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Streaming Bits: Troma Entertainment, Amazon Instant, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, BBC iPlayer

By Germain Lussier

Streaming content is all the rage this days and there's plenty of tasty news about it today. After the jump read about the following:

  • Troma Entertainment has about 150 of their repertory films available on YouTube, for free – including Cannibal The Musical (above).
  • EPIX has partnered with Amazon to allow 3000 new movies to stream on their service.
  • The EPIX/Amazon deal has already changed the value of Netflix's stock.
  • Hulu is not available on Apple TV in Japan.
  • BBC iPlayer now allows for mobile downloads of BBC content – to users in the UK.

    • Sometimes you just want to watch a dumb, gory, horror movie and Troma Entertainment has always been more than happy to oblige. For decades the independent production and distrubtion company has been responsible for hundreds and hundreds of films, most of which you haven't heard of. (Some of the ones you have include The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke Em High, and Cannibal The Musical.) Many of those random films are now available on YouTube, to stream for free, on the TromaMovies account. Thanks to Tech Dirt via BoingBoing.

    Amazon Instant Video is making a major play to expand its catalog, hoping to compete with the Netflix streaming service. Amazon just signed a deal with EPIX Entertainment to allow about 3,000 new movies on their service including a slew of new releases. Here's a sampling via TechCrunch and head there to read more:

    The Avengers, Iron Man 2, The Hunger Games, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Thor and Rango as well as popular favorites such as Kick Ass, Paranormal Activity 2, True Grit, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. And it will bring original programming such as comedy specials and concerts like Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell and Usher: Live from London.

    The news of the Amazon/EPIX deal sent the stock prices for Netflix down today, according to the Los Angeles Times. In the same article, a spokesman for Netflix commented on why they didn't renew a deal with EPIX:

    A Netflix spokesman said the company decided not to renew its exclusive deal with EPIX because the premium channel's content is available elsewhere through TV Everywhere services that are offered to cable subscribers — and therefore not truly exclusive. The programming accounts for only about 5% of viewing hours.

    Hulu is currently available on Apple TV in the U.S. but, apparently, it wasn't available in Japan. According to TUAW, that change has finally been made and you can even get a free one month trial.

    The BBC has their own App on the Market, the BBC iPlayer but, up until today, it only allows live streams of BBC shows like Doctor Who. With a new update today, first reported on in The Guardian via AppAdvice, users can now download full episodes to watch when they're offline. Unfortunately for users outside of the United Kingdom, the global version of the app does not allow that option, but might in the future.

    Finally, my favorite Troma film of all time is the aforementioned Cannibal: The Musical, by South Park/Book of Mormon creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They made the film while in college, and it's very much in the vein of those two defining Parker/Stone projects. Fortunately, it's much, much, much worse. If you've never seen it, here you go. Have a Shpadoinkle day!

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