Niche streaming services can find a way to survive amid ever-expanding competition, but they need to be smart about it, a panel of industry analysts said this week. It won’t be easy, but maybe even more challenging for the biggest streaming companies.

As the writer and actor strikes grind on, the industry they’re working for continues to shift dramatically toward streaming, as shown by a string of new studies. By the time strikers return, the industry could be radically different.

DIsney’s ESPN deal with gambling company Penn Entertainment marks a big change in strategy that likely will be copied across Hollywood. . But this deal won’t be enough to fix what ails Disney or ESPN, so expect more tie-ups to come.

Disney is considering a new Amazon Prime-style subscription that would tie together its streaming video operations with its many other products, experiences, and services. Makes sense. But what took so long?

Building a sustainable streaming-video company is a complicated business. Four executives from Vizio, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Amagi, and TelevisaUnivisiion talked best practices and lessons learned as part of a recent event designed to help Latin American startups navigate the challenges of the streaming video industry. Among other tips: take care of your distribution partners, and get clear on which data matters to your business, especially for targeting ads and program suggestions.

It’s easy for TV shows to effectively disappear algorithms after a year or two on a streaming service. While media companies try to develop options for ‘lost’ shows, maybe it’s time to stop buying shows forever.

Paramount Global has seen five analysts downgrade the company’s shares in the past few weeks, despite generating $1 billion in revenue last quarter amid continuing strong subscriber growth for Paramount+. Are the analysts right to be gloomy amid a looming recession? Or are they overlooking something?

Disney CEO Bob Chapek got his contract extension, but Florida board meetings came as questions rise about whether his Disney+ streaming strategies are hurting box office for Lightyear and other big animated projects in the company’s pipeline.

Market fragmentation and confusion may lead to new opportunities to re-aggregate broadband, legacy TV, OTT apps, gaming and more, PwC says in a new report. That could pave the way for a cable comeback if it can solve consumer problems with billing, search and more.

Disney got out of the business of streaming Indian Premiere League games this weekend. Now when will it acknowledge how much more difficult it will be to reach its ambitious global goals for streaming subscribers? And will investors care at this point?

Apple has a chance to create a formidable partnership with the NFL to stream games on both mobile and connected TVs, plus buy a stake in NFL Media. If the company can pull it off, it could transform the streaming business.

After a bad quarter, Netflix is tearing up seemingly every crucial differentiator in how it operates compared to the rest of the streaming industry. Will the changes make it stronger and more profitable, or just like everyone else in the crowded streaming-video industry?

Netflix’s disastrous week is almost certainly an occasion for other media companies to reconsider their online strategies. Should they plow ahead, betting everything on the streaming future, or slow down and sustain their legacy broadcast and cable operations as long as possible?

As the Motion Picture Academy starts to embracing streamed Oscar winners, maybe it’s time to embrace a streamed Oscar ceremony. The possibilities for an online awards show are vast, from prop bets, to behind-the-scenes conversations, to actually showing all those banished awards categories live.

As the Streaming Wars enter a complex new phase, the ways services market to and engage with consumers need to evolve. A new Cheetah Digital/Econsultancy study of 5,400 consumers in six countries suggests some ways forward, with old-school tactics and a deep attention to privacy crucial.

Verizon’s just-announced PlusPlay will aggregate easy a la carte access not just to streaming-video networks but a variety of other subscription service providers, potentially a big deal for a fractured industry and frustrated customers, while dealing another blow to the battered cable bundle.