streaming

The Criterion Channel, a year-old streaming service, is a hotbed of cinephilia in the best of times. Right now, it’s about as close as you can get to actually going to the movies. Whereas other streamers supply expansive oceans of “content,” the Criterion Channel pools its movies into collections, double-bills and night-by-night selections. Algorithms aren’t welcome.

An SaaS version of MediaKind’s Aquila OTT streaming solution launches today, offering broadcasters the ability to quickly launch new or temporary program services with end-to-end technology operating in the public cloud.

The WarnerMedia streaming-video service will be made available to all of Charter’s existing HBO subscribers, the two companies said Wednesday. There will be no additional charge for the new package, but customers will have to sign in to the HBOMax app.

Lester Holt is discussing hard news with a softer touch. The NBC Nightly News anchor is leading an experimental version of NBC’s flagship newscast aimed specifically at children and teens. The first edition of Nightly News Kids Edition streamed Wednesday evening on YouTube and the show, viewed as a test within NBC News, is likely to appear at least twice per week and potentially with greater frequency.

After markets opened Wednesday, Netflix’s stock increased about 3.5% to $427.77 per share, topping its previous high of $423.21 per share, set during midday trading in June 2018. If the gains hold through the end of Wednesday, Netflix will also top its previous all-time high closing price of nearly $419 per share, set in July 2018.

Shares of Hollywood stay-at-home streaming stocks keep rising as Americans get their TV fixes online amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Locast, a free streaming app offering access to local broadcast television, is now offering a dozen local TV channels via the internet across Puerto Rico. The nonprofit said the timing of the launch should help the U.S. territory keep its citizens informed during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and the incoming summer hurricane season.

NBCUniversal makes its streaming debut with the early preview of Peacock that will be exclusive to Comcast subscribers starting Wednesday, ahead of the July nationwide rollout. But with so many people forced to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, Peacock executives suggested the service could come early.

That 1.7 million figure does not indicate how many people signed up for the app, which is offering an extended 90-day free trial. Once the trial ends, Quibi will cost $5 with advertising and $8 without advertising. CEO Meg Whitman said that the initial reaction “exceeded our plans and expectations.”

NBCUniversal said Monday that Capital One, L’Oreal, Molson Coors, Subaru and Verizon have signed up as launch sponsors for the new streaming service Peacock when it debuts this week. Peacock hits nationwide on Wednesday, April 15, free for customers of parent company Comcast, and three months later for everyone else with a price range from free to $10 a month.

A federal judge says there’s “sufficient good cause” to hear plaintiff Eko’s request for an injection on May 4 instead of June 29.

Hulu Live experienced its second major technical snafu this week Thursday night with thousands of customers again taking to social media sites to express their frustration over being unable to watch their favorite shows.

Hulu’s head of ad sales Peter Naylor has left the streaming company to take a job with Snap, where he will head up U.S. ad sales. Naylor’s departure comes as Disney is folding Hulu more into its larger operations and comes two months after Randy Freer exited as CEO. In February, Hulu promoted Kelly Campbell to president to serve as his replacement under Disney direct-to-consumer chief Kevin Mayer.

Disney announced on Wednesday that Disney Plus, its new video service, now has more than 50 million subscribers. That’s almost twice as many as Disney reported on Feb. 4, when it said in its 1Q earnings that Disney+ reached 26.5 million subs during the quarter. Shares of Disney jumped as much as 7% on the news in after-hours trading.

CNN said Tuesday that it has acquired the assets and hired the development team of Canopy, a Brooklyn- and Boston-based private firm that will help speed the development of NewsCo, an upcoming news and information platform. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Consumers are watching more streaming video and are starting to gravitate toward free services, according to a new study. According to Integral Ad Science’s second Streaming Wars survey, while 85% of consumers have access to a paid streaming service — Netflix is No. 1 — that’s up only 2 percentage points from IAS’s first survey.

Amazon.com is postponing its major summer shopping event, Prime Day, until at least August and expects a potential $100 million hit from excess devices it might now sell at a discount, according to internal meeting notes.

The party “may have to do a virtual convention,” the former vice president said Sunday. “The idea of holding the convention is going to be necessary. We may not be able to put 10, 20, 30,000 people in one place,” he told ABC’s This Week, calling an online convention “very possible.”

Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi — a snappy amalgam of “quick” and “bite” — is a mobile phone-only platform that will release its snack-sized installments of movies and TV shows each weekday. There will be seven-day-a-week dollops of news, sports and weather, gathered under the umbrella name Daily Essentials, all adding up to a mind-boggling 175-plus programs planned for this year. It launches Monday in the U.S. and Canada with a 90-day free trial and 50 programs.

As people turn to local news stations for critical updates amidst the crisis, the free streaming platform is experiencing a record number of users and sessions.

HBO is unlocking its biggest trove of free programming ever — in a goodwill gesture as people look for a diversion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WarnerMedia-owned premium cabler is making almost 500 hours of programming available to stream for free (without ads) for a limited time on HBO Now and HBO Go services without a subscription, starting today, April 3.

Certain T-Mobile customers will get a free yearlong subscription to Quibi, the companies said Thursday, in a move that should boost early users of the ambitious streaming service debuting April 6 in a crowded streaming market. Under the deal, T-Mobile customers who have two or more voice lines with T-Mobile will get a free yearlong subscription to Quibi’s ad-supported tier, which normally will cost $4.99 each month (the ad-free version is $7.99). Interested T-Mobile customers can sign up between April 2 and July 7 to get the offering added to their plan for no additional cost for the first year.

Video providers can’t fill all the ad inventory being created as people stuck at home watch more streaming content.