Major League Baseball has rolled out a standalone streaming option of MLB Network for $5.99 per month without requiring a pay-TV subscription. The direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service is currently available to baseball fans in the U.S. without the need for cable, satellite or Internet TV. For die-hard fans, the MLB Network + At Bat bundle — available for $6.99 per month — also includes live game audio for all MLB teams through MLB At Bat, live Minor League Baseball games, and access to highlights and live look-ins via MLB Big Inning. Current MLB.TV subscribers can stream MLB Network for the rest of this season at no additional cost. Continue reading MLB Network Launches $5.99 Standalone Streaming Service

Streaming rose to 40.3 percent in June, setting a record as it nudged past the previous single-category high point of 40.1, set by cable in June 2021. The percentage marks the highest share of TV ever reported in the three years since Nielsen debuted its monthly measurement report The Gauge. Google’s YouTube and Fox’s Tubi both claimed personal bests, respectively hitting 9.9 and 2.0 percent of TV viewing. Four streaming platforms achieved double-digit usage growth: Disney+ (+14.8 percent), Tubi (+14.7 percent), Netflix (+11.8 percent) and Max (+11.0 percent) — each with 20 percent or more of that growth attributable to younger viewers. Continue reading Nielsen: Streaming Reps 40 Percent Share of June TV Viewing

Netflix reported that its popular streaming service has added 8.05 million subscribers during Q2, a healthy gain from 5.89 million newcomers during the same period a year earlier. The streamer’s total of more than 277 million worldwide customers makes it by far the largest subscription service of its kind. Revenue climbed to $9.56 billion, a nearly 17 percent second quarter gain that outperformed its own projections. Subscriptions on the ad-supported tier grew 34 percent compared to Q1. Amidst upheaval in more traditional media environs, Netflix seems to be gliding along, closing Thursday with a market valuation of $277 billion. Continue reading Netflix Reports Q2 Subscriber Growth as Revenue Tops $9.5B

A federal jury in Las Vegas has convicted five men for illegal streaming operations perpetrated through a company called Jetflicks, which generated millions of dollars in subscription revenue while causing “substantial harm to television program copyright owners,” according to the Department of Justice. Jetflicks, which charged customers $9.99 per month, had a catalog that included “hundreds of thousands” of copyrighted TV episodes, larger than the combined offerings of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime, prosecutors said, explaining the outfit “used sophisticated computer scripts and software to scour pirate websites for illegal copies of television episodes.” Continue reading DOJ Scores Criminal Conviction Against Operators of Jetflicks

Nielsen will begin measuring the performance of Lionsgate‘s MovieSphere channel (available on 18 streaming platforms), making it the first major FAST service to get a deep dive regularly disseminated to clients by the analytics firm. Nielsen also collects data from Roku, Peacock, Pluto and Tubi, compiling them as part of the macro view in its monthly trends report “The Gauge.” Detailed MovieSphere data will now be collected and distributed to Nielsen’s ad buyer clients along with the material they receive for traditional networks. Lionsgate launched MovieSphere in 2020, serving-up free movies in AVOD and linear formats. Continue reading MovieSphere Is First Major FAST Channel Measured by Nielsen

ElevenLabs has launched its text-to-sound generator Sound Effects for all users, available now at the company’s website. The new AI tool can create audio effects, short instrumental tracks, soundscapes and even character voices. Sound Effects “has been designed to help creators — including film and television studios, video game developers, and social media content creators — generate rich and immersive soundscapes quickly, affordably and at scale,” according to the startup, which developed the tool in partnership with Shutterstock, using its library of licensed audio tracks. Continue reading ElevenLabs Launches an AI Tool for Generating Sound Effects

A year after its announcement, Fable is launching Showrunner, a platform that lets anyone make TV-style animated content by writing prompts that are turned into shows by generative AI. The San Francisco company run by CEO Edward Saatchi with recruits from Oculus, Pixar and various AI startups is launching 10 shows that let users make their own episodes “from their couch,” waiting only minutes to see the finished result, according to Saatchi, who says a 15-word prompt is enough to generate 10- to 20-minute episodes. Saatchi is hoping Fable’s shows can garner an audience by self-publishing on Amazon Prime. Continue reading Fable Launches Showrunner Animated Episodic TV Generator

Netflix is launching its own ad server, bringing control of the advertising experience of its 270 million subscribers in-house. The company will use its new ad tech to create personalized ads that can be highly targetable, Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard said onstage at the upfronts, providing brands with new ways to buy and to slice and dice consumer data. The deployment puts Netflix in the mix with other industry heavyweights like Google, Amazon and Comcast, which also operate their own ad servers. The move comes 18 months after Netflix entered the advertising business in partnership with Microsoft. Continue reading Netflix Takes Advertising In-House with Launch of Ad Server

Comcast broadband and TV customers will be able to subscribe to a streaming bundle that includes Netflix, Apple TV+ and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts announced this week at the 2024 MoffettNathanson Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York. The package, called StreamSaver, will “come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today,” Roberts said, though he did not share pricing. Roberts’ plan comes a week after Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled plans to bundle Max, Disney+ and Hulu starting this summer, with pricing to be announced. Continue reading Comcast StreamSaver to Bundle Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV+

Walmart’s update on the Onn streaming device, the Onn 4K Pro, offers several improvements, including more storage and RAM, additional ports and always-on microphones ready for Google Assistant voice commands for the Google TV device. It also offers Dolby Atmos as well as smart hub capabilities like hands-free voice control and compatibility with Google Home devices, Walmart says. Priced at $49.88, the Onn 4K Pro will be “available this month,” although it appears to have already made it onto retail shelves at some Walmart locations, as per an early unboxing video post. Continue reading Walmart Takes on Chromecast with Its 4K Google TV Streamer

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that a new triple-play streaming bundle that includes popular services Disney+, Hulu and Max will launch this summer in the U.S. with both ad-supported and ad-free plans. “On the heels of the very successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will offer subscribers even more choice and value,” said Joe Earley, president of direct to consumer for Disney Entertainment. While no specific pricing has been revealed, the release promises that “additional details regarding the bundle offer will be shared in the coming months.” Continue reading Disney+, Hulu, Max: Streaming Bundle Coming This Summer

Roku grew streaming households to 81.6 million globally in Q1, a 14 percent gain year-over-year, according to the company. Revenue was up 19 percent to $881.5 million. Streaming hours were up 23 percent to 30.8 billion, but guidance that rival ad-supported streaming platforms could hinder further growth this year dinged the strong quarterly results, sending shares down 3 percent in after hour trading last week. Claiming a position as “the No. 1 selling TV OS in the U.S. and Mexico,” Roku said the Roku Channel was No. 3 on the platform “by both reach and engagement.” Continue reading Roku Earnings Outperform Street Estimates Despite Headwinds

Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is preparing to launch a streaming video app for smart TVs. Though still in development, with no formal launch date announced, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a “sneak peek” that indicates the app will have a “trending” algorithm that pushes popular content and will be AI-powered to deliver a “personalized experience.” Yaccarino said the X video app will also have “effortless casting” so content can be easily sent to a larger screen from a mobile device. Availability is billed as “coming soon to most smart TVs.” Continue reading Yaccarino Says X Streaming Video App for TVs ‘Coming Soon’

The Comcast NOW suite of low-cost prepaid Wi-Fi and streaming TV service is gaining Internet and mobile products that consumers can purchase month-to-month. NOW Mobile proffers unlimited 5G data, talk and text, with access to more than 23 million Wi-Fi hotspots, for $25 per line. NOW Internet offers “more reliability than fixed wireless options” starting at $30 per month for 100 Mbps, or $45 per month for 200 Mbps. Each tier includes unlimited data and an Xfinity 5G gateway. The packages join NOW TV and NOW WiFi Pass in Comcast’s prepaid portfolio. Continue reading Comcast Offers Prepaid Month-to-Month Phone and Internet

Sony’s new line of Bravia televisions focuses on MiniLED display tech with the high-end Bravia 9. There is also the OLED-based Bravia 8, and the company is keeping 2023’s A95L QD-OLED in the mix. But the spotlight is in the LED backlighting system that Sony has spent several years refining, XR Backlight Master Drive, which can assert precise control over each pixel. Sony says the technology is comparable to the underpinnings of its professional mastering monitors. The XR Backlight Master Drive system allocates LED resources using purpose-built silicon created by Sony for its MiniLED TVs. Continue reading Sony Rolls Out Brighter, Better-Sounding Bravia TVs for 2024