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March Madness Live app will let you watch two NCAA games at once on more devices
The NCAA March Madness Live app will let you stream two basketball games at once on your TV.
UEFA Champions League soccer moves to CBS All Access next month
Fans of European football will soon be able to stream matches in the US through CBS All Access and CBS Sports.
UEFA Champions League is coming to CBS All Access in 2021
The giants of European soccer are headed to CBS All Access starting in 2021, when CBS snatches the rights to one of the sport's biggest competitions away from Turner. While CBS will broadcast some UEFA Champions League games on its eponymous network (perhaps including the final), all of them will be available to stream in the US on All Access, which starts at $6/month.
PlayStation Vue is raising prices for all of its plans (updated)
Another year, another price hike for the PlayStation Vue TV-streaming service. On Monday, the company announced that it was raising the prices of all of its multi-channel plans by $5 per month. The change will be effective starting today for new subscribers. Existing subscribers can expect the price increase in their billing statements on or after July 31st.
Twitter is streaming live commentary shows for the NCAA's Final Four
Twitter is following March Madness with a frenzy of coverage for the basketball season's end. The social network is streaming an as-it-happens NCAA Final Four commentary show through @marchmadness, Final Four Twitter Live, starting with the Auburn vs. Virginia game on April 6th (that's right now, if you're watching in time) and wrapping up with a championship show on April 8th at 9PM Eastern. Whenever you tune in, the Turner Sports-produced show will "highlight" the Twitter discussions around each game using a host of analysts, reporters and special guests (such as Tiki Barber and Takeo Spikes).
HBO CEO steps down in the wake of AT&T acquisition
Richard Plepler, the CEO of HBO, stepped down from his post on Thursday, according to the New York Times. Shortly after his departure was made public, Variety reported Turner television executive David Levy will also be leaving his company. The moves appear to mark a significant shakeup within Time Warner, the parent company of HBO. The changes come just months after AT&T acquired the media company for $85.4 billion.
Turner had to stream Woods-Mickelson golf event for free due to glitch
Online pay-per-view events are increasingly common, but it's clear they still have some technical hurdles to clear. Turner's Bleacher Report was forced to offer a free stream for a much-hyped one-on-one golf match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (simply nicknamed "The Match") when purchasing glitches threatened to prevent paying customers from tuning in on time for the November 23rd event. The company told Variety in a statement that it had taken a "number of steps" to fix the issue, including the free stream to please customers.
Classic cinema streaming service FilmStruck will close November 29th
FilmStruck, WarnerMedia's streaming service that focuses on classic and indie cinema, is shutting down November 29th. The two-year-old platform is already closed to new subscribers.
AT&T's WarnerMedia will launch streaming TV service in late 2019
Add AT&T to the list of media giants launching streaming services that revolve solely around their own content. The company's WarnerMedia is launching a streaming offering in the fourth quarter of 2019 with access to the group's collection of movies and TV shows. Most details are under wraps, but CNN has obtained an internal memo from CEO John Stankey showing that it would "start with HBO" and "package" Turner and Warner Bros. content. And while it would be a stand-alone service, Stankey stressed that it would "complement" the company's conventional TV distribution. It's trying to avoid a fight with cable and satellite giants worried they'll lose customers, in other words.
The next TBS esports series looks inside a major ‘CS:GO’ tournament
TBS has become an unexpected home for esports content over the last two years, though it's mostly covered Eleague, the pro gaming circuit the cable network's parent company Turner helped create. Its next show dives into the recent CS:GO pro tournament, Eleague Premier 2018, which wrapped at the end of July. While we know the results, we don't know the stories: The seven-part series follows players from eight of the top-ranked professional teams that competed, and its first hour-long episode debuts August 31st at 11PM ET/PT on TBS.
Disney's streaming service may not launch with original Star Wars movies
Of all the companies and networks that have announced or launched standalone streaming services recently, Disney's probably makes the most sense. After all, the company has such a large catalog of content, going back decades. What's more, they own both Marvel and Star Wars, franchises with enough power to draw people to a streaming service. But now, there may be trouble with some of the Star Wars rights.
Expect AT&T's 'WarnerMedia' to expand HBO's budget
Now that Time Warner is officially a part of AT&T, it's getting a new game. Unveiled in an internal memo, brands like HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. will call WarnerMedia home. We're not in love with the name either, but as-is, you will probably interact with the various channels and studios under it in the same way as usual and it's easier to remember that Time Warner Cable hasn't been connected to the business in years. AT&T exec John Stankey is taking over WarnerMedia (with CNN's Jeff Zucker, HBO's Richard Plepler and Warner Bros.' Kevin Tsujihara reporting to him), and revealed a bit about his plans in a series of interviews. Bloomberg has the impression that Stankey plans for HBO to have a bigger library and more content ready for viewing on-demand. Going forward, it sounds like he's proposing a push that will enhance direct-to-customer options like HBO Now, but we'll have to see how it shakes out and if HBO's $2.5 billion budget expands to take on Netflix (which is spending $8 billion this year) Amazon and the rest. Talking to the New York Times he was less definitive, saying "at the end of the day, we want our technology and we want our content to drive more customer engagement. If we have the opportunity to do that by investing we are going to invest to make that happen." While we wait for that to develop, one thing that's first up is the "$15" TV streaming package that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson mentioned in his testimony. According to Bloomberg, the low-cost service will launch "in a few days" with Turner programming anchoring it, and a distinct lack of sports. There's also going to be a Netflix-esque use of data to inform programming decisions, not to mention the advertising and analytics business AT&T is building up based on "customer insights" from TV, mobile and internet subscribers.
AT&T's $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner is complete
After a judge ruled in favor of the acquisition, AT&T has officially swallowed up Time Warner. Now Warner Bros., HBO and Turner are a part of the company's as-yet-unnamed media business, which is one of four segments: AT&T Communications provides mobile, broadband, video and other communications services to U.S.-based consumers and nearly 3.5 million companies – from the smallest business to nearly all the Fortune 1000 – with highly secure, smart solutions. Revenues from these services totaled more than $150 billion in 2017. AT&T's media business consists of HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. Together, these businesses had revenues of more than $31 billion in 2017. A new name for this business will be announced later. AT&T International provides mobile services in Mexico to consumers and businesses, plus pay-TV service across 11 countries in South America and the Caribbean. It had revenues of more than $8 billion in 2017. AT&T's advertising and analytics business provides marketers with advanced advertising solutions using valuable customer insights from AT&T's TV, mobile and broadband services, combined with extensive ad inventory from Turner and AT&T's pay-TV services. A name for this company will be announced in the future. Another part of the deal, as mentioned above, is the combination of ad inventory and analytics that will stretch across screens from TV to mobile. That business doesn't have a name yet either, but the ability to track and target audiences is a big part of recent media consolidation efforts. The Department of Justice said it hadn't yet decided whether or not to appeal the decision, but did not file to delay the deal's closing. The Wall Street Journal reports that in a letter to the DoJ, AT&T said it would create a "firewall" between Turner and AT&T to remove any competitive advantage.
Judge rules AT&T can purchase Time Warner
Last November, the Department of Justice slapped an antitrust lawsuit on AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner and the trial resulting from that lawsuit wrapped up last month. The DOJ has maintained that merging the two companies as is would threaten competition, but AT&T has said the deal won't produce anticompetitive effects and moreover, that the DOJ hasn't effectively demonstrated that it would. Today, US District Judge Richard Leon has issued his ruling on the suit and has declared that AT&T can buy Time Warner.
DOJ wants Turner properties spun off if AT&T deal is approved
In 2016, AT&T announced plans to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion -- a deal that eventually led to a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit filed in November of last year. The six-week trial resulting from that lawsuit wrapped up last week and now both sides have filed post-trial briefs as US District Judge Richard Leon prepares his decision. At the end of the trial, Leon suggested both parties work out remedies depending on which way he rules and in its post-trial brief that was unsealed today, the DOJ suggests AT&T be required to divest itself of major assets if the merger isn't blocked altogether.
NBA League Pass offers a discount on in-progress games
If you're a sports fan, you've no doubt had that moment when you scrambled to watch the end of a live game after leaving a social function. And that can be expensive with streaming services -- do you really want to pay for a whole match just to catch the last 15 minutes? You won't have to with NBA games. As it hinted before, the basketball association and Turner are launching an option to watch games in progress at a "reduced price." They're not saying what that price is, but users have been seeing options to watch the last quarter of a game for 99 cents.
Turner's live sports streaming service launches April 7th
Turner's long-in-the-making live sports service is here... almost. The broadcaster has announced that its Bleacher Report Live service will debut April 7th in a free preview mode, with "flexible" pricing when you have to start paying in the summer. It'll present live sports in a Facebook-style home feed, with personalization that aggregates content based on your tastes. The sports selection won't suit everyone's tastes (you may want to consider ESPN+), but there are some reasons you'd want to consider BR Live over other options.
YouTube TV gets TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, CNN and a price bump
It's been almost a year since Google first announced YouTube TV, its $35-per-month service for cord cutters. Since then, Google has been iterating to improve on a product that was solid at launch -- but today marks the biggest expansion of YouTube TV thus far. The service now has access to a host of new channels from the Turner network, including TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, CNN, Turner Classic Movies and a few others. For sports fans, YouTube is also adding NBA TV and the MLB Network as well. But there's a bit of bad news that comes along with this: New YouTube TV subscriptions will now cost $40, up from the $35 price that the service has cost since launch. The price increase will hit on March 13th, so new potential customers still have a month to get in the door and lock in the $35 rate; existing subscribers won't see a change to their bill at all.
FilmStruck's alternative streaming service is coming to the UK
A movie streaming service backed by Warner Bros. and Turner is launching in the UK in the "coming weeks," the pair have announced. FilmStruck has been lighting up screens in the US since late 2016, and will arrive across the pond with a slightly different name: FilmStruck Curzon. Underpinned primarily by the substantial archives of Warner Bros. and the Criterion Collection, the service will span "mainstream, cult, independent, classics, art house, foreign and documentary film." As well as providing logistical support, Curzon will have its own curated corner on the service that'll feature some content provided by its movie distribution arm, Artificial Eye.
Turner's sports service will be the home of Champions League soccer
Not to be outdone by ESPN, Turner Broadcasting has announced a sports streaming service of its own next year. And to start, it's partnering with UEFA on a three-year deal to stream Champions and Europa League games beginning with the 2018 - 2019 season. That'll cover some 340 matches, according to a statement from Turner. In addition to streaming, games will be broadcast across the media group's TV channels including TBS, TNT "and/or" truTV beginning next year. Not a soccer fan? Turner says it'll offer other sports as well.
