Starting this week, ABC will live-stream shows via its Watch ABC app for iOS. This comes less than two months after The New York Times reported that the broadcast network was crafting up such a service, and ABC's live TV on the go is indeed a first for the television industry. The new functionality comes via a "live" button in the mobile app, and it will initially be limited to paid cable and satellite subscribers in the New York and Philadelphia areas. With Hearst Television on board as ABC's first live-stream affiliate, the network says it will expand the service to six more cities by this summer.

While it could still be quite some time before this offering hits your zip code (or OS of choice), it provides plenty of incentive for other networks to catch up -- and quickly. CBS and Fox currently offer episode streaming through their mobile apps, but live TV is a huge differentiator. Notably, Aereo announced the expansion of its own live-streaming service today, but that company is already embroiled in lawsuits with several networks over alleged copyright violations.

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Netflix updates Player on PS3 with faster scanning and streamlined audio management

Look, we're well aware that you're already fantasizing about the PlayStation 4, but how do you think that makes your existing PS3 feel? (Hint: Not awesome.) For those still focused on remaining in the here and now, Netflix has issued an update for its PS3 Player that "is more consistent with the Netflix player on the web as well as [its] mobile and tablet applications." The key feature in this update is the ability to easily manage your audio and subtitle selections; before, you had to hop out of whatever you were watching in order to tweak those elements, but now you can make said changes while the content is still on screen. There have also been improvements made in the "trickplay" mode mode when scanning forward or reverse in play mode -- essentially, these images now load a lot faster, which ought to keep your blood pressure at a safe level. The update is out now for PS3 users, and should be hitting select Smart TVs and Blu-ray Disc players soon.

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Aereo live TV service refreshes pricing plans, expands to Boston on May 15th

We've been eager to try out Aereo's TV streaming service, which sends live broadcast content to devices over the internet. But the service has had at least one significant flaw: it's only available to subscribers in the New York City area. That will soon change when it heads to Boston on May 15th, though, and the streaming service has now announced that the rates will be changing slightly then as well. The base plan, which includes unlimited streaming and 20 hours of DVR storage, will remain unchanged at $8 per month, but the $12 monthly tariff will include 60 hours of storage, compared to the 40 hours Aereo previously offered.

And that's it -- no more $1 daily or $80 yearly plans, though that latter option is still available until the new structure goes live on Wednesday. The service is supported on iOS, Chrome, IE 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Roku devices, though those geographic restrictions keep the access pool quite limited. New Yorkers can take the service for a spin today, Bostonians will get the green light come May 15th, and the rest of you can see what you're missing in the demo video after the break.

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Netflix begins offering Disney movies to Ireland and the UK

Netflix scored a big coup with its semi-exclusive Disney deal late last year, but the newly expanded content didn't reach everybody in one shot -- just ask the British and Irish, who've been left high and dry so far. To viewers' relief, the companies have mended that gap with immediate availability of Disney and Disney-Pixar movies in Ireland and the UK. The initial mix includes not-quite-recent movies like Wall-E as well as back-catalog classics like The Aristocats; the months ahead will see Netflix' selection catch up slightly by introducing the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie, among other titles. Combined with the upcoming additions of some DreamWorks and Marvel movies, the Disney pact should hopefully keep the kids (and, we'll admit, ourselves) entertained just as the summer is about to start.

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Hulu Plus for Android update improves player UI, expands compatibility

The Hulu Plus app for Android has a new update, and the most noticeable change is that its player UI to closer match the one on its website and in iOS. It also brings features from those platforms like 10 second skip back and a preview thumbnail in the scrub bar. Hulu also claims it's rebuilt "for optimized awesomeness" with reduced buffering, better playback, and more device compatibility. Finally, in a move that should make plugging in your HDMI-out a little easier, it supports remote control navigation from game controllers and "similar peripherals." A picture of the new UI is above, check out the old version after the break or just hit the source link to try it out for yourself.

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beIN Sport launches Play streaming service for cable subscribers

You can't always be camped out in front of your TV for the big soccer (or "footie") match. Thankfully, beIN Sport is hopping on the streaming bandwagon and, starting today, will offer 24/7 access on both PCs and mobile phones though Play. Of course, like many of these properties making the leap from TV to the web, beIN Sport Play requires that you have an active subscription through a cable or satellite provider. At first only Time Warner and Bright House subscribers will have access, though other networks will come online over the next few months. Play will also offer unique features such as email alerts 30 minutes before the beginning of an event and the ability to watch alternative streams and un-broadcast matches. Now, if only beIN could convince Americans to care about soccer in the first place...

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Tonight NBC revealed it is bringing back comedy Community for a fifth season. While NBC has been criticized for shifting the premiere date for this last season and dumping showrunner Dan Harmon, Variety suggests its renewal may be related to something apart from the show. The Sony Pictures-produced show could have followed the path of Cougar Town to cable but there's also new competition for content from sources like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. All are willing to pay for quality original content and would love to snatch up the audience that's already watching on NBC.

One needs only look at Arrested Development or the Kickstarter for Veronica Mars to see how much hype "saving" a show brings in the digital realm. Another boost for the show is likely to come from reruns on Comedy Central, all of which adds up to a renewal order which at one time seemed unlikely to happen. Finally, NBC has other elements that are certainly in play, like stabilizing a Thursday night lineup with familiar shows as it prepares for the Winter Olympics early next year. When the show comes back it will unfortunately be without Chevy Chase's Pierce Hawthorne character, so a Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne 2 is probably not on the table. If you're not familiar with the show's pursuit of "six seasons and a movie" and wonder what all the hype is about, check after the break for one man's theory of Community as a "postmodern masterpiece."

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Ubisoft working with Kaspersky Lab to make Watch Dogs' hacking more true to life

Upcoming third-person action game Watch Dogs is set in a near-future environment modeled on Chicago, a city that's overseen by computers that can be manipulated. And while the game has some instances of fantastical hacking perpetrated by main character Aiden Pearce, Ubisoft's creative team is also working with security firm Kaspersky Lab to bring an air of realism to the game's hacking themes.

"They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them [for] feedback on it, and it's interesting to see what gets back," Ubisoft Montreal senior producer Dominic Guay told our sister site, Joystiq. "Sometimes they say, 'Yeah, that's possible, but change that word,' or, 'That's not the way it works.'" Check out the full piece right here.

Along with a new Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft is bringing Watch Dogs to next-gen consoles this year (as well as current-gen and PC), leading its next-gen push.

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Distro Issue 90: A decade under the influence of iTunes

On April 28th, the iTunes Store turned 10. Back in 2003, Apple opened up shop for its digital goods and the impact on the industry is still quite evident today. In a new edition of our weekly, we examine the iTunes influence and whether or not streaming services could cut into its success. Eyes-On goes after a set of Ultimate Ears, Switched On spends three days without Google Glass and Fall Out Boy's Joe Trohman tackles the Q&A. Unfortunately, we couldn't include a slide of cake with each download, but you can rest assured that there's plenty of fresh-baked digital goodness via the usual repositories.

Distro Issue 90 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store

Distro in the Windows Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

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Microsoft reportedly developed settop box prototypes

Rumors have been circulating for some time that Microsoft is prepping a streaming media box. The Xbox may have many of the same functions, but it's still primarily a gaming console. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that there are prototypes of a simpler, cheaper set-top device designed exclusively for consuming media floating around Redmond. Obviously, this would provide Microsoft a path to living rooms at a price that's much easier for consumers to swallow than the $199 Xbox 360. But, just as important, it could also offer a way to keep the Xbox brand separate and primarily gaming-focused. On the other hand, if a Roku competitor with Xbox branding were to hit shelves for $99, it would further broaden the scope of Microsoft's entertainment division. That wouldn't be terribly surprising, since some of the prototypes are reportedly designed to work with Kinect. Whether or not these devices will ever see the light of day is still anyone's guess, but it could provide a cheap way to get that Heroes reboot into people's living rooms.

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NHK and Mitsubishi develop the first H265 encoder for 8K video

NHK's 8K Super Hi-Vision is an extremely bandwidth-heavy format -- so much so that earlier tests used gigabit-class internet links rather than traditional TV broadcasting methods. Thankfully, both the broadcaster and Mitsubishi have developed an encoder that could keep data rates down to Earth. The unassuming metal box (above) is the first to squeeze 8K video into the extra-dense H.265 (HEVC) format, cutting the bandwidth usage in half versus H.264. Its parallel processing is quick enough to encode video in real time, too, which should please NHK and other networks producing live TV. We'll still need faster-than-usual connections (and gigantic TVs) to make 8K an everyday reality, but that goal should now be more realistic.

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Amazon reportedly developing smartphone with 3D display

Remember the EVO 3D? Swap out the HTC logo for an Amazon one, and you just might be onto something. According to a new Wall Street Journal report, one of the world's most famed forkers of Android is looking to expand its mobile portfolio by adding the one crucial device it lacks: a phone. As the story goes, the company has been toiling on a pair of smartphones as well as an "audio-only streaming device," all to "expand its reach beyond its Kindle Fire line of tablet computers." If you'll recall, we've heard that Amazon was dabbling in similar works since at least 2010, but the notion of expanding the Amazon ecosystem is now more pertinent. One of those phones is a higher-end device that offers up a glasses-free 3D display -- it's bruited that it would use "retina-tracking technology" to enable visuals that "seem to float above the screen like a [Tupac?] hologram." In fact, that eye-scrolling technology that was initially rumored to be a part of the Galaxy S4 may instead make its debut on Amazon hardware.

Of course, rumors of an Amazon phone have been running just about as long as rumors of a Facebook phone, but it seems that the company is (still) making a very concerted effort to further expand into the hardware arena. We're told that the prototypes are being nurtured within Amazon's Lab126 facility in Cupertino, "where each of the devices have been under development, the efforts are known as Project A, B, C and D, or collectively as the Alphabet Projects." If all goes well, Amazon could release at least some of these products in the coming months, but there's also the chance that every last one of 'em could be "shelved because of performance, financial or other concerns." Come to think of it, it's been a hot minute since Amazon threw a launch party for anything -- what say we change that, Jeff?

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Netflix for iOS gets postplay feature for movies and TV shows, improved second screen experience

It's just been a few weeks since Netflix for iOS was suited with a novel audio menu and episode selector, but the app has now already reached version 4.1. While this particular release isn't as major as, say, v2.0, some of the post-play features that have rolled out on TV connected devices and PCs are trickling down to the mobile platforms. Namely, once an episode is over, the next one starts playing automatically without any intervention required (it requires a prompt to proceed after every other episode). In the case of movies, you can expect to see a new recommended selection once the credits roll, and Netflix also promises some other more minor improvements elsewhere in the app, including under the hood tweaks to its second screen experience. Finally, Netflix also announced today that it's signed a multi-year deal for five Disney Junior and Disney XD shows: Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Tron: Uprising, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, and JoJo's Circus.

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BT's plan to match Sky on sporting rights has already seen it spend big to buy ESPN UK, but how does it plan on recouping that cash? By giving away £738 million ($1.1 billion) worth of live Premier League games for "free" to new and existing BT customers. The headline-grabbing move will see 38 games available to BT Vision and BT Broadband customers, while the latter can upgrade their streams to HD for £3 ($4.70) per month. Customers will also be able to watch 69 live Aviva Premiership rugby games, as well as football soccer matches from the Bundesliga, Ligue-1 and Serie A. Of course, while it may sound great, there is a catch -- BT has decided that Tim Lovejoy will host some of the channel's coverage.

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BlueStacks takes on OUYA with subscriptionpowered GamePop game console

So you want a console for free, eh? BlueStacks is apparently prepared to offer you just that in its GamePop game console, which costs nothing for the month of May with a one-year subscription to the service (wouldn't you know it, that costs $93.83 -- just below the price of an OUYA at retail). Like its counterparts, the GamePop is powered by Android (4.2) and runs mostly mobile games. The company isn't sharing specs just yet, sadly. BlueStacks is promising "over 500" games, and has some top mobile devs offering credence with in testimonial.

"We've been a featured partner in App Player since early on and they've delivered on every promise in terms of distribution," Fruit Ninja studio head Shainiel Deo said, referencing BlueStacks' App Player software. "GamePop is a great incremental channel for us." Since games won't be bought, but included in the subscription, devs receive a 50 percent cut of subscription revenue, determined by how often users play their games. Should you be interested in getting in early, pre-orders are now open at the GamePop website; we've also included an intro video from BlueStacks just below.

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