Another week, another price increase for a streaming service. This week, ESPN announced that ESPN Select and ESPN Unlimited are both getting more expensive, as are some associated Disney+ and Hulu bundles.
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When Netflix introduced its ad-supported tier in late 2022, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. Other mainstream streaming services had been widely adopting the strategy, much to viewers’ protests.
Now, Netflix has shared some data that indicates that while many might object to an ad-supported tier, they’re watching it anyway.
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Among major TV networks in the US, FOX is the only player that doesn’t yet offer a direct-to-consumer streaming service along the lines of Paramount+ (CBS), Peacock (NBC), and Disney+ (ABC). But that’s changing later this year, and the company has just announced its new streamer’s leader.
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Venu Sports, the new sports streaming service debuting this fall, has announced its launch pricing. It’s a lot higher than what you pay for Apple TV+ or Netflix, but lower than many alternative sports options.
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Paying for streaming platforms has been getting more expensive, and now there’s some bad news for Comcast’s Peacock subscribers. The company announced this week that subscription prices will increase soon for both new and existing subscribers. Read on as we detail more about this price increase.
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HBO will soon join the likes of Netflix and Disney+ in cracking down on password sharing. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Max is planning to begin rolling out new anti-password sharing features later this year as it looks to make its streaming business profitable.
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Fox is planning to dive into the streaming industry with a $440 million acquisition of ad-supported streaming service Tubi. Fox Corporation is pushing to expand its direct-to-consumer offerings, and it believes the Tubi acquisition will allow it to do just that.
The streaming industry continues to expand and evolve, and not necessarily for the sake of clarity. CNBC reports today that ViacomCBS is planning a new streaming service that will build on CBS All Access by combining it with Viacom and Paramount assets.
NBC has officially entered the streaming wars today with the announcement of its upcoming Peacock service. While various reports over the last several months painted a picture of what to expect from Peacock, NBCUniversal unveiled most of the official details today.
AT&T is raising prices for its streaming TV service yet again. AT&T TV Now, previously known as DirecTV Now, is raising prices by as much as 30% starting next month, as detailed in a report from Bloomberg.
CBS and Viacom have officially announced their plans for a merger. The deal would value the combined company at $30 billion, and reunites the companies for the first time since 2005. The new company will be named ViacomCBS.
AT&T has announced today that it is rebranding its DirecTV Now streaming service ‘AT&T TV Now.’ The effort is seemingly part of AT&T’s work to streamline its online TV platforms and move everything into a single application.
WarnerMedia today officially unveiled new details about its upcoming streaming TV service. The company says the new direct-to-consumer service will be called “HBO Max” and include content from various different networks, as well as new original TV.
Cheddar reports that T-Mobile is set to launch a new, ad-supported television streaming service for subscribers within the coming weeks. However, the service is not the supposed “disruptive” streaming platform CEO John Legere made promise of last year.
As the streaming TV market continues to evolve, Viacom today announced that it has acquired streaming service Pluto TV for $340 million. As reported by Variety, the deal is expected to close this quarter.
After over 9 years, Hulu is making a major change to its services by shutting down free TV episodes and moving to subscription services only (via Variety). Current subscribers won’t be affected and prices won’t be changing as the same $7.99 and $11.99 plans will be available, however all free content will be moving over to “Yahoo View”.
T-Mobile today announced new services being added to its Binge On program, which allows its wireless subscribers to stream video content from certain apps without dipping into their mobile data caps.
While Apple has denied a report that it was planning to stop selling music downloads in either two years or 3-4 years, the denial to Re/code was somewhat vague.
Apple rep Tom Neumayr wouldn’t expand on [the ‘not true’] comment, except to make it clear that he was responding to both timelines proposed in today’s story from Digital Music News.
And really, nobody should be surprised if the broader report is true: that Apple has discussed how and when it might exit the music download business …
Taylor Swift is continuing her partnership with Apple Music, with yet another ad featuring the singer and the streaming service. The new minute-long commercial features Taylor Swift dancing around to ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness.
Swift demonstrates using the Apple Music discovery features (via the ‘Friday Night Rocks!’ playlist) to find the track. The ad ends with the slogan ‘Dance like no one’s watching’. Watch the ad after the jump …
Initially billed as an exclusive to Tidal, Beyonce’s new Lemonade album is now available to buy on iTunes. Jay-Z’s streaming music service had been touting itself as an exclusive location to listen to Beyonce’s latest album. While Tidal maintains exclusive streaming rights, the album is now being freely sold for download elsewhere.
Tidal has attempted similar stunts in the past, with Kanye West famously stating his album ‘The Life of Pablo’ would never be on Apple Music and would be exclusive to Tidal. However, a track from the album soon showed up on Apple’s services a few weeks later. There is currently a class action lawsuit forming around the false claims of exclusivity.
I love the concept of streaming music around the home. There are a lot of great wireless Bluetooth speakers for wireless music on the move, but it’s still unclear what to choose for a static home environment. Apple’s answer is AirPlay, but it has flaws: no multi-room support from iOS devices, limited adoption by speaker manufacturers, and spotty reliability at best.
I’ve been trying an AirPlay alternative, called Play-Fi, which is a competing industry technology for home Wi-Fi music streaming from DTS. Specifically, I tested the Definitive W7 wireless speaker which integrates Play-Fi. Read on for my review ….
Siri for Mac with OS X 10.12, iTunes and App Store redesigns, improved iCloud encryption, and original programming for the Apple TV. These are just a few of the projects Apple has reportedly been working on and they are also likely candidates for stage time at its upcoming WWDC press event and developer conference. Add in the last of the Macs that are due for updates and the usual dose of new developer tools, and we already have a lot to look forward to at WWDC slated for June 13-17.
Below we take a look at the latest rumors and reports for all of the expected product updates and new features in the cards for the event.
Continuing its Earth Day efforts, Apple today has shared a collection of new playlists on Apple Music that the company says provides the “perfect soundtrack for Earth day – and beyond.” The collection consists of five different playlists containing a wide array of artists.
Since Apple Music was officially announced, Apple has had a deep partnership with rapper Drake, even bringing him on stage last year at WWDC to discuss Connect. Drake and Apple reportedly inked a $19 million deal to have the rapper host a show on Beats 1 among other things, and now, BuzzFeed News reports that Drake’s highly anticipated new album “Views From The 6” will be an Apple Music exclusive when released on April 29th…but only for a week.