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BET's on-demand streaming service, BET+, has launched, and it's got apps for both Android and Android TV ready right out of the gate. The service is a collaborative effort between BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios, and features content principally by black creators.The ad-free service offers both existing content, like Tyler Perry's extensive filmography, as well as original content including BET's First Wives Club and upcoming stand-up specials from DL Hughley, Sinbad, Nick Cannon, and others. Shows from other Viacom networks — VH1, MTV, and Comedy Central, to name a few — will be featured, too.You can sign up for $9.99 a month and watch on just about any device you've got. BET+ is available today for Android, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, plus Apple devices. There's no Roku app yet, though. You can grab the Android version below to check it out. The mobile and TV apps are available on APK Mirror, too, if that's your jam.
The UK's most famous media institution, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), seems like it's constantly in transition as it tries to maintain its traditional values at the same time as adapting to a new generation of viewers, listeners, and readers. As far as audio content goes, the BBC has had to supplement its live and on-demand content by releasing podcasts on other services, too.
Free television streaming service Pluto TV updated its Android app to v3.5, adding Oreo picture-in-picture support, the ability to resume previously-watched On Demand content, and settings to configure the stream quality to conserve data.
In February, Snapchat introduced a way for anyone to create custom geofilters for events such as birthdays or weddings (or almost anything else, really). Until now, creating a filter required at least a minimal level of mastery of tools such as Photoshop, so the feature wasn't truly accessible to many users. To address this, Snapchat has designed several templates that make it easy for anyone to make their own geofilter through Snapchat's website.
After launching in Japan earlier this month, Netflix is set to expand its Asian presence in early 2016 by adding 4 countries to its availability map. If you live in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, you'll be happy to know that the video streaming service is coming to your neck of the woods (or rainforest) next year. At least you'll no longer be forced to VPN your way to the US to get Netflix working.
With Amazon Original Movies, The Company You Buy Everything From Is Getting Ready For The Big Screen
Amazon may be on its way to a theater near you. Amazon Studios, the online retailer's video production wing, has announced that it will start producing and acquiring its own original movies, debuting them in theaters and bringing them to Amazon Instant Video shortly thereafter. These works will come under the banner of Amazon Original Movies.Amazon Studios has already produced a number of television series such as Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent. This has furthered its competition with Netflix, the video on demand provider that has broken records with its own originally-produced series House of Cards and plans to release its own original movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend in the summer of 2015.
If, like many people in the UK, you like to sit down to a bit of The Inbetweeners or The IT Crowd in the evening, or maybe you just like your news delivered by Jon Snow, you're going to like what we're about to tell you: Channel 4 has finally made its 4oD app available on Android.
Blockbuster, the former golden child of movie rentals, is feeling left out lately. No one is paying attention to its online offerings, no doubt partially because it's been broken into a thousand pieces. However, today the company launched a new, central service for renting movies online with just one app for all devices: Blockbuster On Demand.
Chances are, most of you only ever hear about Epix in an article discussing streaming rights (like this one). Epix is an online streaming video service a la Netflix that you can only get access to if you have a cable bundle that includes the site. Or, you know, if you have Netflix. For now anyway. The real value of Epix is the stable of movie rights it brings to the table, and now the joint venture is sharing its media library with Amazon Instant Video for all of the online retail giant's Prime customers.
Today, we move yet another teeny tiny step forward to the truly digital future of television. Xfinity has launched the XFINITY TV Player which, aside from a name that's needlessly yelling, gives Comcast/Xfinity subscribers access to a host of television and movies on their Android 2.3+ devices. Both phones and tablets are supported.
OnLive, a hugely popular on-demand gaming service which came to Android late last year, announced tonight the release of L.A. Noire: Touch Edition, which Founder and CEO Steve Perlman dubs "BY FAR the highest-performance game ever designed for tablets."
Sky Go, a service which allows Sky TV customers to watch live and archived content on the go, has been available in the browser and on iOS devices for 7 months now, and according to Holly Knill, the head of Sky Go, it's finally coming to Android devices next month as well.
OnLive, a popular on-demand gaming service, has just made its way to the Android Market, delivering "console quality games" to your Android device any time, anywhere.
OnLive officially launched an innovative cloud-based gaming service at the Eurogamer Expo in London yesterday, making on-demand gameplay available to users throughout the UK.
Do you have Comcast XFINITY cable? If not, this app may have you considering a switch of providers. The Comcast XFINITY TV app has been around for a while, but a lack of Gingerbread and Honeycomb compatibility has left many users frustrated - and drooling. Why? Because this app is awesome. Take a look at these Honeycomb screenshots taken from a XOOM:
Earlier today, Comcast dropped its 2nd mobile app for Android into the Android Market, the direction of which puzzled even me - and I work for a Comcast-owned company. The new app, XFINITY TV, is clearly targeted at TV viewers, while the previous app called XFINITY Mobile was a more general application for address book management, SmartZone email, Digital Voice, and... TV, DVR, and On Demand.
Android isn't exactly the most media-centric smartphone OS, but that may change soon, with the introduction of Honeycomb and more third-party media stores (like Samsung's Media Hub).