After watching Dish Network’s announcement of the BlockBuster Movie Pass, I can’t help but to partially view it as a missed opportunity. We thought Dish Network would be announcing a full-on Netflix competitor. Blockbuster wasted no time attempting to lure Netflix customers away following the 60% price increase. Given the recent Qwikster announcement, Dish Network had a perfect opportunity to deal a significant blow to Netflix. But now, non-Dish customers such as myself with no interest in satellite service have no reason to leave Netflix.

Dish Network revealed its answer to the growing demand for on-demand streaming videos without moving away from its traditional satellite service. Dish Network is capitalizing on its ownership of Blockbuster and will be launching the Blockbuster Movie Pass on October 1 for $10 a month.

Amazon is reportedly trying to start a digital e-book service that users will subscribe to for an undisclosed amount every year according to The Wall Street Journal. The service is said to similar to Netflix. All of this appears to just be in the planning stages. Amazon is believed to be launching its first tablet sometime this year and access to thousands of books for a flat rate would certainly be an incentive to get people to use Amazon’s Kindle service.

Dish Network supposedly has big plans for its recently acquired Blockbuster brand. A Bloomberg source says that Dish Network is going to reveal a new streaming service in October. The launch of this new service will occur during a time when Netflix is vulnerable due to the negative response iit received after raising prices for its DVD and streaming combo plan.

Fox has made good on its promise to begin delaying new episodes of its shows by eight days to viewers who aren’t subscribed to cable, satellite or Hulu Plus. Attempting to watch the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen on Hulu will result in a 90 second preview video unless you sign in with your Dish Network credentials. Dish Network is the only television provider Fox is working with at the moment.

It’s extremely important that print publications have a presence on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Time Inc. realizes this and will release tablet versions of its 21 United States publications before the year is over.

If you were to ask someone what is the worst thing about Hulu Plus, they’ll probably complain about the ads. Advertisements in the free version are understandable because Hulu has to make money somehow. Ads in Hulu Plus on the other hand are a bit harder to swallow. For $7.99 a month, one would think that money would be used to remove the ads. There still may be a chance that Hulu will offer a subscription that is completely ad-free.

A lot of people (myself included) have cut the cable cord in favor of internet-fueled media consumption. The logic that led to this decision was simple. The way I saw it, I never watched that many television shows on cable anyway. I could just go online and watch them the next day while saving money at the same time. Well, the networks have gotten wise to devious little plans such as this. Fox for example, will soon delay the online releases of some of its shows for customers who don’t pay for television service.

Hulu has yet another offer for certain parties that are interested in giving Hulu Plus a try. In this case, a free month of Hulu Plus is being offered to those who are willing it give it the old college try.

Blockbuster didn’t waste any time in its attempt to capitalize on the anger a lot of Netflix customers are experiencing right now. Ever since Netflix announced it would be splitting its unlimited streaming and DVD rental combo subscription into two $7.99 a month offerings, many customers are contemplating cancelling at least one of their Netflix subscriptions. Blockbuster has now swooped in to give fleeing Netflix subscribers a deal on its Blockbuster Total Access service.