Digital

AT&T has completed the spinoff of DirecTV into a new entity part-owned by private equity firm TPG, capping a costly six-year adventure in the satellite TV business. The new entity, whose financials will no longer be included on the AT&T balance sheet, unveiled new branding and a new home for its internet-delivered TV packages. Later this month, DirecTV Stream will become the umbrella for streaming offerings like the one formerly known as AT&T TV Now (originally DirecTV Now).

Competing economic incentives are leading NBCUniversal, Disney and WarnerMedia to make difficult decisions about how to program their streaming services. The tension between how to balance streaming video, theatrical release and linear TV is leading to some peculiar choices bound to confuse consumers in what’s becoming an increasingly jumbled landscape.

“He’s our future,” one CBS Studios executive said of Alex Kurtzman, who has a lucrative contract to expand the Star Trek universe — and with it the streaming service’s audience.

Thanks to searingly modern platforms like Twitch and Pluto TV, the late painter and public TV personality Bob Ross has become a mainstay of the digital universe — particularly during the pandemic, when the popularity of a new Bob Ross channel skyrocketed as people trapped at home turned to their televisions for therapy. Ross provides a reductio ad absurdum for a quiet digital-age truth: A sprinkling of coveted intellectual property can allow a shrewd company to punch well above its weight.

The appointments come as the Spanish-language service prepares to launch a two-tier streaming service upon the close of the Televisa-Univision merger.

Manifest‘s big run on Netflix continued in the week of June 28-July 4, as the canceled NBC series again topped the overall streaming rankings from Nielsen. Loki also rebounded in its fourth week, claiming the No. 1 spot among original streaming shows.

The film star says the decision to release the film simultaneously on Disney Plus and in theaters cost her $50 million.

NBCUniversal has a growing and somewhat serious early makegoods issue for the Olympics — due to underdelivery of expected viewers, now five days in for the event. The company believes streaming and digital inventory time can lessen the blow. But with viewing numbers down around 35% to 40% or more versus the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the near term doesn’t look good — especially on the linear TV side of things, according to media-buying executives.

HBO Max, Roku, Sinclair, Tubi, Univision, ViacomCBS streaming among companies already confirmed to speak at the third annual NATPE Streaming Plus in L.A. on Sept. 14.

It will feature 24 hours of continuous daily programming, dedicated to all things weather, including extreme and natural events, global forecasts, climate and weather-related long- and short-form documentaries from across the U.S. and around the world.

After a failed reboot attempt two years ago, the site that helped set the tone for digital journalism is back.

Revenue jumped 56% to $28.58 billion from $18.32 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $3.04 per share and revenue of $24.85 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

A federal judge eviscerated arguments by more than 40 state attorneys general that Facebook had a monopoly.

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan took aim at big technology companies in her first appearance before Congress as the agency’s head, saying online digital platforms are partly to blame for a surge in fraud reported by Americans during the pandemic. “Fraud has continued to surge,“ Khan said Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. ”One reason is that fraud today is supercharged by digital platforms where this conduct is tolerated and even promoted.”