IBLOG SPACE

LOVEFiLM has announced that it has struck a new deal with BBC Worldwide that will land it streaming rights to the massive BBC show archive. The deal will also bring it access to shows that were commissioned by other British broadcasters. Among the titles that will be offered in streaming from under the new deal is Doctor Who. Other shows include Life On Mars, Spooks, and the mini-series Whitechapel. The deal also covers nature programming like Planet Earth. People that are interested in LOVEFiLM in the UK can get access to the new streaming content on a bunch of different devices including the PS3, iPad, and Xbox 360 among other things. It’s nice to see LOVEFiLM improving its catalog of offerings all the time. Last month the streaming side of the firm landed rights to stream Sony Pictures content. Subscribers also still get access to DVD rentals via the mail too.

HTC had some bad news in Q4 reporting that its quarterly profits had dipped for the first time in 2-years. In October of 2011, HTC reported its Q3 financials and posted up profits of $625 million. One of the most surprising parts about HTC seeing its profits slip is that in November 2011 the company had the lead in the smartphone market in the US. Nevertheless, HTC reported its first quarterly profit dip in two years as its Q4 net income dropped 26% compared to the same quarter of 2011 to $364 million. To heap on more bad news analysts are expecting that the profits for HTC will continue to fall even further this quarter. HTC cut its outlook for revenue last quarter. Part of the blame for the declining profits is that HTCs smartphones are being overlooked in the high-end by consumers. Consumers are instead opting for the slick line of Samsung Galaxy devices or the iPhone. Another reason for the falling profits is a softening global economy. Bloomberg reports that shipments of HTC d

HTC has revealed underwhelming Q4 2011 financial results, stung by the increasing strength of its smartphone rivals Apple and Samsung, and struggling to differentiate its smartphones. The company has announced that revenues are down 2.49-percent year-on-year, at NT$101bn ($360m), with operating income down from NT$16.7bn in Q4 last year to NT$13.0bn this year. HTC has not given any indication as to why it believes performance has struggled. Still, we’re not short on suggestions. HTC has struggled in the courts this year, facing a defeat of what had seemed an “in the bag” win against Apple with planned acquisition S3 Graphics, forcing the company to reconsider the buy altogether. Meanwhile, the ITC ruled against HTC in a different Apple patent case, banning certain devices from sale in the US. More importantly, though, unlike Samsung with its in-demand line-up of handsets, HTC has had difficulty creating smartphones users actually seem keen to buy. Revenues from sales were already d

If you are a fan of Netflix streaming or kiosks that are operated by Redbox and Blockbuster, Warner brothers is not going to make you happy with the latest announcement. Warner Bros is set to make us all wait longer to see the flicks it produces in an apparent effort to force more of us to purchase their flicks rather than rent. It used to be that if you wanted to rent a movie from Warner and many of the other major studios, you might have to wait as long as a month before you could get your hands on it. There was a 28-day delay between the launch of the film on DVD, and it coming to kiosks. Warner has made a new deal with Netflix, Redbox, and Blockbuster that will double that delay to 56 days. The longer delay is all in the name of propping up sagging DVD sales. The sad part is you can bet since the three movie rental/streaming firms accepted the deal other studios will follow suit. After 56 days, I’m not going to rent a movie that I haven’t seen, it’s off my radar completely and

Samsung has announced record quarterly earnings for Q4 2011, with profit up considerably compared to last year, buoyed particularly by the company’s success in smartphones. Although full results aren’t yet available, Samsung is estimating sales of 47 trillion won with operating profit of 5.2 trillion won ($4.5bn) for the three month period; there’s 200 billion in wiggle-room either way. 2011 proved a good year for Samsung in mobile, with the company announcing last month that it had shipped 300 million phones in 2011. The company became the world’s largest smartphone vendor in Q3, overtaking Apple by throwing handsets at the market from its ever-increasing Galaxy range. Sales, however, fell in Q4 2011 compared to the same period a year ago, going by Samsung’s estimates, though analysts expect the company’s TV and mobile business to report profit, Bloomberg reports. Having made a 170 billion won loss in TV in Q4 2010, analysts now expect a roughly 170 billion won profit; in December

Samsung, Sony and Vizio will have new Google TV hardware at CES next week, while the platform will make its long-awaited international debut in 2012, with Google confirming its key partners alongside LG’s new smart TV kit. Meanwhile, Marvell’s ARMADA 1500 chipset – integral to Google TV now that the search giant has jumped from x86 to ARM - will share the stage with chip company MediaTek, which will also be supplying SoCs to power Google TV set-top boxes. As for the trio of hardware companies building Google TV devices around those chips, full details haven’t yet been spilled. On Samsung, all Google will say is that it plans to bring Google TV devices to the market this year; similarly, Vizio will “hold private demos at CES” to show off what they’ve been working on since announcing a partnership with Google last year. Sony was one of the smart TV platform’s first adopters, alongside Logitech, and the company intends to not only show off new products for the US but “plans to offer G