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Ron Howard’s ‘Imagine Documentaries’ nabs first-look deal with Apple

Director Ron Howard and production partner Brian Grazer have penned a new, first-look deal with Apple to air its Imagine Documentaries films on the company’s upcoming video streaming service, reports Variety.

Fittingly, the primary focus of the documentaries generally center around a musician’s story, with the production company’s most recent release, “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years”, winning the 2017 Grammy for Best Music Film.


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Netflix on Apple TV now lets you more quickly access the next episode in a series

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The Netflix player on Apple TV has been updated with a new feature that allows watchers to more quickly jump between episodes in a single series of a show. When one episode is complete, the Apple TV will offer up the next episode. You must physically select the next episode as it will not automatically play, according to our testing (Update: the auto-play feature seems to be working on some shows, but not all at the moment). Previously, to access the next episode, users would have to revert back to the main episode list panel within the Netflix app.


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Opinion: Will the spring launch of Amazon/Nexus/Apple TV signal the beginning of the end of live, broadcast TV?

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Streaming TV is heating-up. We’re expecting a new Apple TV box to be announced in April, Amazon looks set to launch its own box in March and Google is reputed to be not far behind with a Nexus-branded box.

So-called cord-cutting – people who give up their cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming content over the web – is growing in popularity. Mobile TV viewing on tablets is increasingly common.

All of which makes me wonder whether we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of live TV … ? 
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Apple rolls out iTunes in the Cloud movies and TV shows in France, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Sweden & Holland? (Update: Apple confirms)

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Update: TNW confirmed with Apple that a total of 12 countries have received access to movies in the Cloud, while France is the only to get TV shows today:

Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have all received the service, which allows access to previously downloaded movies. Apple confirmed with us by email that France was the only country in this batch to receive iTunes in the Cloud for TV shows.

As first reported by French website iGen.fr, Apple appears to be rolling out iCloud access to TV shows and movies in France. The feature allows users to download content purchased through iTunes to various Apple devices, and it has been available in the United States and elsewhere since 2011. The site first noticed access to the movies and TV show sections in the iTunes desktop app but confirmed the content is also accessible from Apple TV in the country.

As noted by TNW, a small number of users on Twitter are also reporting that access to TV shows and movies in the cloud is also now available in Holland and Sweden.

Other readers have said the feature is also available in Denmark, Greece, and Norway:

It’s not clear if Apple has officially launched the feature or access has mistakenly been opened up temporarily. Apple has yet to update its iTunes in the Cloud availability page to reflect the rollouts.

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Warner Bros. launches ‘Day After US’ iOS app for next-day streaming of TV shows

Update: Warner Bros. reached out to 9to5mac to clarify some of the confusion surrounding the app’s launch. The app is specifically for markets without access to iTunes TV shows, initially available in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. This is likely why the app was pulled after accidentally making its way to the US App Store. Warner Bros. will officially be launching the app on Monday.

Warner Bros. just launched a new iOS app for both iPhone and iPad that allows users to watch the most current episodes of the network’s TV series the day after they aired in the U.S. The app, called “Day After US”, is available for free in the App Store and provides the ability to either stream shows over Wi-Fi or download episodes for offline playback. Warner Bros. will make the first episode of each series available for free and charges users per episode or season to unlock the rest of the content. The app’s iTunes page also said episodes would be available in multiple languages with “localized audio dubs and dynamic subtitles” available for some languages. Some of the available series mentioned on the app’s iTunes page include: The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl.

App Features Include: • Offline playback: Download episodes directly to your device to playback at anytime • Steaming playback: Stream an episode instantly over Wi-Fi • Multiple languages: Watch the episodes in your language of choice • Real-time news: Live Twitter and Facebook updates • Explore WB catalog: Browse other app editions created by Warner Bros. • Localized audio dubs and dynamic subtitles are available in certain languages.

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Apple bars German eBook purchases with discounted iTunes cards following pressure from German bookseller association

We are all familiar with various retailers offering discounted iTunes cards by now. We told you just yesterday that Walmart is offering downloadable $100 iTunes/App Store gift cards for just $80. The redeem code associated with these cards is usually good for the purchase of all content from the stores including songs, movies, TV shows, apps, games, books, etc. However, according to a report from German website ifun.de, Apple is no longer allowing discounted iTunes cards to be used toward the purchase of books in the country due to pressure from a German bookseller association:

Apple says, discounted iTunes gift cards are not valid for ebooks anymore in Germany…Background is a law, that forces retailers to offer books at same price in Germany. This is to protect small book shops. Booksellers association sent Apple a c&d letter last week, to end selling ebooks for discounted iTunes credit… Announcing an actual gift card discount, German supermarket REWE notices, that discounted iTunes cards can’t be used to buy books at the iTunes Store.

Apple has bigger things to worry about at home with a trial in the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing eBook antitrust suit currently scheduled for June 2013. Most recently, Apple claimed previous settlements with three book publishers involved in the case were unlawful and requested the settlements be rejected or delayed until after trial. It is possible Apple’s decision to stop allowing discounted iTunes cards to be used for book purchases will eventually extend to other markets.

Get watching: Apple finally brings TV show downloads to Apple TVs in Canada (Australia and UK too)

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While TV shows have been available through iTunes in Canada, the Apple TV has not been a source of TV show downloading. Now, Apple appears to have sent an over-the-air update to Apple TV boxes in Canada, and TV show downloading is now available. Episode downloads cost between free and $2.49 a pop and are actually full downloads, not rentals. Apple recently traded single TV show episode rentals for a TV show downloads service. Episodes you purchase will be streamed with no limit from the iCloud storage locker. More photos after the breakThanks, iH8Sn0w!

Update: We’re also starting to receive multiple tips from Australia and UK as well.

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Someone from ER is likely to play Steve Jobs in the Sony movie

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If it isn’t Noah Wyle, who played Jobs in Pirates of Silicon Valley, it might be George Clooney, Wyle’s co Star in the hit TV show from a decade ago, ER according to the Sun.

The actor, 50, is reportedly battling it out with his former ER co-star Noah Wyle, 40, for the role.The biopic, which is expected to start filming next year, will chart the life of the amazing entrepreneur, who died last month from pancreatic cancer at just 56. According to Now magazine, filming on the project is due to start next year.

Noah Wyle, who frankly looks a lot more like Jobs, said of the opportunity to play Steve Jobs again:

“Are you kidding? I would give my eye teeth, in the heartbeat”


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Netflix spins off by-mail group as Qwikster

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Some interesting news from Netflix this morning: They are spinning off their by mail group, which will also include video games and giving it a new name ‘Qwikster’.

While the video below and the announcement blog post set a conciliatory tone for the way the recent changes (price hikes) happened, those changes are still in place and will continue going forward.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Tn8n5CIPk]

In fact, it sounds like Netflix is set to spin off its old mailing business in the future even though in-house Qwikster now sells game rentals as well as movies and TV shows.

The future of video and gaming is clearly streaming and it appears that Netflix doesn’t want to be associated with that entity.

Apple, for what it is worth, has been shunning optical for years, refusing to put Blu-ray optical discs in its Macs or Apple TV products and instead pushing the streaming of media.