gain share in the face of competiton by Hulu and YouTube and is believed by CNET to be looking to a deal to save itself. While it's not certain how likely this may be, metered Internet advocate Time Warner Cable is unusually seen as one of those interested in buying Joost. [full story]

April 17 - 4:20pm EDT   A dedicated Hulu application is in development for the iPhone and iPod touch, claims an industry executive speaking with Silicon Alley Insider. Like the website, the app should let users watch movies and TV shows from studios such as Fox and NBC. Key differences will include the use of a native video format, and a revised interface, omitting the Flash an iPhone is incapable of rendering. [full story]

April 16 - 4:55pm EDT   Time Warner today quickly followed up on its plans to drop Rochester metering with word that it will also drop any near-term plans to expand the trials beyond those areas already testing the service, which limits the included amount of data transfer and charges overage fees for any use beyond an arbitrary limit. It doesn't plan to stop trialing altogether but claims to need time to change plans and discuss the issue with both end-users and others. [full story]

April 10 - 9:40am EDT   An unintentional leak late Thursday has shown a major revision to TechCrunch's CrunchPad touchscreen tablet. Aside from being much thinner than older prototypes, the new version has switched from a VIA Nano processor to an Intel Atom and now has a wider, capacitive 12-inch touchscreen that should be easier to use. It also has a much more efficient software base that uses a custom Linux variant and WebKit-based browser that use just 100MB of space. [full story]