Digital

Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated West Side Story will makes its streaming debut on Disney+ in the U.S. and most international countries on March 2, the streamer announced today. In addition, an ABC one-hour special called Something’s Coming: West Side Story – A Special Edition of 20/20 is available to stream on Disney+ now.

The numbers still pale in comparison with print’s heyday, but the increase is giving some publishers an unusual feeling: hope.

Amid the rising popularity of NFL games this season, one industry estimate predicts the Super Bowl’s live TV viewership will return to growth — rising between 110 million and 117 million viewers, according to PredictHQ, a marketing “demand forecasting” company. At 117 million viewers, that would be 20% higher than last year’s results, which pulled in 97.3 million viewers when totaling linear TV and streaming TV results, according to Nielsen.

The streaming weather service adds YouTube TV, Amazon News, The Roku Channel, fuboTV and Xumo as distribution partners. The service will simulcast select hours on Fox Television Station duopolies and full time on diginets across the country.

The tech billionaire, who has been on the board of the company formerly known as Facebook since 2005, is backing numerous politicians in the midterm elections.

Netflix is no longer the online video titan it once was and, based on its current trajectory, is likely to lose the so-called streaming wars.. That’s according to a Needham & Co. analyst report published on Monday that’s skeptical of the company’s chances to fend off rivals like Disney, Apple, Peacock and Paramount. The analyst note, based on a survey of 504 U.S.-based Netflix subscribers, revealed the biggest challenges.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for an account executive, two news producers, a digital reporter, a photojournalist and an assistant director of instructional technology.

The Chicago Cubs are in talks with Sinclair Broadcast Group to launch a streaming service for customers without a cable or satellite-TV subscription — despite pushback from Major League Baseball on the idea. In a deal that insiders say could have league-wide implications, the Cubs and Sinclair are angling to launch the new service following a tough round of negotiations with Comcast more than a year ago that resulted in capping monthly fees for the Marquee Sports Network, the broadcaster of local Cubs games, according to sources close to the situation.

With Frontliners TV and four other connected TV networks, PiZetta Media has built a stable of programming focused on “first-person stories of everyday heroism” from nurses, firefighters, police officers and soldiers. All five are available as free advertiser supported connected TV channels, with an eye toward expanded distribution powered by NextGen TV.

News Corp. suffered a “persistent cyberattack” in January, the company said Friday, and investigators believe Chinese spies may be responsible. The media conglomerate, whose publications include the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, said the hack targeted one of its IT providers and that the attackers succeeded in stealing some unspecified data.

Snap Inc. reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the full year, saying that it exceeded guidance across revenue, daily active users and adjusted EBIDTA, and it posted its first quarter of positive net income ($23 million) and its first full year of positive free cash flow ($223 million).

There’s a wealth of provocative and creative Black-focused programs in February, looking deep into the past to examine topics such as the roots of slavery and the achievements of towering figures including Frederick Douglass. The post-George Floyd onset of racial reckoning and the subsequent backlash have coincided with the growth of streaming and its voracious need for content, a two-fold incentive for TV to pay heed to the sweep and nuance of Black experience.

Verizon next week will begin extending its Disney Bundle streaming promotion beyond wireless to home internet subscribers. Starting Feb. 11, new Verizon Fios and new 5G Home Internet customers will get the Disney Bundle — which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu priced at $13.99 per month — for up to 12 months free.

Amazon is hiking the price of Prime memberships in the U.S., with the annual fee jumping from $119 to $139 — its first increase in nearly four years. In addition, the monthly fee for Prime is rising from $12.99 to $14.99. Amazon last raised the price of Prime in 2018. For new Prime members, the latest price change will go into effect Feb. 18,. For current Prime members, the new prices will apply after March 25, on the date of their next renewal.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Marcus Riley, senior director of content strategy and inclusive journalism at E.W. Scripps, about what inclusivity looks like on a newscast and how newsrooms can begin addressing it right from a story pitch.

The company reported a profit of $14.32 billion, or $27.75 per share, for the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2021. That compared with a profit of $7.22 billion, or $14.09 per share, during the year-ago period. Revenue rose 9% to $137.41 billion, the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of revenue topping $100 billion.

Katie Nolan, the sportscaster who has made a name for herself in the world of digital content, is taking her talents to NBC Sports. Nolan is joining the NBC Olympics team, and is expected to create daily short-form content, which will be distributed across both traditional and digital platforms.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said it earned $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the final three months of 2021. That’s down 8% from $11.22 billion, or $3.88 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to 20% to $33.67 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $33.36 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

SkyShowtime, the joint streaming venture between Comcast and ViacomCBS, has received full regulatory approval. It will launch in Europe later this year. SkyShowtime’s CEO Monty Sarhan, who was put in charge of the project last month, will lead the rollout.