Netflix, despite the protestations of movie studios, has done wonders for the industry, resulting in millions of Americans that now watch DVDs on a regular basis who would otherwise probably watch whatever made-for-TV movie was on AMC; however, this revolution has been limited almost strictly to DVD delivery, unless you have a penchant for weird (or old) movies.

Hulu, the television networks’ answer to the Internet, has also flourished, but with an entirely different model: rather than paying a monthly fee for unlimited access, Hulu provides unlimited access to both fresh and archive content in exchange for some pretty hilarious, and comparatively short, commercials.  There has admittedly been some network pushback, because Hulu is becoming a victim of its own success – as more people use Hulu, the actual television viewers continue to drop, and networks don’t get the big-ticket revenue they typically could have expected.

But, at the end of the day, both industries have come to realize that they need to adapt, and quickly, in order to survive in any recognizable fashion.  TV networks are toying with the idea of different delivery models via Hulu, such as “all content, always” and “only the most recent episodes”, but they’re trying.

Movie studios, however, are not.

Hulu was a joint-venture by industry giants, and was only a success because it was given true independence and freedom – it’s not a service that can likely be replicated by the movie industry, especially since Hulu appears to have somehow gained the love and support of nerds that is a prerequisite for Internet-based success.  It is for this very reason that the movie industry should embrace a twofold online-delivery approach: Hulu and Netflix.

Out of a $10 (USD) movie ticket, the studios receive a portion of sales, as well as a fee for the theater actually showing the film – this is an unsustainable model in the modern world of other, cheaper options.  If studios could receive $5 per online viewing of new movies, with a larger audience, would they not be happy to comply?  The theory is simple:  allow Hulu to show New Release movies as soon as they appear in theaters, with a pre-roll ad that results in the needed income-per-viewer, which is honestly no different or more annoying than the twenty minutes of previews and ads moviegoers are currently subjected to.

Furthermore, Netflix’s mass-audience should be leveraged to their providers’ streaming benefit, either through a similar pre-roll advertising model or with an extra monthly subscriber fee to allow Netflix members access to the New Release content via streaming, much like paying for a movie channel on a cable TV plan – but is actually useful.

The music industry was forced to adapt, much to their undying hatred, and they have suffered greatly for it – this is why they continue to try to restrict listeners’ rights while also increasing profits.  If the movie studios choose to adapt, much as television networks have been halfheartedly attempting to, they could fare far better in the end than they do even now.  The pay-per-stream movie distribution idea, through iTunes or Amazon, was a valiant attempt but has proven to not be of interest to most consumers, likely because of its expense and DRM-related difficulties.

FOX, Lionsgate, and all the others:  this idea was free.  The next one will cost seven figures – the check can be made out to “Kyle ‘Awesomeguy’ Brady”.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction.  He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

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The deal expands Spotify’s potential even more. At first customers in Sweden will benefit from the music streaming, but that will probably hopefully change very soon.

From the official announcement:

Telia will start selling Spotify Premium service to their mobile and broadband customers and we hope to work with them on some amazing new initiatives in the near future. Telia is Sweden’s largest ISP and mobile carrier and great match for us, this is a big step towards being able to offer Swedish homes the very best in digital entertainment services.

Spotify is currently available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain.

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“Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience.” Burn.

Sometime this weekend, Playstation 3 owners began reporting inability to access Hulu through the device, and receiving  the above message. Hulu was kind of all huhwha? about the whole thing, but Engadget reports that Hulu terms of service were updated on June 26th. While it was initially speculated the issues could be connected to a recent firmware update, altering a browser’s user-string that way indicates the PS3 was specifically blocked by Hulu.

But why, Hulu? Why you gotta be like that?

Way back in March, Hulu blocked the hell out of Boxee, citing consumer convenience bitching content providers. Since then, it’s been an on/off thing, spawning this Twitter feed:

While Hulu can’t bite the content-providing hand that feeds it, it’s extremely counterintuitive to provide such a service just to add arbitrary blocks making it inconvenient to use. And as Hulu hasn’t given a reason for the new lockdown, we can only speculate as to why the PS3 was selected for this round of “no content for you!”

IT World presents two theories on the matter. Theory #1- quit bringing the content to your TVs, damnit! If you’re gonna watch Hulu, it’s gonna be on your smudgy little laptop screen or not at all! (Because no one can hook computers up to TVs, that’s just crazytalk?) Theory #2- Hulu’s coming to the XBox 360, and Microsoft paid Hulu to cut off competition.

Whatever the reason is behind this latest round of early-adopter jerking-around, it’s just another example of short-sightedness regarding a changing marketplace. The same consumers that use services like Hulu are likely the ones who are already aware of how to implement a work around, like PlayOn. So they’re not really stopping anything, just pissing everyone off.

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Hotspot Shield, the most popular free way to access Hulu outside of the United States has finally been blocked.

Hotspot Shield is a free VPN (virtual private network) service that allows users to visit sites as if they were in the United States. It has been, since shortly after Hulu was launched, the most popular solution to bypassing Hulu’s georetardation of content.

The strange part is why has the ban come now? Many wrote about this as a solution as far back as 2007. Hotspot Shield’s popularity as a solution to accessing Hulu has actually decreased in recent times, as streaming sites that host pirated content have become widely available, offering easier and quicker access to the content Hulu offers.

NewTeeVee has a list of Hotspot Shield alternatives in their post on the ban here.

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The deal will make thousands of UMG artist videos available for free on Kiwibox.com. The media will be ad-supported, with artists getting a share of the revenue. (The specific percentages are not being released.) Current UMG artists include Jay-Z, The Killers, Snow Patrol, and Kanye West.

Kiwibox, purchased by Magnitude Information Systems in 2007, combines interactive social features with both professionally written and user-generated content, all in a magazine-style layout. The site saw a major makeover in August, which included the debut of an expanded internal video section. The new service — fittingly set to be titled “Kiwibox Music Videos” — will launch before the end of the year and will be integrated with the existing content.

Will the offering draw users over from existing streaming services such as Imeem and the recently launched MySpace Music? Probably not. But for its own devoted base of teen and pre-teen users, the option is sure to add a nice layer of functionality to an already robust site — not to mention the additional avenue of exposure it’ll provide for the artists always vying to reach that very demographic.

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Imeem’s home page will be getting an update, according to CNet News, and will gain new featured content sections. Users will also soon be able to browse through the site’s most played tracks to find songs they might like. Other additions include a “discover” feature, which recommends songs based on past preferences, and specific artist-oriented pages that bring all of a performer’s material into one place.

While it does offer mainstream music, Imeem appears to be working to set itself apart from MySpace Music by focusing also on the lesser-known, indie-style acts — plus on the fact that its playlists can be embedded anywhere, not just within a single social network’s profiles.

Aside from the slightly annoying account that’s required to do much, I’ve generally found Imeem to be quite easy to use and have been happy with my experiences in the past. I’m not sure the upcoming changes — at least, as they’re being described now — will make a significant impact on the site’s appeal or success. The service’s real challenge will simply be drawing people in, particularly when the big name brands are offering integrated streaming solutions within social networking and even within searching.

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The service isn’t limitless, though: You’ll be able to listen to 25 full-length tracks a month. After that, you’ll be prompted to pay for a Rhapsody streaming subscription. If you turn it down, you’ll only be able to listen to 30-second samples until the start of the next month.

On the whole, the service works surprisingly well. Searching for an available artist brings up a box at the top of the results with play buttons for four popular songs and the option to see more songs. Once you click play, a second player box opens at the bottom of the search results. You can still navigate around the page with the box open and the song playing — it’ll stay at the bottom of the window — but once you click to any other page, the box and the song both go away.

I’m reluctant to say it, but this actually isn’t a horrible idea. It may be one of Yahoo’s first moves that does something to add value into its search product — a novel concept. Will it get people to switch over from Google? Likely not. But it might get them to use Yahoo a handful of times a month for music-specific searching, and that’s at least something.

In any event, it reeks far less of desperation than Microsoft’s “we’ll pay you to use our search engine” idea.

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The service will be offered only to users who pay for an Xbox LIVE Gold membership and also have a Netflix membership. If you fall into both those categories, you’ll be able to watch the content “for free,” says Microsoft (heavy emphasis on the quotation marks there).

Netflix plans to offer 10,000 titles on the service — which, one might argue, could actually compete in a way with its own Roku Netflix Player launched in May. The Roku streams Netflix content from the Internet to your TV over a Wi-Fi or cable connection.

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