Amazon is the latest streaming media company to pledge its desire to begin producing its own original content. I can’t help feeling this is the start of something big, something that will forever change the way we view television and movies.

A Small Revolution

As we have discussed many times here on WebTVWire there is a small revolution happening in terms of the production of original video content. After years of merely licensing classic television programming, some streaming companies are getting into the game themselves.

We have already seen YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo, and others entering into the production side of things. And now Amazon is joining them, with Amazon Studios putting the call out for writers and filmmakers to pitch ideas that could get turned into series. The shows will be exclusive to Amazon Instant Video, the online retailer’s streaming business.

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The Pirate Bay has effectively been banned in the UK after the High Court issued a court order demanding ISPs block their customers from accessing the site. Not that doing so will make a scrap of difference, naturally.

Block The Pirate Bay!

The British High Court has ruled that six major ISPs – BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, O2, and Everything Everywhere – must start blocking their customers from having access to The Pirate Bay. Five are bowing to pressure, while BT has requested extra time to consider its position.

This is hardly the first legal woes that The Pirate Bay has faced. Similar court orders have been handed down in Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Finland previously, while a major police investigation into the site led to some of the people behind the site being found guilty of breaking copyright laws.

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Although online television companies have been primarily purveyors of traditional TV content to this point, that is changing. original programming is becoming a legitimate proposition, and Hulu is leading the way.

Original Programming

The Internet is changing the way we all consumer content, be it music, movies, games, or television. The networks and cable companies aren’t too happy about this, but it’s happening with or without them.

Not only are there now a multitude of online options for those looking to cut the cord, the companies serving up these new ways of viewing are expanding their remits to include original programming.

Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube are responsible for original content, from Web shorts to professional, network-quality shows. And it’s a trend that is showing no sign of slowing down or disappearing.

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With 100 days to go until it all kicks off, NBC has taken the wraps off its London 2012 Olympics website in order to build hype ahead of the event. With the unveiling came some good news: that the U.S. network has finally seen the error of its ways and reversed a stupid decision it made for Beijing 2008.

Beijing 2008

NBC was heavily criticized for its coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

It began with the opening ceremony, which NBC decided to show 12 hours after it happened in order to grab the most number of viewers and best ad revenue. Not everyone wanted to wait, however, and they ventured online to see the spectacular as it happened instead.

Then came the issue of ‘bottling up’ certain key events, effectively refusing to stream them live online in order to save them for TV viewers. This meant Usain Bolt breaking the 100m World Record wasn’t seen until hours after it had happened. Fans expressed their disappointment at the strategy.

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BSkyB has revealed a little more about the on-demand TV service it’s going to start offering U.K. residents from this summer. It’s called Now TV and the company thinks it “marks he next chapter in our story.”

BSkyB

BSkyB is a satellite broadcaster 39.1 percent owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. It has been offering premium subscription services to British households for over 20 years, and millions of homes have the necessary dishes attached to an outside wall.

Sky and Virgin Media (the cable TV equivalent) have between them a large percentage of the British population signed up to premium monthly subscription plans that enable them to receive channels that aren’t free-to-air. But there are millions who haven’t signed, and likely never will sign, up.

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YouTube racks up over 19,000 episodes of Indian television shows, all available for free on the site. Which begs the question, if Indian media companies can offer content for free on YouTube, why not media companies from the rest of the world?

YouTube India

YouTube has announced its local Indian offerings has grown to encompass more than 19,000 separate episodes of more than 300 different shows. And the YouTube Shows page for those in India has been updated to make sorting this content easier.

Six different India-based languages are now supported on YouTube – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Punjabi – with content available in all. Broadcasters supplying the content include Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Colors, ImagineTV, Star India, and VikatanTV.

Those living outside India can still access this content by visiting youtube.com/shows/other-languages. This link also opens up possibilities for watching content in a range of languages foreign from your own.

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Hulu has changed its UI for those who watch video content on the Web. The changes are intended to improve the experience, but some users aren’t seeing it quite that way.

BIG Hulu Update

Hulu has rolled out a new version of the video player on its website. The biggest change is the default size of the player, with it being 55 percent larger than the old one.

This change in size has necessitated a few other, lesser changes. The background color (now a dark gray matte), the location of the video details (now underneath the video), and the hiding of several options behind a ‘More’ button.

This includes the option to view the content in a ‘Pop-Out’ player. Which is still there for those willing to look beyond their noses. Unfortunately people generally don’t take the time to absorb simple changes such as these before they let loose with the complaints. As has happened here.

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