Samsung to launch Netflix rival?

Samsung is reportedly preparing to launch a movie and TV streaming service.

According to reports, Samsung is about to launch a streaming service with a heavy focus on original content. That will put it into direct competition with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Sky.

The service won’t be aimed at stealing market share from Google Play, according to The Information. Instead, it will be focused on winning over customers of Netflix and Amazon.

Dubbed project Volt internally, Samsung is said to have invested millions of dollars so far. It also has some talent behind it, with former Disney executive John Pleasants heading up development of the service.

A few dollars a month

According to an insider, while Samsung is putting a focus on original content, it doesn’t currently have plans to launch a high budget project like Netflix’s House of Cards.

The insider added that Samsung is currently floating around the idea of pricing the service at just a few dollars a month.

Mobile first

It’s likely that Samsung will restrict the service to its mobile devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 10.1. It’s unclear whether or not it will come to Samsung TVs – at least at first

'Party Down' comes to Hulu Plus, first five eps are on free Hulu

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Amazon is loading up a new pilot season of original TV shows, and while Netflix's content juggernaut was shut out at the Emmys, at least it was nominated. So what can Hulu do? In addition to its own list of original shows, exclusively licensed content from UK channels and Criterion, it's added the Starz hit series Party Down, just in time for your Labor Day weekend viewing binge. The show only ran for two seasons, but all 20 episodes are ready to watch for Hulu Plus subscribers, featuring Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Martin Starr and Megan Mulally as employees of a Hollywood catering service. If you've somehow missed it until now, this is the perfect time to watch -- we teared up when the show disappeared from Netflix along with all of the other Starz Play content a couple of years ago. Now Hulu has picked up the license, and even if you're not a subscriber you can watch the first five episodes for free on the show page right here.

Twitch's peak viewing numbers rival CNN and MTV's prime-time audience

So we know that Twitch's online broadcasts trump those of WWE and traditional sports, but how does it stack up against cable networks like CNN? According to the New York Times, the game-streaming giant's peak viewership numbers have surpassed the average prime-time viewers for Headline News, CNN, E!, MSNBC and TruTV since this January. At its best, Twitch had over 720,000 viewers in July alone, but as the NYT points out, it's still pretty far behind the likes of Netflix and YouTube when it comes to total hours-viewed per month. It's all pretty fascinating stuff, and there are even breakdowns for what competitive gaming tournament broadcasts are getting the most eyes, too. Spoiler: for this month it's Riot Games' League of Legends. Considering that we've seen Twitch expanding into more than just gaming broadcasts recently (hosting concerts and even entire conventions) it's pretty likely that the outfit's numbers will only continue to climb. Surely Jeff Bezos wouldn't mind.