Netflix scores rights to sci-fi film ‘The Discovery,’ plans theatrical release in the U.S.

Netflix gain global rights to an upcoming science fiction film entitled The Discovery, starring Jason Segel, Robert Redford, and Rooney Mara. But aside from releasing it on its platform, the streaming service has planned to screen it in theatres in the U.S. sometime next year. Netflix has previously announced that they wanted to premiere movies in theatres at the same time they do on their service, which goes against a long-held movie industry practice and has caused the ire from theatre owners. However, that doesn’t seem to have stopped them. Although, it isn’t known yet if the theatrical release and the Netflix release will happen at the same time or if SVOD gets it first or the theatres do, we should find out more in the coming months.

The Discovery is described on IMDB as “A love story after the existence of the afterlife is scientifically verified.” Deadline says the Charlie McDowell film will be set two years after this discovery and at this time a lot of people are committing suicide to get another chance at life.

Source: Deadline | Via: SlashGear

Netflix raising prices in Canada for long time users

Netflix Canada is telling long time users that they are raising the subscription price for the service to $9.99 a month. Originally pegged at $7.99, the rationale for the raise in pricing is that Netflix is making more original content available like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. This is a clear example of how a market leader without viable competition can dictate pricing and customers just have to take it or go cancel their membership if they are not happy.

Netflx hasn't really raised prices in Canada before so given exchange rates but given that Netflix has already annoyed various Canadian users by blocking border hopping or the use of VPN services to see shows unavailable to Canadian subscribers, the timing of the price increase is quite audacious. 

Netflix helps manage your data use with new cellular data controls

Worried about exceeding your data cap or getting your line cut off because you spent too much time watching Netflix while on cellular data? The streaming service is introducing globally new data controls to help you manage how much you stream over data. The default setting will allow you to stream around three hours of TV shows and movies per gigabyte of data. When it comes to bitrates, this setting amounts to around 600 Kilobits per second, which Netflix says achieves a good balance between video quality and data usages. You have the option to set a higher or lower streaming quality but of course that also means better or less ideal streaming. You can set it to auto, as discussed earlier; low, which allows around four hours per GB of data; high, which allows one hour per GB of data; and unlimited for those with unlimited data plans. The last one promises to give you the highest quality possible, which also means it could use up like 1GB per 20 minutes or more depending on your device and network speeds. Of course, you can also turn this feature off and not stream over data.

To toggle these settings, simply head to the Menu icon and select App Settings. From there, head to Cellular Data Usage and then select the setting you prefer. If you set your data usage for all devices under the Playback settings on Your Account page, the streams on mobile devices will not exceed this setting.

Source: Netflix

Get suggestions on what to watch next on streaming sites with MightyTV

Stumped over what to watch next? iOS app MightyTV will help you pick out what to watch on the various streaming media services you subscribe to. You can tell the app what services you subscribe to or if it’s on your phone, it’ll find it on its own. Afterwards, register using your Facebook account and get started. Taking inspiration from Tinder gestures, you can swipe right to like, swipe left to dislike, swipe up to skip, tap to get more info and a preview, tap the “Watchlist” icon to add it your list, and tap the play icon to select episodes to watch now. This app is useful for bringing in one place all the things you want to catch. Unfortunately, there isn’t an Android version of the app just yet.

Source: Lifehacker | Download: Apple App Store (Free)