Streaming Video – Everything From Music To Zombies

What a wild weekend for streaming video because there really is something for everyone online from music to zombies that you can watch through your Roku or other streaming player worthy of your time this weekend. You could also watch on your tablet should you wish.

Ultra Music Festival 2015 has ditched its own native website for hosting live streams and is going with live streaming giant Twitch to webcast this weekend in a new partnership announced this week. The new deal creates a specific channel for Ultra on Twitch, twitch.tv/ultra, which is normally reserved for gaming. The channel will broadcast the 17th annual UMF this weekend during Miami Music Week March 27 to 29, and the stream will be powered by 7UP, which has invested heavily in EDM festivals and live streams, including last year’s Ultra.

HULU Plus – If you missed the new CW show  iZombie then mark it down to watch this weekend. Only two shows in and the program continues to exude charm, smart writing and great acting. The blend of gore, supernatural, and pep isn’t something I knew I needed in my life, but now my TV schedule wouldn’t be complete without it. Rose McIver excels at bringing the undead Liv to life, and it has to be a challenge because the character is continually evolving. Using her zombie state to infuse a newfound enthusiasm for living is clever and effective tool to keep Liv engaging

Checkout the Viewster Film Festival – The free TV and movie service is in the middle of a great animated movie festival and you can watch all of the 140 films that made the cut. You can also vote for the movies of your choice. The  #VOFF5 finalists during the community- voting period and now our jurors are reviewing the top ten animated films and deciding who the worthy winners of our $50,000 prize money are. On April 2nd our 1st ($35,000), 2nd ($10,000) and 3rd ($5,000) place prizes will be revealed. Some of the finest animated worlds, from far off galaxies to the worlds within our heads, #VOFF5 will push our boundaries and uncover places we never dreamed existed in this very creative competition.

Netflix – This week is time to catch up on a few fun shows like An Idiot Abroad. From the brilliant mind of  comedian Ricky Gervais is a program  worthy of your time. He sends his “idiot” friend Karl Pilkington to a series of exotic locales around the world. Both hilarious and fascinating, the only travel show that will actually have you quoting lines to your friends after watching the program. Season 1-3 are on Netflix now.

Amazon Prime Live Instant Video – Star Trek: Remember Leonard Nimoy with three films of the classic sci-fi franchise, all available for streaming with your Prime membership on April 1st. Stream Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

HBO GO – On Sunday night, HBO will be premiering Going Clear, a new documentary on Scientology   directed by Alex Gibney with the damning subtitle of “The Prison Of Belief.” Based on New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright’s explosive book of the same name, the film promises to expose how the religion morphed from a self-help movement into (what its former members describe as) a repressive and controlling cult. While mega movie stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta serve as very public faces of this very private organization, they’re but two of dozens of famous actors who are practicing members of Scientology.

The new streaming platform Shout! Factory TV – is a godsend for pop culture nerds and Mystery Science Theater 3000 enthusiasts. The service is adding a slew of new titles next month including a classic musical fairy tale, 16 Werner Herzog flicks, a vintage Doctor Who spinoff, and two MST3K titles that some super fans thought would never see the light of day.

 

Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.