streaming

The messy legal battle over Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich docuseries has now gotten down and dirty. In a flurry of filings Monday, the streamer, director-showrunner Lisa Bryant, executive producer Joe Berlinger, and producers RadicalMedia and Leroy & Morton Productions all denied Alan Dershowitz’s claims of defamation and more made in May this year when he said he was hoodwinked into appearing in the high-profile series in 2019.

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.

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.

NBCU News Group said it plans to hire 200 people over the next few months as it adds several new hours of live, original programming for NBC News Now, its over-the-top streaming service. NBCU News Group said the additional headcount is on top of more than 70 new hires of late. The expansion plans include doubling the size of the Today newsroom, growing NBC News’ breaking news and beat reporting team, expanding the MSNBC digital footprint and investing in ecommerce initiatives and CNBC Pro.

The new programming  includes WBTS’ Restaurants Remade, a streaming series about New England restaurants’ re-imagining their business models to adapt to challenges brought on by the pandemic; WBTS’ all new live and local lifestyle show The Hub Today, and WNEU’s fundraising special Milagros para Ninos (Miracles for Kids) for station partner Boston Children’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, comedy exec Robert Prinz has exited the streaming giant following a nearly four-year run.

Peacock on Monday announced that it has ordered Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, a five-episode limited series spinoff of the venerable NBC sudser. Days alum-turned-Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna is set to headline the offshoot, reprising her role as Billie Reed. She will appear opposite Days vets Deidre Hall (Marlena), Drake Hogestyn (John) and James Reynolds (Abe). Other current Days cast members taking part in the spinoff are Jackée Harry (Paulina), Victoria Konefal (Ciara) Robert Scott Wilson (Ben), Billy Flynn (Chad), Lamon Archey (Eli) and Sal Stowers (Lani).

Although NBA Finals viewing was up from a year ago, it was down big time from 2019 — registering the fourth-least-watched NBA Finals ever, according to Nielsen data. The silver lining is that streaming data showed continued growth.

NBCUniversal set some strong streaming numbers for the opening Saturday of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first Olympic games since the launch of the company’s streamer Peacock. NBC reported Sunday total audience delivery (a metric of total views from linear broadcast, cable channels, mobile, tablets and connected TVs) rose 26% from the Opening Ceremony the night before and garnered an 8.2 household rating across NBC, USA Network, NBCSN and CNBC, per Nielsen.

Local TV streaming service Locast said it has launched in its 35th market, Pittsburgh (DMA 26). The geofenced service will also include Morgantown, W.Va., with is lineup of 40-plus TV station channels.

HBO and its streaming service, HBO Max, have attracted 67.5 million customers, and the company expects to reach 73 million by year end. The release of made-for-the-big-screen spectacles like Godzilla vs. Kong on HBO Max helped to increase the service’s customer rolls.

The canceled NBC series again ranks No. 1 in Nielsen’s metric for the week of June 21-27. For the second week in a row, the first two seasons of Manifest recorded more than 2 billion minutes of watch time on Netflix — marking some of the highest tallies for an acquired show since Nielsen began releasing weekly rankings 10 months ago.

HBO and HBO Max added 2.8 million subscribers in the second quarter, reaching 47 million in the U.S. and helping parent AT&T beat Wall Street forecasts. Total AT&T revenue of $44 billion rose almost 8% from the year-earlier period and topped analysts’ consensus estimate of $42.6 billion. Earnings per share went up 7% to 89 cents, well ahead of analysts’ outlook of 79 cents.

A new survey by Penthera found that lengthy buffering and repetitive commercials can result in viewers abandoning programming, behavior that hurts streaming platforms and advertisers. More viewers are turning to downloading as a way to get better performance when watching videos. Penthera’s fourth annual survey of streaming video viewers in the U.S. found that in 2021, the average adult will spend 2 hours and 29 minutes watching digital video, an increase of 6%. At the same time, a higher percentage of viewers report experiencing frustrations when they stream— 92% versus 2020.

New data shows Netflix, long the king of streaming, is losing attention as subscribers shift to competitors like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Above, Disney got a boost in attention to its streaming service from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a series based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Just weeks after NBC canceled the sci-fi drama after three seasons, TVLine confirms that the network has restarted talks with Warner Bros. Television about a possible Season 4. As an added twist, Deadline reports that Netflix is also taking part in the renewal talks, signaling a possible mutually beneficial arrangement between NBC and the streamer.