After six long weeks of silence, your suspicions are true. (Clever girls!)
Unfortunately, we have decided to suspend the recording of the Netpix Podcast. It rapidly became far too much of a commitment to watch as many movies as we wanted to, curate all the available news stories, edit the audio, and do all of the coding necessary to post a new episode every week.
So for those of you who enjoyed listening to the 12 episodes available, we sincerely thank you for clicking on that Play button every week and if we can somehow find some more free time in the future, we may return bigger and better than before.
This week, Scott can’t stop eying Josh’s lemon drink. In this twelfth episode, we crack open some delicious Dogfish Heads (inspired by the documentary Beer Wars) and discuss Viacom releasing more content on Netflix, Shaw increasing their bandwidth caps, Netflix visiting Los Angeles to shop for content to bring to Canada, and the “Netflix effect” leading networks to release more new shows this fall season. We then have a look at The Happening, Troll 2, Howl, and The Andromeda Strain. So stay upwind, don’t eat the food, and don’t mind us as we decontaminate your ears.
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News
– More Viacom shows are Via-coming! From Nickelodeon, now available to watch instantly for the first time is “Yo Gabba Gabba,” as well as additional episodes of “Spongebob SquarePants,” “True Jackson VP,” “iCarly,” and “Dora the Explorer.” From MTV, new episodes of “Jersey Shore” and “The Hills” are on Netflix as are, for the first time, “The Buried Life” and “The City.” They also have new shows from BET like “American Gangster,” additional episodes of Comedy Central gems like “The Sarah Silverman Show,” and others from VH1, Logo and Spike.
– In what we hope will be a continuing trend, Shaw Cable is increasing their bandwidth caps. Starting in June, Shaw’s standard 7.5 Mbps plan will come with a 125 GB cap (up from 60 GB). Meanwhile, its low-speed 1Mbps “lite” offering will have a 30 GB cap (up from 15 GB), and premium customers with a 25Mbps plan will now have a 250GB cap (up from 100GB). Customers that exceed the cap will automatically be bumped into the next tier, but revert to their previous subscription package once the month is over.
– Netflix had a representative (senior manager of content acquisition Emily Briggs) in Hollywood charged exclusively with shopping for content for Canada. It was reported that Netflix did buy the television rights for at least one lower-profile show in Hollywood this year, securing the entire package – including TV rights, which won’t be used for the first run – just to lock up the online rights.
– The four biggest U.S. television networks are introducing the most shows in seven years as subscription services like Netflix make spending on new programs less risky. This week, CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC presented advertisers with 39 new programs for the TV season that starts in September, the most since 2004-05, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This week, Josh invents his own style of dance and knows 52 steps that no else can do. In this eleventh episode, we discuss Chrome/Chrome OS extensions, Netflix’s long-awaited Android release, Youtube’s expanded rental service, subtitles coming to iOS, Netflix’s approach to the PSN outage, some useful links showing Netflix’s release schedule, Netflix accounting for the highest amount of Internet traffic in North America, and Miramax’s films becoming available on Netflix. We then have a look at Danny Deckchair and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. So have a seat, tie some balloons to your chair, and let’s fly into the unknown together.
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News
– Google’s currently in the process of detailing Chrome OS’s latest improvements, including the fact that Netflix and Hulu support will be available right out of the box for the pair of new Chromebooks (one from Samsung and one from Acer). Far more monumental, Google’s also just announced the Chrome OS laptops will be distributed on the basis of a recurring monthly subscription, which will cost $28 per user for businesses and $20 per user for schools.
– The Netflix app has finally hit the Android Market and is currently available for the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, Evo 4G, and G2, plus the Samsung Nexus S. (But not in Canada.) Check out Lifehacker if you own a different Android device than those listed, and want to try out Netflix.
– Youtube adds 3,000 titles (for a total of over 6,000) to their rental service, including the King’s Speech and Inception. Priced at $1.99 USD and up per film ($3.99 for newer ones), they can be viewed within 30 days of renting them. Once users start watching the movie, they’ll typically have to finish within 24 hours. (It’s still in Beta, and available in the US only.)
We’re back, you jive turkeys! In this tenth episode of the Netpix Podcast, we discuss the arrival of select Marvel series to Netflix’s TV line-up, Blockbuster Canada’s current status, and Netflix’s plans to expand into Latin America. We then have a look at Mongol, Beer Wars, Black Dynamite, and Intacto. Grab a cold one from your local brewery and have a listen; you might just get lucky.
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News
– Netflix adds new Marvel shows to its selection, including titles like Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (Marvel Knights Animation), Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man Unlimited. With more to come in the summer, we’re hoping they add our own childhood favourites!
– Blockbuster Canada has entered receivership (which isn’t as bad as it sounds). It simply means that it’s up for sale to cover the debts incurred by Blockbuster USA and is still remarkably profitable, generating $400 million in 2010.
– Netflix is said to be seeking media rights in Latin America. While it’s still unclear which countries are being looked at specifically, it’s certain that bandwidth availability will play a large role in their decision.
Time for nine! Against all expectations, we refused to review Nine, 9, or District 9. In this ninth episode of the Netpix Podcast, we discuss Netflix’s intentions to introduce family plans, as well as two of Netflix’s newest competitors, MSpot and Crackle. We then have a look at Hunger, The Human Experience, Adam, and Fair Game. Take a ride on cloud nine and have a listen; we promise seven won’t eat you.
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News
– Netflix will introduce additional streaming plans later this year that will offer the ability to stream to multiple devices simultaneously, according to a FAQ for investors published on the company’s website.
– mSpot Movies launches, offering access to new releases the same day they’re released on DVD -that’s 28 days before many of those titles are available through Netflix.
– Crackle is also a new player on the scene, offering free movies and TV shows to your mobile device.
Additional story:
– Google searches for Netflix overshadow those for “DVDs,” and even those for “free movies.”
Oh brother, where art thou? In this eighth episode of the Netpix Podcast, Josh was traveling for work so we were joined by his brother Matt Goldberg (Uncalled For, Confabulation Montreal), a teacher, actor and comedian from Montreal, Canada. We look at the potential regulation of Netflix in Canada by the CRTC and the launch of Netflix Kinect on the Xbox 360 before checking out The Pixar Story, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, Cargo, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Put down that fireaxe and have a listen, because you’ve got a friend in us.
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News
– The Canadian TV industry asks the CRTC to look at regulating Netflix.
– Netflix receives Kinect support! (You lazy bums.)
Turn up your headphones for the latest show, now complete with audio clips! In this seventh episode of the Netpix Podcast, we looked at all the new content added to Netflix on both sides of the border, the upcoming launch of Home Premiere, and the CueThat browser addon. We then check out Mystery Team, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, A Man Apart, and Fracture. Because you can never have too much Diesel in your ears.
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News
– New content abounds! An expanded deal with 20th Century Fox has Netflix adding Glee and Sons of Anarchy to their selection.
– Another deal with Lions Gate Entertainment brings Mad Men to American Netflix subscribers starting July 27.
– And don’t let your eyes get too big when you hear this but Netflix has added several new anime titles to their selection following new deals with Viz Media and Funimation Entertainment.
– The major studios are launching a new video-on-demand service called Home Premiere that will charge $30 for a film rental through DirecTV and Comcast for films that are out of theatres but are yet to reach Netflix.
– CueThat is a browser add-on that allows American subscribers to instantly add any movie title they select in their browser window to their Netflix Instant Queue.
Get your fix of Netpix and Netflix in this six mix! In this sixth episode of the Netpix Podcast, we discuss Netflix’s new handling of data usage in Canada, Paramount’s recent deal with Netflix.ca, and Facebook’s addition of more streamable films. We then check out A Prophet, Restrepo, Exam, and Hoodwinked. It’s our sixiest episode yet!
Now Canadians can watch 30 hours of streaming from Netflix in a month that will consume only 9 GBytes of data, well below most data caps.
They created three settings:
1. “Good” – The default setting with good picture quality and lowest data use per hour (about 0.3 GBytes/hour)
2. “Better” – Better picture quality and medium data use per hour (about 0.7 GBytes/hour)
3. “Best” – Best picture quality and highest date use per hour (generally about 1.0 GBytes/hour – or up to 2.3 GBytes/hour when streaming HD content)
– Netflix.ca signs a contract with Paramount to distribute its movies, excluding the traditional Canadian broadcasters CBC and CTV, beginning with Iron Man 2.
– The Facebook experiment continues! Facebook is expanding its list of streamable films to include Inception, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Life as We Know It, and (sigh) Yogi Bear.
Five is live! There is very little mayo in this cinco, wherein we discuss the current state of Netflix before checking out Who Killed the Electric Car?, He Died With a Felafel in His Hand, Half Nelson & Fantastic Mr. Fox. This one’ll put hair on your face.
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News Jer Shares, Because Jer Cares
This week, we were joined by special guest Jeremy Clarke, who discussed some of the shortcomings of Netflix’s current product design and had several suggestions for how Netflix subscribers can better optimize their Netflix experience.
We’re crazy about this bonus episode, baby. This episode is a special one in that we’re releasing it separately from our regular shows. We were planning to cover the 1944 classic film noir Double Indemnity in episode 4 of the podcast, but at the time of recording, it was removed from Instant Streaming both in Canada and the U.S. So, we’ve decided to release the review as a stand-alone bonus episode. We hope you enjoy it, baby. And as always we invite you to contact us (links to the right) with your comments and suggestions.
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The Netpix Podcast 