The first batch of Netflix Watch Instantly discs for the Wii have been shipped, so if you already ordered one, you can track its status—some people are slated to get ‘em as early as tomorrow. [ Netflix , Thanks tipsters! ] More

It’s appropriate, almost, that Warner Bros. is giving Blockbuster—the chain that’s closing 500 locations and bringing back late fees —a 28-day exclusive rental window over Netflix and Redbox . Two archaic institutions, sticking together. More

It’s appropriate, almost, that Warner Bros. is giving Blockbuster—the chain that’s closing 500 locations and bringing back late fees —a 28-day exclusive rental window over Netflix and Redbox . Two archaic institutions, sticking together. More

Any TV show, on any screen, anytime. Free, or at least reallyreally cheap. That’s the dream. More

An Apple patent worth gawking at, given its grander ambitions for advertising , iTunes and TV subscriptions : It details a way to make you watch ads embedded into video content, like say, a free or cheap TV show. Conceptually, it’s not too dissimilar from what you see with Hulu, actually—essentially, in order to unlock further segments of the video, you have to watch an ad. You know, just like real TV worked, before DVRs! The patent goes in-depth about how ads would be embedded with content that could be downloaded to multiple devices—like an iPhone or iPad—how it’d react to trying to jump ahead of the ad, and gathering statistics about how the ad was viewed or interacted with. The reason it’s interesting, primarily, is that Apple’s reportedly been heavily pitching networks both on selling TV shows for cheap—99 cents—and signing on to an iTunes TV subscription service that would bundle a selection of TV shows from major networks for 30 bucks a month, like say, Gossip Girl from CBS. The networks have been cool to both suggestions, given that TV’s expensive to produce and stuff. Ads, especially ones with detailed usage statistics (and maybe demographics), would help make up the revenue lost by offering shows for a buck, and make $30 subscription a lot more palatable, and possibly even offset the screams of cable operators watching content dance out the door and maybe onto the cloud.

The new TiVo Premiere is like dinosaurs who got upgraded with laser jetpacks: Fancier, but potentially outmoded in a world populated by tons of ninjas with nuclear shuriken. I saved up enough money to buy the first-generation TiVo—one of the Philips models, I think—when I was still in high school, and mostly used it to record episodes of Buffy and Batman the Animated Series scattered all over the vast expanse of cable television. Oh yeah, and skip commercials. No commercials, and Batman whenever I wanted? This is the future of TV, I was pretty sure. Which turned out to be true.

Here’s a real interesting question from a recent Netflix survey: “How likely would you or someone in your household be to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on your iPhone via a Wi-Fi network?” If you recall, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings promised that Netflix streaming would come to the iPhone “eventually” just a few months ago. While survey questions can be indicative of a company’s plans—it wouldn’t be the first time for this kind of company to tip their video hand via survey —I wouldn’t get too excited. Not because of the tech, which is trivial (even considering the jump from Microsoft’s Silverlight technology on the desktop) but because of the rights. Netflix has already run into issues with studios afraid of it massing too much influence, too many eyeballs, squeezing the lifeblood remaining in DVD profits preserved by the window system—the journey a movie takes from the multiplex to DVD to PPV to HBO to cable— before the studios can extract the last final drops themselves. That disgusting 28-day window before you can rent a new Warner Bros. movie is a primo example

Apple’s had ambitious TV plans. Standing in the way, industry execs. Apple supposedly wants to offer subscriptions to packages for $30 a month, and to sell shows for a buck. Funny then, what CBS’s CEO said during an earnings call.

In beta for a while, HBO Go has launched: It’s a streaming site with access to over 600 hours of HBO programming, from original series like Big Love to Watchmen . The catch? You already have to be an HBO subscriber. Dumb.

Hey there, mixed messaging! As Netflix makes the case to Wii owners that they really aren’t missing anything by not streaming HD, word from CNET is that Netflix instant streaming is making the jump to 1080p, with 5.1 audio. UPDATED CNET doesn’t have any info on which devices will support the upgrade, how much of their video library will be encoded in 1080p (only about six percent of their current catalog stream at 720p), or when exactly the new content will be available, though they can offer a vague “later this year.” What we do know is that Xbox already streams 1080p over Silverlight, the same tech that Netflix uses, though its Zune store, and that it looks pretty great. One can only assume new content will work with the Xbox 360 and PS3, though it’s not clear if some Blu-ray players and set-top boxes have the power to decode 1080p video. 1080p streaming on the Wii, and through many computers browsers, is completely out of the question. Netflix, by the way, is totally fine with that —as long as people are streaming something , Netflix is happy. UPDATE : Says CNET: Netflix now claims that it incorrectly acknowledged 1080p streaming in the company’s 2010 development road map