Over at TechCrunch Europe where I’ve been helping out over the last two weeks (that’s why it’s been a quiet around here) I’ve covered two Internet TV-related stories that maybe of interest to last100 readers.
Voddler, the Spotify-for-movies, partners with Paramount and Disney
Voddler is beginning to garner quite a lot of buzz in Europe, having been widely described as the “Spotify for movies”. It’s also been called the Hulu of Europe. The Internet TV service offers add-supported streaming of movies and TV shows as well as premium paid-for content through its own desktop client and is currently only available in a closed beta in the company’s home country of Sweden. However, following content deals with Paramount and Disney, Voddler is beginning to open up and has plans to expand into other European countries. On being compared to Spotify and Hulu, I comment:
… a more apt and less flattering comparison might be the largely defunct Joost or another European video startup, Babelgum. Both services have struggled to secure enough compelling mainstream content and, in hindsight, forcing users to download a desktop app would seem to have been a mistake. A big one.
BlinkBox goes all arty, signs deal with British Film Institute
I’ll admit, BlinkBox wasn’t an online video site I was overly familiar with even though it’s a UK offering.
The film and TV aggregator has signed a content partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI) — bringing the total number of British TV and film titles on offer to over five hundred and the total number of “premium” titles available on the service to just under six thousand.
The service already has licensing deals with a number of studios including Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Aardman Animations. Discovery Networks and FremantleMedia.
If you’re in the UK, I suggest you check out BlinkBox as there’s actually quite a lot of good quality free content available, along with plenty of paid-for offerings.
