Week In Review: Google Gears Up For Streaming Wars, Amazon Integrates vMVPDs
The one where we look at how Google is once again going over the wall and into the fray against Amazon and Roku and then look at Amazon’s linear play. Read More
Conference-Only College Football Season Could Have Numerous TV Effects
As college football conferences start trimming schedules for fall, it has major effects for both the schools and television partners alike. Read More
Subscription Video Services Hitting The Churn Zone At Crucial Time
Subscription-video churn rates jumped in the first quarter as locked-down consumers tried new services and cancelled others, a Parks Associates study found. For newcomer services, it’ll be a big challenge to attract and retain customers. Read More
Apple Still Loves Its TV+ Streaming Service, We Think
Apple’s WWDC mostly focused on “historic” shift to its own chips for Mac computers, but still found time to talk about a sci-fi show coming on TV+. That’s good news. Read More
Q&A: Paket Media’s Raffi Bagdasarian on Simplifying Streaming Video’s Sign-In Chaos
Entertainment executive Raffi Bagdasarian talks about how Paket Media aims to solve the emerging headaches of streaming video: finding, signing into, and paying for our proliferating portfolio of subscription channels. Read More
Apple Reportedly Buying Up Shows To Flesh Out Anorexic TV+ Lineup
Apple is reportedly looking for more library content to beef up the underfed group of shows its TV+ subscription-video service offers. Hollywood may be in for another big change. Read More
Grading The Streaming Services Amid Pandemic’s Transformed Market
Hollywood is facing epochal change, and streaming services are set to take advantage. But which ones have done best in an extraordinary time. Our mid-term grades on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, et al. Read More
BMW’s Expands Esports Involvement With Five Team Deals
BMW is roaring into sports in a bigger way, significantly expanding its sponsorships with five deals involving esports teams in five countries. Read More
Disney+ Continues Hot Streak Overseas, Passes 50M Subscribers
Disney had welcome good news to crow about: its new streaming service Disney+ passed 50 million subscribers in just five months. Read More
The REVisionists: Brent Weinstein, UTA’s Chief Innovation Officer, On Hollywood In The Pandemic
A Q&A with Brent Weinstein is Chief Innovation Officer for UTA, one of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, about how the entertainment industry is being reshaped amid COVID-19. Read More
FuboTV Banks On Facebank Merger Amid Skinny Bundle Challenges
Skinny bundle video service FuboTV merges with tech developer Facebank Group, and plans to go public as soon as possible, even as its live sports programming is hobbled by COVID-19 impacts. Read More
ViacomCBS’ VidCon Cancels
The biggest annual event in social media, the giant VidCon gathering in Anaheim, Calif., has been cancelled because of COVID-19. Organizers hope to create a replacement in the fall. Read More
Could Drooping Disney, Other Media Companies Be Takeover Targets Amid Pandemic?
Collapsing share prices for Disney and other media companies could be an acquisition opportunity for Apple or other deep-pocketed tech firms, an analyst suggested. Read More
The Revisionists: Vizio’s Katherine Pond On Connected TVs And The Fight For Audience Attention
Katherine Pond is VP of business development for Vizio. As such, she presides over some of the most valuable real estate in streaming video: prime spots on a major Connected TV platform. Read More
Quibi Nabs $750 Million More, Names News Programs Ahead of Launch
Mobile video startup Quibi is having a good week, one month before its launch: it said it has raised another $750 million, and detailed news shows made for it by BBC, NBC and Telemundo. Read More
AT&T TV Service Feels Like Cable’s Bad Old, Good Old Days
AT&T TV launched nationwide today, a successor to the collapsing DirecTV. But for all its modern features, it feels like a throwback to cable TV’s bad old days. Read More
Apple Mostly Mum On TV+ Amid Record Q1 But Good News Comes From Others
Apple executives said little about TV+ amid record overall results, but outside analysts suggest its streaming service is getting some traction from viewers. Read More
The Hits Keep Comin’: New Scripted Series Have Doubled In A Decade
Peak TV keeps hitting new peaks, up 7 percent in 2019 to a record 532 scripted shows. And don’t expect it to stop anytime soon, executives say. Read More
Analysts Love Disney+ Fast Start, But Warn Churn Can Still Burn
Disney stock jumped after two analysts estimated Disney+ subscriber numbers were outperforming projections. But churn remains a concern as Disney rolls out new shows. Read More
Netflix’s The Witcher Casts Spell With Audiences In First Week
Netflix’s fantasy drama The Witcher is beating even Baby Yoda as a breakout hit in its first week of release, surpassing Disney+ pacesetter The Mandalorian in terms of audience interest Read More
SEC Football Rights Deal Shows Limits Of Disney-Fox, ViacomCBS Mergers
Disney bet big to grab rights to SEC football games from CBS. It’s a sign of value of live sports rights, but also of the results of two giant Hollywood mergers. Read More