Samsung / Blockbuster reportedly sign streaming deal in Oz, US and Europe next? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was only a matter of time, right? The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast is rolling out a VOD competitor for Amazon, Netflix and Hulu so it can grab a slice of the streaming video pie. Called Xfinity Streampix, it brings shows from NBC and ABC, along with movies from Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Scheduled to launch this Thursday, the service will be rolled in for free with some existing cable packages and available on its own for $4.99 a month. For your five bucks, you get access to a back catalog of shows and movies on any internet-capable device, though, naturally we don't know exactly how much content will be available when it goes live. What we do know is that price point puts Streampix well beneath the $7.99 asking price of its competition, so here's hoping a VOD price war ensues.

Update: Check out the official PR after the break for more details, including a list of the content coming to Streampix and Comcast's plans to bring VOD to the Xbox 360 and Android.

Continue reading Comcast to launch Xfinity Streampix streaming video service, challenge Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (update)

Comcast to launch Xfinity Streampix streaming video service, challenge Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We may be living in the post-football era, but between Jeremy Lin, hockey and the Daytona 500 there's plenty for sports fans to chew on this weekend. Of course that's not all there is and there will likely be even more drama at the Academy Awards. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

Fringe
We've completely lost count of the alternate universes and timelines at play in Fox's show at this point, but for sci-fi on network TV there aren't a lot of other options. The winter finale is this week and we're pretty sure Walter will say something funny, Pacey/Peter will figure something out at the last second and odds are 50/50 one of the Olivias will shoot someone.
(February 24th, Fox, 9PM)

NBA All-Star Weekend / Linsanity
The Jeremy Lin movement enters its third week and shows little sign of slowing down. Sure the New york Knicks point guard finally lost a game, but he put up some monster stats against the defending NBA champs over the weekend, and has already seen his name penciled in to Friday night's Rising Stars game as a result. It's a toss up over which game is more anticipated, that one or the main ASG Sunday -- or is it the Lin vs. LeBron showdown Thursday night?
(All Weekend, TNT)

Academy Awards
The 84th Annual Academy Awards take place Sunday night and we're figuring this will takes its place on the list of Twitter/TV events, so either work on your @Tront style jokes or just plan to do something else for a few hours. We'll be watching to see who walks away with the Best Picture statue.
(February 26th, ABC, 8:30PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (February 20th - 26th)

Must See HDTV (February 20th - 26th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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