Yep, Netflix is throwing around a lot of money for streaming TV. The company will spend an estimated $200 million for shows from Disney and ABC, including Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty and the entire series of Lost.

Now that Netflix has done the messy work of building a subscription streaming video service and proving its success, here come the imitators.

The Wall Street Journal reports that several tech companies are now trying to build their own online video subscriptions, including Vizio, Amazon and OnLive. Also, Microsoft and Sony are reportedly being wooed by media companies who want to license content directly, and Microsoft may be putting together a subscription package that’s like cable over the Internet.

This is all rumor, given that most of the companies would not comment to the Journal, but the idea of more steaming services from would-be Netflix competitors at least seems plausible.

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Movies are Netflix’s bread and butter, but now the service is setting its sights on current television shows.

Over at the New York Post, Claire Atkinson’s unnamed source says Netflix in talks with television studios to add current primetime shows to its streaming catalog. The company is reportedly willing to spend between $70,000 and $100,000 per episode on in-season TV.

It’s probably not going to happen in the near future. Broadcast networks claim they own the streaming rights, not the studios, and they’re reluctant to make deals because they don’t want to cannibalize ad dollars reaped from syndication. I’m guessing Netflix won’t be buying many in-season shows until that gets hammered out.

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Reuters reports a rumor that Microsoft wants to offer a subscription television service, and has at least talked to media companies about the possibility.

Microsoft would act as a “virtual cable operator” and deliver content over the Xbox 360 or other devices for a monthly fee. But right now, it’s all early-stage scuttlebutt, as the service isn’t likely to arrive for 12 months, if at all, and no specific media companies are mentioned.

Microsoft already dabbles in Web TV on the Xbox 360, and is locked in battle with Sony to create the best array of options. The console has Netflix, ESPN3 and on demand video, and Hulu Plus is coming next year.

This sounds like something different. It seems like Microsoft wants to line up a lot of content providers to offer a bundled service similar to cable, but over its own set-top box via the Internet.

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Hulu announced today that the preview phase of Hulu Plus is over, and that the service now costs $8 per month.

If you’ve been paying $10 per month during the preview period, Hulu will credit the difference to your account. And if you haven’t tried Hulu Plus, the site is offering free one-week trials (current subscribers will get a free week as well) and a referral program that gives two free weeks to subscribers and the people they sign up. Sony’s Bravia TVs and connected Blu-ray players come with 11 free weeks, and Roku boxes get a free month.

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Android is the best-selling smartphone platform in the United States right now. Netflix’s streaming video strategy revolves around support for popular devices. So why can’t Android and Netflix get together? Digital rights management, or lack thereof.

In a blog post, Greg Peters of Netflix product development explained that the company really wants to launch on Android devices. “The hurdle,” he said, “has been the lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Android.”

In other words, Hollywood doesn’t like the way Android does DRM, and Netflix is powerless without Hollywood’s go-ahead. On the bright side, Netflix will work with individual handset makers to satisfy Hollywood’s needs, so while you won’t see a Netflix Android app any time soon, certain Android phones — and tablets, one hopes — will get their own Instant Watch video players early next year.

I sense a bit of politics at work here.

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Gradually, live sports are coming to set-top boxes and game consoles. The latest is the National Hockey League, whose Gamecenter Live service for out-of-market games is now available on Playstation 3 and Roku.

The app is free for Roku users and costs $10 on the PS3, but it’s free to subscribers of Playstation Plus, Sony’s premium online service. The actual Gamecenter subscription costs $21 per month or $169 per year. (Weird. The NHL regular season ends in April and playoffs run into June, which is seven months from now. Unless I’m missing something, not sure why you’d pay a higher price for the entire year at once.)

NHL Gamecenter Live follows MLB.TV, which went to Roku and the PS3 earlier this year. Both sports streams are also available through Boxee and in web browsers.

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Google’s YouTube Remote app for Android might ease the pain of changing the channel on web video, so to speak.

The free app controls YouTube Leanback on the desktop or on Google TV. Once synced by user account on both devices, the app can play, pause, rewind, fast forward and adjust volume on YouTube clips. But the killer feature, I think, is the ability to find new videos or add them to a queue.

Back when I subscribed to cable, changing channels was the most inelegant part of the experience. You press the “guide” button, and your picture becomes a thumbnail, surrounded by a wall of programming information. Because this is so distracting, you’re under pressure — from your family or whoever else is watching — to find a new channel as quickly as possible so you can get back to the big screen.

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If you’re itching to pay $10 per month for Hulu Plus, you no longer have to get an invitation to the party.

Hulu announced today that its premium service is now open to everyone. Hulu Plus is still technically in its preview stage, but at least now you can try the service without waiting for an arbitrary go-ahead. (For Playstation 3 users, the service will stop requiring a Playstation Plus subscription within the next week.)

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Assuming that the government OKs Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, network chief executive Jeff Zucker will depart.

While I’m not one to dwell on personnel changes at entertainment companies, Zucker’s an interesting figure. As CNet points out, he’s notorious for giving tech companies a hard time over NBC content. Notably, NBC tried to get a cut of iPod revenue while negotiating  iTunes licensing of TV shows, and NBC is not taking part in the 99-cent show rentals Apple TV will offer. Zucker said that price would “devalue” the network’s content.

NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage was also terrible. Event feeds were unavailable online to people who didn’t have cable subscriptions, and major events were tape-delayed and kept offline to force primetime viewing.

But when I think of Zucker, I’m reminded most of his hard line against Boxee, which tried to use content from Hulu, the web video site backed by NBC, News Corp and ABC.

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When someone I know buys a video game console, sooner or later I ask if they’ve tried PlayOn. The Windows software essentially tricks the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii into thinking that Web video content is stored on your local network, letting you watch Hulu, ABC.com and more on the big screen while your computer quietly handles the streaming.

One of the main reasons I’ve advocated PlayOn to fellow Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 owners is that you only pay $40 for the software once, and then you can use it forever. That’s about to change on May 20, when PlayOn moves to a subscription model: $40 for year one, and $20 per year after that.

PlayOn swears that the money will be put to good use by funding “continued development and support.” The subscription product will be dubbed “PlayOn Premium,” and will include a couple more sources for online video, a “Gold” version of Wii support and a promise that PlayOn will add more features over time. But do you feel comfortable paying for a promise?

The problem is that PlayOn subscribers aren’t paying for the delivery of content, or even the content itself.  They’re only paying for the continued right to use software, which would technically still function even if PlayOn’s owner, MediaMall, folded tomorrow. This would be like Microsoft demanding yearly payments from Windows users to fund updates and future versions. It just doesn’t work that way when software isn’t tied to a tangible, recurring service.

I’m glad PlayOn will let existing owners continue to get basic functionality for free, including Hulu. PlayOn’s even offering one year of premium service to existing users for $5 instead of $40. But it would make a lot more sense for PlayOn to build the new features first, then charge users a la carte to add each one — kind of like an app store. It beats paying PlayOn a yearly allowance and hoping it’s spent wisely.

Could you sit on your couch and watch a steady stream of randomly-selected videos from YouTube and other sites? Redux hopes so, bringing its service to television through Boxee’s software for set-top boxes.

I hadn’t heard of Redux before its Boxee partnership was announced today, but it seems destined for the television. You set up an account and select from a list of interests, such as humor, art or video games, and Redux automatically creates a playlist, letting you sit back and watch without hunting for new clips. You can also follow like-minded people through the service — or sync with people you already follow on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace — to see what they’re watching.

It’s easy to see Redux’s disposable entertainment as something to play in the background at a party or after stumbling back from the bar — things like the Toronto Raptors’ mascot swallowing a cheerleader, a random fight on a bus, or an epic steel drum solo. At a computer I wouldn’t necessarily need these videos chosen for me, but from the couch it could be fun to turn on Redux and let the user-made content come to you.

There are some things I wish were different about the service. I personally don’t like the user comments that pop up when watching a popular video, so it’d be great if you could toggle them off. And because I don’t have a set-top that supports Boxee, I’d like to see Redux on other set-tops, Blu-ray players, game consoles or televisions. I’m told both of those gripes will be addressed in the future.

Redux, however, doesn’t plan to add premium content, which is a shame. I can understand that the service is all about people sharing videos made by other people, but I’d love to see Redux apply its brand of serendipity to TV shows and movies. There’s only so much user-made content I can take now matter how it’s delivered.

Want a reason to check  out RealPlayer SP, the new beta of the next version of RealPlayer, a media player that most of us have used at one time or another but which is no longer omnipresent? It’s got a new feature that’s pretty cool: the ability to easily download video from YouTube and other sites, convert it, and then get it onto a bevy of devices.

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