Amazon.com (AMZN) intends to meet more retail shoppers’ growing demands for instant gratification without the need to leave their homes. The world’s largest online retailer on Thursday said it’s expanded its one-hour delivery service, known as Prime Now, to its Amazon Prime subscribers in parts of Baltimore and Miami, and plans to bring it to other parts of those cities soon. The service had been available just in parts of New York City. It
After months of beta testing, Sony (SNE) on Wednesday launched its PlayStation Vue television service, which aims to compete with cable and other pay TV offerings. PlayStation Vue offers a starting package of 50 channels for $50 a month, but you must own a Sony PS3 or PS4 game console and have broadband Internet service to receive it. Initially it will be available only in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Sony introduced the service in November calling it a “pioneering new cloud-based TV service that reinvents the television experience.” The company also is offering two higher-priced tiers of Vue that include more channels for $60 and $70 a month. PlayStation Vue follows the nationwide launch of Sling TV from Dish Network (DISH), another over-the-top Internet pay TV service. Sling TV offers a starting package of 20 channels for $20 a month and is available using Roku and Amazon.com (AMZN) streaming…
U.S. consumers that subscribe to video streaming services are adding more Web-connected TVs and tablet computers to their household consumer electronics, says media research firm Nielsen. Among U.S. households, 41% now subscribe to a video streaming service, up from 36% a year earlier, with Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Amazon Prime still the top choices, says Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for Q4 2014, released Wednesday. The trend is