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Comcast looking to buy NBC?

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 5th 2009 at 9:02PM

Not sure how a story like this snuck under the radar on Friday, but the WSJ reports that Comcast and NBC are in the early stages of a buyout offer -- Comcast's plan is to control 51 percent of a new joint venture with current NBC owner GE. Needless to say, that would be a massive content industry shakeup, and it would bring over two dozen networks and stations under Comcast's control, from E! to NBC itself, as well as the Universal movie studio. Sure brings that whole TV Everywhere plan into sharp relief, doesn't it? Talks are said to be far apart and contigent on Comcast maintaining its credit rating by putting as little cash upfront as possible, but big companies like this don't poke around lightly -- we'll see how this one turns out.

Ginormous Palm Pre shows new Japanese-only 'Contacts' card in Heroes promo

by Darren Murph posted Sep 18th 2009 at 11:23AM

We'll confess -- only a few Engadget staffers are still hanging tight to see if Heroes will ever become the flagship show that it looked to be in season uno, but there's no denying that the whole crew will be watching the premiere that drops on September 21st. Why? 'Cause evidently there's a ridiculously large, presumably GSM-based Palm Pre making an appearance, and it'll be showing off the newest webOS feature: an updated 'Contacts' card. We could be off base here, but it looks as if the new card will sport psychedelic graphics and Japanese expressions when someone dials in, though we've a tough time believing anyone in real life ever secured one of those mythical '555' numbers.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 17th 2009 at 3:07PM

Our very own Josh Topolsky will once again be invading America's airwaves tonight from the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and you know he'll be showing off another hot new toy. (What could it be?) Tune in on your local NBC station at the times listed below, let us know how he's doing in comments, and make sure to include #joshtops in your tweets!

Oh, and if you missed JT and Jimmy get silly with the Pre back in March (or you just want to relive it), the video's after the break.

Showtimes:
12:37AM Eastern
11:37PM Central
11:37PM Mountain
12:37AM Pacific

Continue reading Josh is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight!

NBC Universal content now available on PlayStation Network

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 10th 2009 at 2:47PM

Good news for Playstation 3 owners -- NBC and Sony have just announced that NBC Universal content is now available on the PlayStation Network. In addition to NBC shows like The Office, 30 Rock, and Heroes, new movie releases like Milk and Role Models will hit PSN day and date with the DVD release, and back-catalog titles like The 40-Year Old Virgin and The Big Lebowski should already be up. Pricing is ballpark with the competition: $2.99 to $5.99 for SD and HD rentals, and $9.99 to $14.99 for SD and HD purchases. Not bad, but we won't be happy until these fools drop the shenanigans and give us what we really want: Hulu. Make it happen, guys.

Reminder: Josh is on Jimmy Fallon tonight!

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 9th 2009 at 7:30PM

Hey, just a reminder that our very own Joshua Topolsky is a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight! Not only are we excited to see JT reconnect with Jimmy for his network debut, he's got a totally sweet surprise in store, and honestly, we don't think you want to miss it. Scratch that -- there's no way you want to miss it. Seriously. It all goes down tonight on NBC, let us know how Josh did in comments and make sure to include #joshtops in your tweets!

Showtimes:
12:37AM Eastern
11:37PM Central
11:37PM Mountain
12:37AM Pacific

Jimmy Fallon and Engadget: together again, March 9th

by Engadget staff posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 2:45PM

If you like television, staying up late, and gadgets, you'll definitely want to keep your set tuned to NBC next Monday (March 9th, for you calendar-loving types). Why you ask? Because our Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky, will be guesting on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and we're pretty sure you won't want to miss it... unless you hate awesome surprises (trust us, it's a doozy). If you need your memory jogged on the last time Josh and Jimmy met up (or just haven't seen it yet) check out the video above. Then, make sure to set your alarms -- you'll be sorry if you don't!

Read - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Read - NBC schedule

Cable companies work to bring new online content to pay-TV subscribers

by Darren Murph posted Feb 20th 2009 at 10:04AM

In an effort to maintain relevancy during a time when online TV viewing is on the rise, a number of big name cable companies are looking to throw in online companion packages to sweeten the pay-TV equation. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that top cable providers (namely Comcast and TWC) and TV networks are looking to assemble a large swath of online programming -- some of which has been previously unavailable -- and deliver it only to subscribers. As it stands, loads of shows are available right now for free via Hulu and broadcast websites, but some channels without online portals can only be caught via cable. From what we're gathering, it seems that these operators could be working to bring some of that content to the web, essentially providing a means to tune into a Comcast or TWC lineup without having to be in front of the set-top-box.

Update: Due to some quotes taken out of context, we have revamped our story above to show a clearer picture of the cable companies' intentions.

Video: Gettin' jiggy with Surface, Al Roker

by Ross Miller posted Jan 9th 2009 at 3:11PM

What do you get when you cross a music-mixing Microsoft Surface with a sleep-deprived Al Roker? Answer: Pure comedy gold. Video after the break, skip to the 48-second mark to hear DJ A.R. do his thang.

Bonus: check out the last 10 seconds to hear him compare a drunken Ann Coulter to Popeye's Olive Oyl.

Continue reading Video: Gettin' jiggy with Surface, Al Roker

Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

by Richard Lawler posted Nov 4th 2008 at 9:37PM

Sure, not every station's pulled out the Star Wars / Iron Man-style holograms for the 2008 election, but they're all trying to put shiny new HD studios to full use and get as many eyeballs as possible until things are decided. NBC & ABC immediately jumped out front at 7 p.m. with data pouring in on the widescreen edges of their HD feeds, with CNN waiting until states were decided to begin updating their lists. ABC's chosen to lean on its touchscreen display and forgo side graphics altogether, while despite Fox's claim as "America's Election HQ", with totally bare shoulders and boring sets, we're pointing our flatscreens elsewhere. PBS, despite airing the clearest, most high quality video available of three old guys at a table, has no slick touchscreens or HD graphics packages to speak of. Think about that as you check out the rest of the screens after the break, and during the next donation drive. Big Bird deserves better.

Continue reading Election '08 coming home in HD like never before

General Electric partners with Tatung for "premium" GE-branded HDTVs

by Darren Murph posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 12:19AM

Who says there are too many players in the HDTV realm? With current mainstays partnering up like it's going out of style, we've found two firms that see something no one else does. General Electric has just announced a joint venture with Taiwan-based Tatung in which the pair plans on making two million HDTVs annually when production gets going in 2009. The two hope to capture at least 5% to 10% of the global TV market in due time, and according to Peter Weedfald, president of North America and global chief marketing officer for the JV, the resulting product will be a "premium brand" that will be "very competitive with current leadership brands." We'll be interested to see what all becomes of this, and hopefully we'll have some prototypes to gawk at come CES / IFA / CEDIA 2009.

[Image courtesy of VintageTVSets]

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the DRM of the future?

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Sep 13th 2008 at 6:11PM

We've heard this about this dream so many times before, DRM that will make digital media as easy to use and as consumer friendly as a physical medium like DVD. We'd normally be quick to disregard this as yet another DRM "ecosystem" for digital media, but the list of players backing the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (or DECE) has us taking notice. As impossible as this seems, if anyone could make it happen, it'd be a group composed of: Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Fox, HP, Intel, Lions Gate, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, VeriSign, and Warner Bros -- yes, we also find it hard to believe that all these companies are working together. We'll have to wait until January at CES for the ins and outs of how this would actually work, but we do know it'll be based around a "rights locker" which will amount to a website where digital purchases will be stored -- we assume this is where VeriSign fits in. Oh, and Apple is noticeably absent from the list

Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house

by Joshua Fruhlinger posted Sep 9th 2008 at 12:05PM

Just in time for couch season, Apple has busted out iTunes 8 with a slew of new features, like the Genius sidebar. Also, NBC is back on board with its lineup of TV shows. According to Jobs, "The Office is coming back, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock... and they're coming back in HD." HD versions of shows will run you $2.99 while SD versions run a reasonable $1.99 (when compared to, say, a full month's cable access). Meanwhile, "Genius" is a new feature that Apple says will change the way you browse your media. "Old browsing wasn't efficient," said Jobs. "in iTunes 8 you can look by album cover, and this new bar at the top let's you look at anything graphically in little tiles." Basically, Genius is a contextual iTunes store recommendation tool that will, in essence, make it easier for you to spend money. It also makes custom playlists on the fly based on your habits, and shares them (anonymously, they promise) with other users. So what's missing so far? None of the rumored subscription services, for one, and any mention of new hardware or iPhone functions, like, say disk mode. We'll keep wishing. Apple says it is making iTunes 8 available immediately (which, to them, may mean "some time later"), so let the download races begin!

Update: We've got a gallery of iTunes 8 -- check it out below.

Gallery: iTunes 8 hands-on

Continue reading Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house

MST3K crew appears during the Summer Olympics broadcast?

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 18th 2008 at 12:23AM

Now look, we're not sure if this was someone's drug-induced fever dream or not, but if it did really go down, it might be the best thing that's happened at the entire 2008 Summer Olympics. According to the Dirty Red Commie, sometime on August 17th between 2:00 PM and 3:13 PM Mountain Time, Joel, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000 appeared on NBC's broadcast of the summer games. The DRC says they were simply static -- no hilarious jokes or animated banter -- but cut out during local commercials, giving him the impression that this was coming from the NBC mothership rather than his local station. Apparently a video of the action was set to go up on YouTube, but was "copyright-killed before it was even done processing." If anyone out there on the interblogs is able to confirm this, we'd love to hear from you.

Update: While not exactly proving the authenticity of this, we've now got video of it after the break.

Update: Aaaaaand... the video has been taken down.

Continue reading MST3K crew appears during the Summer Olympics broadcast?

How to get the most out of the 2008 Olympic Games

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 7th 2008 at 3:24PM

The 2008 Beijing Olympics -- the first covered entirely in high definition, with super slow-motion cameras and 3,600 hours of coverage, online and on TV -- approach. Think you're ready to get the most out of the Games, and maybe, just maybe catch the event you actually want to watch live as it happens? Head over to Engadget HD and get the full rundown on the different ways the Games are coming home and how to take advantage of them all.

Microsoft adds Universal, NBC to Xbox Live Marketplace, calls #1 in HD

by Richard Lawler posted Jul 14th 2008 at 1:47PM

Microsoft just announced Universal, and NBC Universal programming is coming to Xbox Live, delivering The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, The Mummy, Bourne Supremacy and others to the service. Xbox Live Video Marketplace now claims over 10,000 movies and TV shows on the marketplace, which it says puts it as the number one HD provider. MGM and Constantin are pushing things forward in Europe, adding 700 new titles to the library starting today. Check out more details from the E3 keynote in the live blog.