OTT
Latest
Paramount+ hits 32.8 million subscribers; will offer Showtime for a fee
The streaming platform will soon become the exclusive home to Paramount movies.
HBO Max and YouTube are now available on Spectrum TV
Spectrum TV has added HBO Max and YouTube, marking major streaming additions to its digital cable service and live TV app.
Fire TV better integrates live programming on Sling, Hulu Live and YouTube TV
Amazon is making Fire TV a lot more useful for live TV streaming with direct integration of Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV and Sling TV. They’ll soon appear on Fire TV’s live TV discovery features, including the Live Tab, On Now rows and multi-app channel guide with Alexa functionality.
Sony could sell off PlayStation Vue to escape the TV streaming game
Seemingly fed with up with losing money on the service, Sony is reportedly attempting to sell PlayStation Vue. Citing "people familiar with the situation," The Information reports the company has enlisted the help of the Bank of America's Merrill Lynch investment group to find a potential buyer for the online cable service. Any sale would include both Sony's tech, as well as PlayStation Vue's subscriber list -- which includes approximately 500,000 households across the US, according to the publication.
Stream all of your favorite Nickelodeon classics for $6 per month
Streaming service VRV is now home to a slew of Nickelodeon throwbacks. With a new streaming channel called NickSplat, VRV is offering users access to shows like All That, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog, Clarissa Explains It All, Kenan & Kel, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Salute Your Shorts, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Wild Thornberrys. In all, there are 21 titles available at launch with more on the way.
PlayStation Vue prices are going up $5 per month
PlayStation announced today that it will be raising the price of its four PlayStation Vue multi-channel bundle plans this month. Access, Core, Elite and Ultra packages will increase in cost by $5 per month starting July 24th. "At PlayStation, we are always evaluating the PS Vue service to ensure we are providing a compelling value to our customers," the company said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we must increase the price of our multi-channel plans to keep pace with rising business costs and enable us to continue offering a better way to watch the best in live sports, entertainment and news."
Formula One's streaming service won't launch until next month
We're almost halfway through April, and Formula 1's streaming service hasn't launched as promised. The racing organization announced today that F1 TV will now be available next month ahead of the 2018 Gran Premio De Espana. Annual subscription rates are available for between $70 and $150, or $8 - $12 per month. "The service will be priced according to market," the announcement reads.
F1's streaming service will be ready for March's Grand Prix
Formula 1 racing is getting in on the streaming game. F1 TV launched today at Mobile World Congress, and the new functionality will be up and running in time for March's opening grand prix in Melbourne, Australia. F1 TV will deliver racing fans commercial-free streams, which include access to onboard cameras for all 20 drivers in competition. From there you can arrange the camera feeds on your device however you like. There will also be a premium tier that grants access to exclusive camera feeds "not available on any other platform with the capability of multi-level personalization," according to Formula 1.
ESPN Plus streaming service launches this spring for $4.99
As Disney announced its quarterly earnings results today, CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that the company plans to price its standalone streaming version of ESPN at $4.99 per month. We've already heard that ESPN Plus will include "10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year" including MLB, NHL and MLS action, and Iger said it will arrive along with a relaunch of the ESPN app this spring. The idea is to reach out to cord-cutters and cord-nevers, hoping they're into some sports you wouldn't catch on its cable broadcasts (other sports will include various college games, Grand Slam Tennis, Boxing, Golf, Rugby and Cricket), plus included access to its library of 30 for 30 documentaries. It will be available "iOS, Android, tvOS and Chromecast" at launch, with other platforms following. As far as the new ESPN app, we should expect even more personalization with the usual relevant scores and highlights next to streaming versions of ESPN's cable broadcasts as well as its podcasts. When it launches, ESPN Plus will only be the beginning of Disney's streaming push, before its Disney-branded service launches in 2019. During the call, Iger said Disney is developing "a few" Star Wars series for the new app, and that it's close to revealing at least one of the projects (separate from the new series of movies announce earlier from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Tivo’s new TV platform will combine cable and streaming
TiVo has launched its new streaming service that promises big things for both consumers and cable or streaming operators. Called the Next-Gen Platform, it gives viewers a convenient, unified way to watch recorded content from both cable providers and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Operators like Altice, meanwhile, can implement TiVo's tech to provide consumers with "hyper-personalization, recommendations and voice-control" on multiple devices and screens, TiVo says.
AT&T looks to DirecTV Now as customers ditch satellite
If you were wondering why AT&T is in such a hurry to reshape its TV business, the third quarter earnings report may provide some clarity. In the three months it covers, which are usually strong growth months with the arrival of subscribers seeking out NFL Sunday Ticket, things went in the opposite direction.
fuboTV recruits CBS to take on cordcutter rivals
Folks generally cut the cable cord to save money, but fragmentation means you might have to subscribe to more than one service. Case in point is fuboTV, which focused on international soccer (football, for our international readers), but not much else, when it launched a $10 monthly service in 2015. To attract a broader audience, it later introduced a $35 Premier bundle with more regular TV channels. As part of that, fuboTV has now gone live with CBS, making it a viable rival to services like DirecTV and Sling TV.
Starz pads its streaming library with more kids' and Spanish options
Starz is turning its attention to "underserved audiences" in the world of streaming video, adding a raft of children's shows and Spanish-language programs to its $9-a-month library and on-demand platforms. Bob the Builder and Thomas and Friends are among the fresh kid-focused titles, while adults can enjoy nearly 300 new Spanish-language movies and TV show episodes, including Colombian telenovelas La Promesa and El Cartel de los Sapos.
Stream Showtime on Sling TV for $10 extra a month
Showtime is coming to Dish's cord-cutting service, Sling TV. Showtime content will include eight linear channels and "nearly 2,000" on-demand titles, with more to follow weekly. Sling is far from the first service to offer Showtime over-the-top. It's available as an add-on for PlayStation Vue, Hulu and Amazon already. That said, Sling said that today's announcement marks the first time that a streaming service has offered content from all "four leading premium networks," i.e. HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and Starz. It'll be priced at $10 per month on top of your existing plan.
Comcast is considering a nationwide streaming TV service
Comcast is laying the groundwork for a streaming TV service similar to DirecTV Now in markets it currently doesn't serve, including New York and LA, according to Bloomberg. It reportedly obtained nationwide TV channel rights from several unnamed cable networks using "most favored nation" clauses in its contracts. It hasn't got plans to offer anything yet, but is holding those rights as a card to play if online services like AT&T's DirecTV Now and Sling TV catch on.
Sony's PlayStation TV service comes to Mac and PC browsers
After coming to Android TV last week, PlayStation view has arrived on Mac and PC browsers, meaning it's available on just about every device you can think of. It'll work on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge and even Internet Explorer 10+ browsers, Sony says. The web service has some "unique features," including a mini-player that you can shrink to the corner of a browser window while you look for more content.
AT&T signs up HBO for its DirecTV Now streaming service
Back in March AT&T announced plans for a trio of DirecTV-branded streaming services it will launch later this year, and now it's stocking the cupboard with content. Disney recently announced that its channels (including ESPN and ABC) would be a part of the subscription packages, and tonight AT&T announced it will offer HBO & Cinemax as well. The deal is part of a renewal of HBO's agreement for the DirecTV and U-verse services, which AT&T is calling historic because it is an "all-platform" deal covering both traditional and streaming options.
ESPN will roll out a streaming service that bypasses cable
Today The Walt Disney Company released its quarterly earnings report, but the most interesting news has to do with ESPN. Disney confirmed reports it's making a $1 billion investment in BAMTech, a spinoff from MLB's Advanced Media business that, among other things, works on technology for streaming video services like HBO Now. The big news, however, is that BAMTech is working on ESPN with a "direct to consumer" (read: you won't need cable or satellite to get it) "ESPN-branded multi-sport subscription streaming service."
EU wants Netflix to offer 20 percent European content
The European Union is updating its broadcasting laws to cover online services like Amazon and Netflix. As part of the move, the union is looking to prevent these firms just leeching money out of the 28 member states without putting something back. That's why the new rules mandate that 20 percent of each company's content library needs to be European in origin. Rumors of the ruling prompted fears that on-demand businesses would have to pay millions for obscure content that nobody wanted. But it turns out that Netflix is already doing more than the bare minimum to promote European film and TV.
Hulu is working on a live TV service for cord-cutters
Hulu is reportedly working on a new live TV platform that's designed to tempt cable subscribers to cut the cord. The Wall Street Journal believes that Hulu has ambitions to square off against both domestic cable providers as well as Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. Rather than trying to broadcast every channel in existence, it's claimed that the company will focus on quality over quantity. Given that Hulu is part-owned by Disney and 20th Century Fox, you can assume that ABC, ESPN and Fox will be lynchpins of the new platform. The same report explains that Hulu will enable customers to record their own shows in the cloud, rather than on a DVR.
