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17% of U.S. internet users viewed one or more AVOD services in the past month,  vs. just 13% in the third quarter of 2019, according to a survey conducted by UK research firm Ampere Analysis. The research company says Tubi, recently purchased by Fox for $440 million, is leading the usage surge, based in large part by its extra-large content library, which features more than 29,000 movies and TV show episodes.

Comcast’s Peacock added more new subscribers than any other streaming VOD services during the third quarter, according to Kantar. Kantar also found that more consumers who added one service were canceling another. Kantar called this subscription switching, and said 10% of new subscriptions were the result of switching, up from 9% in the second quarter.

The Walt Disney Co.’s Monday announcement that it was undertaking a major reorganization of its film and television teams with a goal of bolstering its streaming services was a hit with investors.  Shares of the entertainment giant rose on the news that the company would refocus its operations to produce movies and shows and decide at a later date if they would debut on the big screen, cable or streaming arms Hulu and Disney Plus. But internally, employees across the board were left puzzled by both the timing and contents of the announcement.

The company is creating three content arms, one each for sports, general entertainment and its studios, which have famous brands including Star Wars and Marvel. Their primary focus will be on making shows and movies for streaming services, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement. Meanwhile, a new distribution group will centralize how the content is sold and oversee streaming operations.

Since August, Anderson Cooper has been producing his Full Circle program thrice weekly via smartphones in his Hudson Yards office. The remote production was “quick, simple and cheap,” says CNN’s Jason Holterhaus, and signals that CNN is starting to take its digital-only shows as seriously as its linear broadcast.

With 13 weeks left in the season, DirecTV has lowered the price of the streaming NFL Sunday Ticket to $220.47 for the basic plan and $281.97 for the Max package. That’s a 25% decrease for the basic plan and a 29.5% drop for Max.

Channing Dungey has stepped down as VP original content and head of drama at Netflix after 20 months at the company to pursue another opportunity. Her last day is today (Oct. 9). While that opportunity has not been revealed, Dungey, the former ABC Entertainment president, is among the handful of top female TV executives rumored to succeed Susan Rovner as president of Warner Bros. TV.

The streaming service is also offering live news from NewsNOW from Fox, Fox Soul, Bloomberg TV, NBC News Now, and PeopleTV and will add more premium content including Euronews, USA Today News, and three of the largest local station groups in the country, including Hearst Television, with two others coming soon.

The streaming service that has one half of 1% of Neflix’s subscriber base originally targeted a $150 million Wall Street haul.

For the first time ever, consumers don’t need a cable subscription to watch AMC Networks channels including AMC, BBC America, IFC and SundanceTV. AMC Networks has dramatically increased the footprint for AMC+, its expanded ad-free streaming service, which will be available today through Apple TV and Prime Video channels.

Today’s launch includes the debut of LX News, a weekday newscast targeted to Gen Z and millennials.

Google has altered its approach to TV and streaming, merging Chromecast and Android TV into a $50 Google-branded offering featuring a remote control. Chromecast with Google TV is the official new name for the setup, which marks the end of the Android TV brand name, which had been in use since 2014.

NBCU streamer Peacock is bringing a much-requested feature to its streaming service, offline downloads. users can now download their favorite shows to watch even when they are not connected to the internet. The feature is available to Premium Plus users, which is $9.99 a month, or $4.99 for Comcast or Cox subscribers.

Netflix is likely to raise subscription prices in North America or Europe soon, but it won’t likely suffer major backlash, in the view of one Wall Street analyst. Alex Giaimo of Jefferies pointed to a shift in tone between remarks from management on the first-quarter earnings call in April to the second-quarter call in July.

Advertisers are flocking to streaming TV, pursuing viewers who are spending more time watching programming on ad-supported services. But fraudsters seeking to steal some of those new ad dollars are moving in, too. Ad measurement and verification firm DoubleVerify says it detected 780 fake streaming-TV apps this year that it believes were set up by bad actors to lure spending by unsuspecting advertisers — just one of the scams in play.

TVNewsCheck presented a virtualized four-day edition of its second annual OTT News Summit in 2020, examining the pandemic’s impact on the streaming value chain and how news organizations can take advantage of new opportunities in content, technology and monetization. There were keynote interviews, panel discussions and roundtables examining streaming news content, workflow and ad technology challenges and monetization.

The streamer is set to launch all 45 seasons of the veteran sketch comedy series beginning Oct. 1. This marks one of the first times that every season of the NBC show will be available in one place to watch.