Having established partnerships 
with both Netflix and Hulu on the Xbox 360, Microsoft might be gearing up to compete with them.
The company is reportedly planning to roll out a streaming video service of its own under the Zune brand later this year.
Amazon is escalating the battle among 
video streaming services.
The online retailer has flipped the switch on Amazon Instant Video, a ‘free’ streaming service for paying members of its Amazon Prime program. The service is squarely targeted at the growing service Netflix has been building over the past few years, with over 5,000 titles – and a lower monthly cost.
YouTube might be the king of the hill 
when it comes to video content on the Internet, but when it comes to premium programming, no one can beat Hulu.
A new report from ComScore finds online audiences watched 19.4 billion minutes on the site last year. That’s nearly twice as much time as was spent watching online video on the sites of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, with a combined 9.7 billion minutes in 2010.
As technology gets more complex, it’s fitting that an 
underlying theme of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is making people’s lives easier.
Tech advances can be a dual-edged sword. Bleeding edge products might be phenomenal, but using them can often be frustrating (look no further than the bulky glasses required for 3D TV). There will be announcements galore at this year’s show – but more and more companies are realizing that the key to success is focusing on products that not only fill a need, but don’t require users to memorize a hefty manual before they turn it on.
Google TV just can’t catch a break – and the 
repercussions could reach beyond the search giant.
The Web-meets-TV set-top box was meant to make it easy for users to find whatever video they were looking for on their television sets—both on the air and online. But the number of content providers who are blocking access from Google TV has grown steadily since the service’s launch. Hulu was first, but it wasn’t long before the networks were also preventing the service from streaming their video content.
Hulu’s subscription service – taking the Web-
based operation beyond the PC – has moved out of its beta period and is welcoming all who are interested. Hulu Plus officially launches today – and, even better, it’s getting cheaper.
The company has scaled back the $9.99 monthly fee it has charged since late June to $7.99 – and says it will issue refunds for the difference to early adopters who were in the beta. The price cut is a welcome one, but still higher than the $4.99 figure many people were expecting.
[As Sony announces a tie-up with Vudu for HD 
movie streaming, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at how the PlayStation 3 creator has started to gain ground on Microsoft’s array of on-console media content — the next big battlefield for game consoles.]
Long before Kinect, Microsoft had its own way of courting the non-gamer – offer functionality on the Xbox 360 that was unique enough to lure in people who weren’t interested in the latest Haloinstallment. And it was a pretty effective method.
With Netflix integration leading the charge in 2008, the Xbox 360 finally fulfilled the dream of the console as a Trojan horse of the living room. It gave the company a huge competitive advantage for a while, but recently that advantage has been slipping away. Sony, in particular, has gained a lot of ground in that battle and is threatening to overshadow Microsoft’s achievements.
Search giant Google says it wants to take TV into 
the future, but the networks are pretty comfortable with the present. Fox has joined CBS, NBC and ABC (along with Hulu) in blocking its content from appearing on Google TV.
Uses who use the service’s Web browser to access the network’s site will still see the Web page itself, but will receive an error message when they attempt to stream any programming. Typical PC users, of course, still have access to all of the content.
Could the set-top box kill cable?
It’s hard to turn the corner these days without someone thrusting a new gadget for your television at you. Apple and Google are among the more familiar names exploring the space, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The arena also includes aspirants such as Roku, Boxee, Seagate, Asus and Western Digital. And the three major vidgame consoles are already delivering content.
When Hulu announced plans to finally make its streaming service available beyond the PC, people cheered – until they heard the details. Subscribers to Hulu Plus would have to pay a $9.95 monthly fee and still watch the embedded ads in programs? That was a bit much to swallow.
Hulu may finally be about to acknowledge those complaints.
Chris Morris: Journalist 