A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes that we never see. Some of those things we want to know about. Like the fact that Level 3 Communications, a networking company that delivers streaming video to Netflix users, claims that Comcast is demanding a recurring fee for the transmission of these videos to its subscribers. On a road this would be called a toll. Sucks either way.

If this is true, this isn’t good news for Netflix users, since increased operation costs always trickle down to the end user. After a few days of negotiating, Level 3 Communications paid the fee. Comcast has come out with a statement claiming that the fee has nothing to do with Netflix or video traffic in general. Instead it’s related to the amount of traffic that Level 3 Communications is pushing off into Comcast’s network.

Netflix instant streaming discs for the Nintendo Wii started arriving in homes today to the delight of many Wii console owners. The service allows Wii owners who subscribe to at least the minimum $9/month plan with Netflix, to watch select streaming movies and television shows direct to their televisions.

Netflix subscribers keep the disc and must have it inserted in the console any time they would like to watch streaming content, while movies sent through mail will continue as they have in the past. Once the disc is inserted and selected from the Wii home menu, an activation code is presented. Users must enter this code on the Netflix website as a one-time activation to enable the streaming service.

TV stations that broadcast on airwaves today each have what’s called whitespace between them. The whitespace is there to keep each broadcast from interfering with the ones next to it. There has been lots of talk about using this whitespace for other uses.

A company called Cambridge Consultants has unveiled a new radio at CES that can use the whitespace to stream HD video and other material around a home. The radio can operate on normal 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi bands and can also operate on the 600Mhz whitespace band between stations.

LG and Netflix seem to feel confident enough in the desire for streaming movies to consumer devices in that they are now bringing the experience to other products for the home. The two announced today plans for Netflix-enabled “Broadband HDTVs.”

These new LCD and plasma HDTVs will begin being available this spring. LG is embedding the Netflix software into these televisions, thereby letting Netflix customers watch the growing library of movies, television shows and HD content available through Netflix’s streaming video offering.

Apple today announced the immediate ability to purchase movies through iTunes the same day that they are released to DVD. This takes away another hurdle that Apple needed to get over to increase the number of online movie rentals through iTunes, and comes only months after the initial launch of the ability to purchase movies at all through the online service.

Apple says they will be providing new releases for sale from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate, among a couple others. The new release purchases are priced at $14.99 each and can be viewed on a Mac, PC or any iPod with video and require iTunes version 7.6.2 which is available now as a free download.

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.