Video World Insider Week in Review

The streaming video market is one of constant change, and as such, there's always plenty of news coming out. This week proved no exception, as neither nor'easter nor election could stop the flood of news.

With that in mind, it's time to run down all the biggest events of the week with our Week in Review coverage!

First, speaking of elections, we had a particularly exciting bit come in as Slacker Radio set up a special way to kick off their new app for Windows 8: special Election Night coverage. The Election Night coverage was big by itself, but that was only part of the picture. Slacker Radio's app also brings in 200 different stations, covering a variety of musical styles, some music festivals, sports via ESPN (News - Alert) and even comedy radio.

Users can interact with the songs, and information about the artists, via touch and swipe gestures.

Next, we took a look at the recent plan started up by Amazon that would put Amazon Prime streaming video on par with its biggest competitors: Netflix and Hulu (News - Alert) Plus. Under the new plan, Amazon prices its Amazon Prime streaming access at $7.99 a month – the same price that Netflix and Hulu Plus charge for their services. Potential motives behind the shift range from a bid to take out competition in the sector as well as expanding their streaming user base to get more of its current users under the umbrella.

Then we had a shot of earnings season news from Time Warner (News - Alert), which revealed that despite a bit of a slump when it came to theatrical releases, they gained some serious ground in the home video market. Revenue from cable channels like Turner, CNN and HBO brought in big new numbers. But even a major box office smash like The Dark Knight Rises wasn't enough to keep revenue at the levels they were just last year, as it became clear that theatrical releases were rapidly losing ground to the home theater.

Next we looked at LG U+'s newest innovation, which combines both the incoming and the outgoing form of streaming video. Using the Samsung (News - Alert) Galaxy Player, a mobile media player, users will not only be able to watch video, but they'll be able to use the app as a way to make mobile voice and video calling. Reminiscent of the Apple FaceTime (News - Alert) chat system, it's designed to serve as an alternative to landline access.

Since LG U+ already has 2.9 million customers, there's a nice broad user base from which they can work.

Finally, the question was raised: what can cable do about mobile video? This is an extremely difficult topic for several reasons, perhaps largest of which is that no one's sure just what exactly comprises "mobile video." Figuring out exactly what goes into the mobile video concept is a major step toward figuring out just what to do about it, and given the major gains in cable, the price of missing the mark could be catastrophic. The growth of online video services shows the urgency of finding a solution.

It's plain to see that there was plenty going on in the streaming media market space, so there was plenty more news to serve up where this came from. Our global online community was in a constant frenzy to find the best in news this week to bring your way, so be sure to join us back here next week for plenty more, as well as every weekend for our Week in Review coverage!