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Starz ends renewal negotiations with Netflix, will pull movies from streaming in February
Starz has apparently decided it can live without the hundreds of millions of dollars a renewal of its content licensing deal with Netflix was expected to bring and announced an end to negotiations today. According to the Company Town blog, talks broke down over Starz's insistence that Netflix implement tiered pricing, and charge customers even more for access to its content. That means when the current deal expires on February 28, 2012, they will all go away, including a number of its newer release flicks from Sony (already pulled) and Disney that Starz has exclusive licenses to and Starz content like Camelot and Spartacus. To make matters worse, all of this is going down the same day as a price hike makes it more expensive to keep both disc and streaming services. While Starz claims the move is a part of its strategy to "protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content" as well as "evaluate new opportunities", Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey is quoted as saying it can redirect the Starz money to deals with other content providers to "maintain or even improve the Netflix experience." Beyond Starz, in the US Netflix also has access to newer movies from its deals with Epix and a few smaller distributors like Relativity Media. Check Starz's statement in full after the break, and let us know if this is changing your answer to yesterday's poll question.
Google releases new Android SDK
In case you're not clued into the developer's loop when it comes to all things Android, you might not be aware that there's a brand-spanking-new version of the SDK out right now, replete with new apps, a new skin, and tightened-up functionality. In fact, it's almost like a whole new OS. Keep your eyes on us, as we're whipping up an in-depth gallery so you can get a taste of what's to come from the Google camp.Take a look at our extensive gallery of pics right here.[Via Hello Android]
Gamestop visits the future and brings back a list
Feel like planning your game purchases for the rest of the year? We can help, with this list of release dates and prices from EB/Gamestop's point-of-sale system. There's some reasonably exciting stuff on there, like Manhunt 2 (August 1st), Dewy's Adventure (September 3rd), and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (October 1st), as well as stuff that is slightly less mass-appeal, like Escape from Bug Island and CSI 4: Hard Evidence. There's a large cluster of EA stuff marked as being released on November 1st, but we suspect that date is a placeholder. For that matter, don't take any of these release dates as ironclad.The full list is available for browsing after the break. It's still useful even if you don't plan to go into Gamestop for some reason.
