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Dish Network, AMC dispute could see the network's channels dropped this summer
It wasn't that long ago that Dish Network was proudly offering AMC HD to its customers (especially since DirecTV didn't, which has since been rectified) but now the company is willing to let the network's contract expire this summer, taking new episodes of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead away from subscribers. The source of the sudden animosity, according to a press release from AMC, is continuing litigation between it and Dish Network over dropping the Voom HD channels back in 2008, leading to them going dark soon after. The LA Times reports Dish Network claims the denial of its appeal on a decision in the case has nothing to do with its sudden change of heart is solely about AMC's high renewal cost for a relatively low viewership. Whatever you believe, the sniping and threats will likely continue right up until the contract runs out June 30th, which is at least long enough for this season of Mad Men to finish on its own.
The Walking Dead shambles over to Facebook in April
You've got the comics, you watch the show every week and you're counting down the minutes until you can play Telltale's game. Well, listen up, The Walking Dead fans: another game is coming ... to Facebook.AMC and social games publisher RockYou have teamed up to offer The Walking Dead Social Game, in development at Eyes Wide Games. The gameplay is built from two major activities: setting up and maintaining base camps, and sending out scouts to scavenge for supplies. There's also some combat, naturally.As you can see in the screen above, it's quite the colorful game. Inside Social Games has more screens, and the Facebook page has a few videos showing off some of the characters from the show.
Breaking Bad RPG concocted in video
Fans of Breaking Bad will find loads to love about this faux-game video created by College Humor: accurate character dialog, comical asides that break the fourth wall and perhaps the greatest Duck Hunt clone known to man. Chemistry!
Netflix backtracks on Qwikster, will keep DVDs and streaming under the same URL
The Netflix Contrition Tour 2011 continues today, as the company announced today that it won't be spinning off DVD-by-mail rentals into a new company called Qwikster. While the plan for DVD operations to be separated internally appears to still be under way (no word yet on the promised videogame rental option), for customers things will stay the same, with one login and one website. While the retreat will probably prompt even more speculation about the company's true plans, CEO Reed Hastings has issued yet another apology to customers, admitting Netflix may have moved too fast this time. Another sticky issue that's not so easily dealt with is the recent pricing change that took effect last month. While many speculated at the time about what percentage of customers would see higher prices as a result, spokesperson Steve Swasey reveals it affected about half of the company's subscribers. For the rest who had signed up for the $7.99-streaming only package (an option selected by the overwhelming majority in the quarter before the change) prices didn't go up at all. We have our own ideas about what the pricing should be, but it seems Netflix has finally realized not all customers got the message that it's a streaming company now, and tacking DVDs onto its new primary offering for only $2 extra just didn't work. Since all that uproar Netflix has announced a few new / expanded content deals for its streaming service, with Discovery and exclusive rights to previous seasons of The Walking Dead from AMC. But with renewed competition from the likes of Blockbuster and Amazon only time will tell if it can do enough to stop the subscriber bleeding. The Netflix Q3 earnings report is due October 24th -- think that will be an interesting call to listen in on?
Play Uncharted 3 at an AMC theatre, get an early copy
Live in San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles or Washington DC? Want a chance to play and (own) Uncharted 3 nearly two weeks early? If so, you might be interested in an upcoming event at your local AMC Theatre. From October 18 through 20, AMC theatres in the five cities listed above will be hosting a special event, during which fans will get a chance to play Uncharted 3 in 3D on the big screen. General admission is $25, but those who spend $60 on the "premium pass" will also get an early copy of the game. There is a catch, however, namely that said early copy will be "shipped to customer on 10/25/11." In other words, no one leaves the event with a physical copy in their hot little hands and there's really no guarantee the game will actually arrive early. But hey, it's probably the only chance you'll have to see Nathan Drake on the silver screen for quite some time. Head to the AMC website for more details. [Thanks, Vallanthaz]
DirecTV adds AMC-HD next week, too bad Mad Men is still six months away
After slowing its pace of adding HD channels dramatically as of late, DirecTV has finally satisfied one of the loudest and longest running customer requests by announcing AMC-HD will come to its satellites starting September 9th. There's still a pretty long list of channels it's not offering yet, but if you're on contract and just want to enjoy some Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men (when it returns in March) in HD then today's Facebook posting (just hours after it was dug up by the satellite sleuths at DBSTalk) is exactly what you've been waiting for. [Thanks, Joe & Casey]
MoviePass gets kicked out of theaters before it can get a ticket
Here's a bad idea: announce a beta run for your discount subscription movie ticket service, but neglect to inform the 21 San Francisco-based theaters listed that they're part of the fun. That's essentially what Landmark, AMC, Camera Cinemas, and Big Cinemas are claiming MoviePass did earlier this week, and boy has the corn begun to pop. According to The Wrap and Variety, the chains weren't pleased to find out that MP had worked with mutual partner MovieTickets.com to set admission prices without their consent; the intriguing tidbit here is that despite the low cost for consumers, the theaters would still be paid full admission. MoviePass had been hoping to gain more support with the test phase, but it looks like that'll be on pause for a good while. No word on whether the beta will see a rescheduling, but you'll find the full details in the links below, and a PR rebuttal from AMC past the break.
Sony stands behind its digital projectors, claims the only thing ruining movies is Russell Brand
In case you missed it over the weekend, the Boston Globe published an article stating that the misuse of 3D lenses on Sony 4K projectors is drastically reducing the amount of light and color in digitally projected 2D movies. Sony Digital Cinema has finally responded with a list of "The Facts" that reiterate information some readers have posted in our comments and that we've obtained from individuals working as projectionists. They claim that contrary to the Globe's information, the projector technology used as described isn't to blame for poor picture quality. Notable items on the list are that the Sony system does not alternate between two images rapidly, changing the lens takes less than 20 minutes, the RealD 3D filters only reduce light output by 20% (not 85%), and if the lens can't be changed, then it's still capable of playing back content at 14fl (foot lamberts) which is within the recommended specs for brightness. All of these go directly against information from the original "Deep Focus" source, although it still doesn't explain why they could see such a marked difference between films in the same theater being projected digitally or on film. However, simpler explanations like an old and weakened bulb, a film projector set outside the specs, or unintentional misconfiguration could account for all of that. Until this is sorted, all we can recommend for your summer movie viewing is that if you do see anything out of order, don't let that jumbo tub of popcorn and Icee slow you down -- complain to management loudly and quickly to get the picture fixed. Check after the break for Sony's claims, as well as more detailed information from a projectionist we spoke to that broke down just how the technology works.
Vudu adds TV shows to its rental catalog, but only some are in HD
Here we go again with a good news / bad news announcement from Vudu, as it's added a nice catalog of TV shows to its library for rent and/or purchase. The bad news however, is that despite having the 1080p / 5.1 audio HDX technology we've come to know and love, it's currently only offering a small subset of them in anything other than standard definition. Like other online stores, there's an odd situation where some things are a decent value (season one of The Walking Dead is $26.99 on Blu-ray at Amazon, $15.99 on iTunes in HD, and $16.99 on Vudu HDX) and others are not (season six of Weeds is $27.99 on Vudu HDX, $23.99 on Blu-ray at Amazon and $38.87 on iTunes) so shop carefully. Given time the library will probably even out more in quality and price and once Vudu is available on more devices (and hopefully in HD on the PC at some point) there will be more reasons to consider it as a VOD option.
A Portal 2 intro, Mad Men style
This YouTube video by user Prefim reimagines Mad Men's haunting opening credits with Portal 2's ATLAS. Now we want to see this done with other AMC programs: Breaking Beta with Chell or The Killing (of GLaDOS).
Netflix brings Mad Men to Watch Instantly starting June 27th
If Netflix is going to be called "reruns" by people like Comcast CEO Brian Roberts then at least it's good reruns. It just announced a new deal with Lionsgate that will see the first four seasons of popular AMC series Mad Men made available on Watch Instantly starting June 27th, with future seasons -- Lionsgate has series creator Matt Weiner signed for three years, while AMC just cut a deal for two more seasons -- added annually after their broadcast run ends. The only way this could be better was if we lived in bandwidth-capped Canada where Mad Men is already available under a separate deal.
The Walking Dead, Fables game adaptations coming from Telltale
In addition to Jurassic Park, Telltale is currently adapting The Walking Dead and the Fables comic book series into games, reports All Thing's Digital's eMoney blog, part of the WSJ network. The developer is expected go into detail on the titles at a pre-scheduled press event tonight, during which a total of five multiplatform projects are supposed to be announced. According to eMoney, the Fables game is part of "an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement" with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, while The Walking Dead game will be based on the AMC television adaption of the franchise (which also originated as a comic). Steve Allison, SVP of marketing for Telltale, told the site that he thinks The Walking Dead has the potential to become a $20–30 million franchise for the studio. "See the movie, play the game doesn't work anymore," Allison said, "but the way we make content, it does." Both new series are expected to be episodic adventure games, in line with Telltale's current and past efforts, and "will trickle out over the next year," according to eMoney, through digital retailers including Telltale's online store and Steam. [Image source: AMCtv.com]
Dish Network has AMC HD now, casually points out DirecTV still doesn't
Congratulations Dish Network on announcing yourself as "the first and only satellite TV provider in America to offer this channel." Though DirecTV still has NFL Sunday ticket, if your taste run more towards Don Draper than Adrian Peterson, you won't get Mad Men in HD there, yet. Check for the new network on channel 130 in the America's Top 200 package of channels and higher, and let us know if Rubicon is worth watching -- going into these conspiracy stories blind can be tiring.
CBS, Comcast On Demand Online partnership faces off premium vs. free internet streaming; 17 cable channels jump onboard
After stocking up on premium networks with HBO and Starz, Comcast's On Demand Online project has added its first broadcast TV partner, CBS. One of the worries regarding TV Everywhere / On Demand Online has been what it would mean for free streaming portals like Hulu, with broadcasters potentially shifting content behind pay-tv walls to keep people from dropping cable and satellite TV subscriptions. CBS has been the notable Hulu holdout, although it has also pushed forward with free streaming on its website, including March Madness and even upping the resolution of its Flash video to 1080p. Further conflicting the issue? 17 more cable networks (A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E!, The Style Network, G4 and FEARnet) have also announced plans to join the 5,000 subscriber trial. Just like the previous agreements, it appears customers should expect access during the trial to reflect a lot of what CBS and the others already offer through standard VOD but now with more placeshifting goodness. While media execs watch the bottom line, we're just hoping the stated CBS strategy of "open, non-exclusive distribution of our content in a consumer friendly way" (from the press release, available in full after the break) could push Hulu to add more HD, or at least unblock the PlayStation 3 & Windows Mobile.
Theaters, studios squabbling over who will pay for 3D
We're not hopping off the 3D bandwagon, but just when things couldn't be going any better a fight over money could knock things off course. Fox apparently informed theaters it wouldn't foot the $1 million bill to cover 3D glasses for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and already word is leaking out that the nation's largest theater chain Regal Cinemas is planning to only screen the flick in 2D, with AMC Theaters and Cinemark poised to follow suit. For its part, Fox is claiming no exhibitor has said they won't be showing Ice Age in 3D and they're only "working out the issues." Of course if they did, the plan of offering 3D as something audiences can't get at home could be turned on its head quickly.[Via Cinematical]
AMC adding upwards of 1,500 3D screens in North America
Remember when seeing a movie was simple? You just strolled in, paid one low price for a ticket, and you saw the flick. No worrying over which theaters had 4K projectors, which had DTS sound or which had 3D support. As cinemas across the nation continue to leap on the three-dee bandwagon, RealD and AMC Entertainment has just linked up in order to bring up to 1,500 3D screens across Canada and the US. We're told that the rollout is already underway, with more and more screens getting equipped each month. All told, this will bring RealD's 3D network to nearly 8,000 total committed screens worldwide with approximately 2,600 RealD 3D screens installed today. Excited? No?
AMC opens all digital cinema in Seattle
We're not told whether or not all 16 of the digital Sony projectors in the Southcenter 16 are 4K or not, but AMC's still pretty proud of its latest cineplex. The 2,900-seat venue houses 16 screens (obviously) which will see imagery from all digital PJs, meaning that nary a strip of film will be shipped in. Additionally, the design of the facility was made to showcase the surroundings, with a vast window in the reception area that "on a clear day, frames Mount Rainier to look like the Paramount logo." Hey, look at that -- we just found you some plans this weekend up in the Pacific Northwest.
Comcast throws in AMC HD, TLC HD while it's down in Atlanta
Folks relying on Charter for their HD programming in Atlanta have had AMC HD for just under two months now, but based on user reports from the area (including Alpharetta), it seems as if Comcast is just now getting around to matching the offer. Shortly after introducing a trio of newcomers to the Peach State's capital, AMC HD and TLC HD have been tossed in late just for good measure. Unannounced, but very welcome.[Thanks, Rusty and Tim]
Georgia's AMC Avenue Forsyth theater opens with Sony 4K projectors
It's been quite some time since we heard of a theater right here in the US of A opening up with 4K projectors tucked inside, but for residents of Cumming, Georgia, such a scenario is about to unfold in your town. The AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 will be the first all-digital theater in the area when it opens on May 16th, packing Sony 4K digital cinema projectors and two auditoriums with screens stretching over three stories high and 50-feet wide. In sum, the venue will boast a dozen auditoriums with over 2,220 seats with rocking-back chairs, and folks who make their way down on opening weekend will even get a free small popcorn with each (presumably overpriced) ticket. There, we made some plans for you -- hope you're available!
Sony loading up four theatres with 4K SXRD digital cinema systems
Movie-goers in Dallas, Indianapolis, Riverside, California, and San Diego, you can go ahead and color us officially envious. Your lucky cities will soon host a total of 54 CineAlta SXRD 4K digital cinema systems from Sony, with an unspecified mix of 10,000 lumen SRX-R210 and 18,000 lumen SRX-R220 models planned to shock and wow customers at four AMC locales. The units were unsurprisingly crafted specifically for use in (home?) theaters, and will be paired up with Sony's LMT-100 Media Block servers. Barring any unforeseen disasters, installation should begin next month in the aforementioned areas, and holiday crowds should be enjoying a delightful visual experience before the year's end.[Via TGDaily]
