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Target Black Friday 2011

We've been busy posting some of the tech-heavy Black Friday 2011 sales that we're finding, and now we've arrived at Target. Doors at Target will open at midnight, where you can grab an $85 Kindle Keyboard 3G, and a $298 46-inch Westinghouse 1080p television. We've got the full list after the break, and it's definitely worth taking a look.

Click to continue reading Black Friday 2011: Target

Gallery: Black Friday 2011: Target


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Best Buy Black Friday 2011 ad

Details of Best Buy's Black Friday 2011 sales have just been released, and we've got a list of all the highlights you can expect to see after the break. Doors will open right at midnight on October 25th, and tickets for the doorbusters will be handed out as early as 10:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day. Click through for a look at the goods.

Click to continue reading Black Friday 2011: Best Buy

Gallery: Black Friday 2011: Best Buy


This is an entry from our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide. Check it out for suggestions on what to buy your loved, liked, and hated ones this holiday season!

Life is Beautiful Blu-ray

While it's definitely not the newest Blu-ray release out there, it's certainly one of the best. Life is Beautiful is a cinematic work of art, and you can get this one for the film buffs in your life for $6.99 on Amazon. Seriously, if you or someone you know is a fan of great films, this is definitely one to consider as a gift!

Read More | Life is Beautiful

Gallery: 2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Life is Beautiful


Consumers are tending to favor Blu-ray over DVD when buying copies of top hits for home use, a nonprofit analyst group that tracks Hollywood reported Monday.

Overall consumer spending on home entertainment jumped nearly five percent from the same period a year ago, the Digital Entertainment Group reported, the first time consumer spending increased since 2008.

The DEG didn't explicitly say that a crossover between DVD and Blu-ray sales is occurring. But "for major box-office hits, sales of packaged goods often surpass 50 percent on Bluray in their first week of release," DEG said. In all, Blu-ray, electronic sell-through, and digital movie streaming all saw revenue growth.

Catalog sales of Blu-ray discs are also increasing, the DEG said, with year-to-date increases of more than 60 percent, led by Star Wars, Citizen Kane, Scarface and The Big Lebowski. Total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices now stands at more than 33.5 million U.S. homes, DEG said, up 52 percent from a year ago.

Click to continue reading Blu-ray finally overtaking DVD regularly in sales

Gallery: Blu-ray finally overtaking DVD regularly in sales


Redbox price increase

It's Halloween, and with that, Redbox responds to the trick-or-treat question with a 20% price increase at its 34,000 movie rental kiosks that starts today.

So what's the reason for the 20-cent price hike?

Congress. Specifically, Coinstar cites the recent passage of the Durbin Amendment as the reason why it has to jump its rates (in addition to any other increased operating expenses the company's faced). For those uninformed, the Durbin Amendment comes with two major provisions with which consumers have likely come into contact.

The first provision slapped a limit on the interchange fees that banks are allowed to charge – essentially, the money that they make from retailers whenever a consumer uses a debit card to make a purchase. In response, banks have started to scramble to cover the lost revenue, including going so far as to tell customers that they will soon be assessed a fee for using their debit cards to purchase items.

Click to continue reading Trick or Treat! Redbox DVD Rentals now cost $1.20 rather than $1

Gallery: Trick or Treat! Redbox DVD Rentals now cost $1.20 rather than $1


Iron Man. Thor. Captain America. The Incredible Hulk. The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, 2012.

Read More | FilmCrunch

Gallery: The Avengers trailer: Watch this now!


Netflix Qwikster

This morning Netflix announced that, due to overwhelming feedback from its members, the company would no longer move forward with plans to separate and spin off the DVD business. Instead, it will stay as it has always been, as one service that offers both DVD rentals by mail and instant streaming of content as well. The DVD and streaming plans will still be billed separately, and there's not yet any word on if Netflix will still move forward with the planned video game rentals that would have been part of Qwikster.

Gallery: Netflix kills plans to spin-off DVD rentals to Qwikster


Netflix latin america

Netflix has officially expanded its business into Latin America: Brazil's the first country to receive the company's streaming movies and television shows, and Netflix plans to roll its service out to a total of 43 different countries in Latin American and the Caribbean over the next week.

Just looking at the numbers, Netflix will be able to bolster its current user count of around 23 million people –only consisting of American and Canadian viewers up until today – by the percentage of Latin America's roughly 205 million Internet users that could potentially tune in to their new streaming service. It's a big audience with potentially big rewards for Netflix, which is perhaps why the company spent so much time performing its due diligence to determine just how its Latin American audience views movies and TV shows.

"We've licensed thousands and thousands of hours of feature films, classic favorites, gripping telenovelas, documentaries and kids shows we know you'll enjoy," wrote Rochelle King, Netflix vice president of user experience and design, on the company's blog.

Click to continue reading Netflix now streaming in Latin America, starting with Brazil

Gallery: Netflix now streaming in Latin America, starting with Brazil


Netflix Starz

Starz Entertainment has ended contract negotiations with Netflix and will pull its content from the Watch Instantly platform effective February 28, the company announced Thursday.

"This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content," Starz said in a statement. "With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business."

In a statement, Netflix downplayed the current impact of the Starz partnership and said its content accounts for 8 percent of domestic viewing. As Netflix adds more movies and TV shows in the first quarter, it expects Starz viewing to drop to about 5-6 percent next year before the content is pulled.

Click to continue reading Starz pulling content from Netflix on February 28

Gallery: Starz pulling content from Netflix on February 28


Redbox america movie night

Redbox is trying to get Americans off their streaming movie services and down to the local kiosk on August 25th with a free DVD rental.

The movie-rental kiosk service is attempting to lure existing customers down to the local grocery with the free DVD rental, normally worth just a buck. And there's a catch, as well as a bonus.

The offer was emailed on Sunday. Redbox officials weren't available for comment over the weekend.

So far, Redbox hasn't indicated how many customers will receive the free code, or if it applies to frequent customers, occasional customers (like or family) or new, potential additions. The catch? Each user needs to access the code via Facebook, and signing in allows Redbox to access your personal information, including your Likes, and post an update(s) to your Wall.

Click to continue reading Redbox offering free DVD rentals in exchange for access to your Facebook info

Gallery: Redbox offering free DVD rentals in exchange for access to your Facebook info


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