streaming

The Mandalorian has made its return to Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings. Through the Feb 27-March 5 viewing window, during which Season 3 premiered and was available for five days, the Star Wars series starring Pedro Pascal was watched for 826 million minutes. It followed directly behind NCIS, which often makes the streaming chart, though usually not in such a high position. The boost came from the fact that Nielsen has now added Paramount+ to the list of streaming services it measures.

Blake Sabatinelli, CEO of Atmosphere TV, explains how to make good TV deliberately for background consumption, and how his company has turned its network of FAST channels into a lucrative business at bars, restaurants and other venues. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Roku said it will eliminate 200 employees, or about 6% of the company’s workforce as part of a new restructuring plan. The restructuring will result in a nonrecurring charge of $30 million-$35 million, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it will stop using and sublease some of its office facilities.

The Better Business Bureau is warning of a scam involving popular streaming devices, such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV sticks, and services like Netflix and YouTube TV. The BBB said it has received an influx of reports regarding scammers targeting victims through pop-ups on their smart TVs.

The regional sports network home of the Yankees and Nets can now be streamed for as little as $16.66 a month without a pay TV subscription.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for Season 3 while Star Trek: Lower Decks has been renewed for Season 5 at Paramount+. The new seasons of both shows will consist of 10 episodes. In addition, Season 2 of Strange New Worlds and Season 4 of Lower Decks will both debut this summer.

New survey data from Parks Associates shows that subscription video services are nearly ubiquitous in U.S. homes, with 87% of U.S. internet households having at least one OTT subscription service, and that password sharing is also widespread, with 40% of homes sharing login credentials.

The Night Agent snuck its way to the top of Netflix’s English-language TV charts for the week of March 20. The series, created by Shawn Ryan and based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, debuted on March 23, raking in 168.7 million hours viewed in its first few days on the streamer. According to Netflix, that is the third-best premiere week of viewing across Season 1 TV for any Netflix Original. It also appeared in the Top 10 in 93 countries.

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s NewsON free streaming service said it added Capitol Broadcasting’s new streaming channel WRAL News Plus to NewsON’s channel lineup. WRAL news content is also available on the VUit and Local Now streaming news platforms.

More changes at Paramount+: Tanya Giles, the streaming platform’s chief programming officer, is leaving after a combined 28 years at Paramount Global and its various iterations. A rep for Paramount+ confirmed Giles’ departure to Deadline, declining further comment. There is no immediate replacement, and Giles’ decision to step down is not part of a restructuring, sources said.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced a proposal to change its rules to include a provision that would make it easier for consumers to cancel recurring subscription services. And while streaming services clearly fall into that category, one analyst doesn’t anticipate a rule change would have much impact on major SVODs. The main reason, TVREV’s Alan Wolk said, is that SVODs already make it fairly easy to cancel.

Apple plans to spend $1 billion a year to produce movies that will be released in theaters, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, part of an ambitious effort to raise its profile in Hollywood and lure subscribers to its streaming service. Apple has approached movie studios about partnering to release a few titles in theaters this year and a slate of more films in the future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The list of potential releases includes Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio; the spy thriller Argylle, from director Matthew Vaughn; and Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s drama about the French conqueror. A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment.

With the integration of the DTC service, Fubo is aggressively marketing its virtual pay TV service as the destination for live baseball ahead of Opening Day.

Amazon may be laying off thousands of employees, but it’s still selling a ton of stuff — including streaming devices and connected TVs. The company said sales of Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs have now surpassed 200 million units to date. Amazon, which doles out such stats selectively, previously announced a milestone of 150 million Fire TV devices sold in January 2022.

Apple TV+ will begin its second season of “Friday Night Baseball” on April 7. It will carry twin bills over 25 weeks with no local blackout restrictions. In a change from last year, when there were doubleheaders on the East and West coasts, both games will be going on simultaneously most weeks.

Samsung TV Plus users can now stream local Spanish-language news through Noticias Telemundo California and Noticias Telemundo Florida, with Noticias Telemundo Noreste and Noticias Telemundo Texas set to join in April.

Netflix is spending big on a coming science-fiction movie from the filmmaking team behind Avengers: Endgame, underscoring the company’s willingness to invest heavily in projects it thinks can be turned into major franchises. The price tag for The Electric State — featuring A-list talent including Chris Pratt of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown—is likely to be in the high $200 million range, people familiar with the matter say.

Streaming has transformed how and what we watch. Here’s how streamers and advertisers are fighting for a piece of the action.

Amazon plans to lay off 9,000 corporate and tech workers by the end of April, adding to the 18,000 roles it already cut late last year and this January, Andy Jassy, the company’s chief executive, said in a note to employees on Monday.

Following the departure of Tyra Banks, Dancing With the Stars has found a new co-host — one who’s likely familiar to viewers of the show. Julianne Hough, a former pro dancer and judge on the long-running competition series, is rejoining DWTS as a host for its 32nd season. She’ll co-host the Disney+ show alongside Alfonso Ribeiro.