Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said in the past that the company would avoid getting into the content business, however Deadline Hollywood is reporting that it outbid cable channels like HBO and AMC for a new David Fincher drama starring Kevin Spacey.

The show is called House of Cards. The deal is apparently still being negotiated but Netflix will be committing to two seasons which could cost it more than $100 million. This deal if true, puts the company directly in competition with the pay-TV business. Move over HBO and showtime.

Netflix has just added even more to it’s Watch Instantly lineup as it has reached an agreement with Epix to include films from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM Studios starting September 1. The films will be available on Netflix only 90 days after their pay TV debuts.

What this deal does is make Hollywood movies available to Netflix subscribers far more quickly, and in greater numbers. According to the LA Times, this deal could cost Netflix some $1 billion over its multi-year lifetime. This is another great reason to join Netflix.

We haven’t heard from cheap flat panel CE company VIZIO much since CES earlier this year. The company is back though in the news today with some new HDTVs, priced at between around $1,500 and $1,900.

The new models in the company’s XVT series are the SV420XVT, SV47XVT and VP505XVT. Key features include Silicon Optix REON HQV processing, 30,000:1 contrast Ratio, 1200 nits brightness and 5.1 virtual surround sound. You can get the full scoop on these new flat panel HDTVs after the jump via the full press release.

Blockbuster has been rumored to have been secretly working on some new technology in the works that would allow streaming video content from an online rental service direct to consumers televisions, and could be available as soon as the next few weeks. No information has been given on the exact technology or price but the service could again bring the home video renting giant back up to par and possibly ahead in technology, compared to other rival video renting services from Netflix and Apple.

Netflix would be directly affected by this new service by Blockbuster and has recently upgraded their service to provide unlimited streaming to some subscribers, however it streams to their computer and not necessarily to the living room of most consumers. In order to work their way into more entertainment centers, Netflix is also looking into providing streaming video rentals through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console.

According to HollywoodReporter some unknown sources say that the Xbox 360 from Microsoft will see a $50 price reduction next month to try to boost up sales of the game console. The price cut is expected on August 8th to be exact, but it was not clear whether the price cut would be on the Core, Pro, Elite or all three.

Many expected some type of price reduction announcement at E3 this year, but were met with disappointment as no such announcement was made, and Microsoft is neither confirming …

The Danish company Empire North is currently working on a special kind of sniper rifle. When gamers hear the words ‘sniper rifle’ they immediately think of some first person shooter game or another. However, this is not the case with this particular rifle.

Empire North is working on a GPS-based sniper rifle dubbed ID Sniper that is built to embed a tiny GPS tracking device on a target up to 1.1km away. This rifle will also be able to take pictures of the ‘target’ with the scope. Straight from the movies, the target will not …

Macrovision CEO Fred Amoroso has written an open letter to address his feelings on the letter that Steve Jobs wrote regarding digital rights management (DRM) of Apple iTunes music along with offering his companies services to manage the Fairplay DRM.

In the letter from Jobs last week, he had addressed concerns rising with iTunes consumers about the DRM restrictions on downloaded music, which include the number of devices and computers that a single downloaded music file could be transferred to. While Apple is not the …