OTT

The cable network’s new streaming channel debuts Tuesday. It offers commentary programs, specialty shows and documentaries that feature familiar personalities including Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, Laura Ingraham, Dana Perino and Britt McHenry as well as pro wrestler Tyrus. The one element of Fox News that Fox Nation won’t have is live news — at least not yet.

WarnerMedia’s library of 7,000 films and 5,000 shows may not alone be enough to face off against a streaming giant that is spending up to $13 billion annually, so an NBCUniversal team-up could make sense.

Amazon’s streaming simulcast of NFL Thursday Night Football games may not be drawing TV-like numbers, but the tech giant appears encouraged by results to date. For the seven games Amazon has streamed so far this season, total combined viewership is up 22% to 14.7 million viewers, compared to the same number of games last season, while the average minute audience is up 36% to 455,000.

When Disney finally closes its deal to acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets early next year, the company will gain — among many things — ownership of Hulu, which has never before had just one company hold a controlling stake. But with Disney also readying the launch of its own Disney-branded streaming service next year, it will now have ownership of two competing streaming services, which begs the question: How will Disney be able to launch Disney+ while allowing Hulu to continue to grow?

At TVNewsCheck’s annual NewsTECHForum on Dec. 11 in New York, Michael Depp will moderate a discussion among four broadcast experts on how to make the most of OTT content, tech and monetization.

Veteran media and tech executive Michael J. Wolf predicts that established media brands — including The Walt Disney Co. and WarnerMedia — will be among the handful of winners in the emerging direct-to-consumer world.

Another top TV showrunner is headed to Netflix with a rich overall deal. Marti Noxon has signed a multi-year overall pact with the streaming giant to exclusively produce new series programming through her Tiny Pyro production banner. Additionally, Netflix will have a first-look option on Noxon’s feature projects.

Since 2014, Netflix has improved each year, as live TV declined each year. Some 56% of respondents said they watched their favorite shows online, reports a Hub study.

Discovery and ABC both rely on the cloud — one public, one private — to deliver their cable networks. Now broadcasters are looking at how the cloud can benefit not just distribution but also production, whether that means live news or sports coverage or post-production applications like editing.

CBS’s digital streaming service CBS All Access is a unique creature, a product of the country’s most old-school — and old-skewing — broadcaster, trying to beat Netflix at its own game. Launched in 2014 but ramping up its original programming in recent months, All Access seeks to walk a slippery line between mainstream network and premium-subscription television.

Mitch Singer: “Samsung, LG and Sony — the biggest TV manufacturers — have recently joined Fox, NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations Group and a growing list of other leading broadcasters in voicing their commitment to ATSC 3.0, which powers next-gen TV.”

Entertainment Tonight is going OTT with the launch Wednesday of ET Live, a 24/7 live streaming app. The service will take advantage of Entertainment Tonight’s deep roots in entertainment over nearly 40 years of reporting to offer entertainment news to a new generation of viewers, said Becky Brooks, SVP of multiplatform programming for CBS Television Distribution.

Producers Sony Pictures Television are making the most (financially) out of Jeopardy. Netflix announced Monday that it has acquired 45 library episodes of the Alex Trebek-hosted quiz show, which will be available to stream for the first time on the service starting Tuesday. The announcement follows an August deal that Sony Pictures TV made with Hulu for 60 episodes of the syndicated game show.

ABC’s SVP and head of comedy Jamila Hunter is leaving the network after seven years. She is joining Kenya Barris’ Khalabo Ink Society, to run the company under its rich Netflix overall deal aimed at developing new comedy series.

Fox News said today it will debut the new on-demand subscription-based service Fox Nation on Tuesday, Nov. 27. The service will be priced at $5.99 a month or $64.99 per […]

Sling TV, DirecTV Now and other streaming TV services will continue their current growth trend over the next few years and expand their share of the pay TV market. That’s according to UBS analyst John Hodulik, who said that despite recent price increases, virtual MVPDs will account for about 25% of the video market by 2022.

Chris Castallo will oversee unscripted TV development and executive produce series including Eco-Challenge and the streamer’s Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn series.

Netflix said Monday it is tacking on an additional $2 billion in debt so it can continue to make original shows and movies and license content from others as it faces mounting competition from other streamers, including services expected next year from Disney and WarnerMedia.

Discovery’s $2 billion swing at the international golf market is taking shape, with its upcoming streaming service to be branded “GolfTV.” The OTT service will launch around the world at the beginning of 2019 and have live PGA Tour coverage in a raft of territories at launch. More territories will get the live coverage in the next four years as existing rights deals play out.