April 19, 2019 10:01AM PT Netflix is testing a button to play random episodes of select TV shows, the company confirmed Friday morning. “We are testing the ability for members to play a random episode from different TV series on the Android mobile app,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety. “These tests typically vary in length
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YouTube touted a record-breaking audience for its exclusive live-streaming of the first weekend of the 2019 Coachella, with views nearly doubling over last year. And the Google-owned video giant is hoping for another big turnout this weekend as it will deliver live coverage of the desert music fest’s Weekend 2 for the first time. Over
When news began to spread last week that Amazon Music’s long-anticipated free streaming tier was imminent, headlines emerged about its threat to Spotify and Apple Music, with some stories saying that Spotify’s stock price dropped in response to the news. But not only was today’s launch of the free tier basically a soft one —
April 18, 2019 12:00PM PT Amazon Music today basically soft-launched its free streaming tier, in which U.S. customers of its Alexa voice assistant will have access to top Amazon Music playlists and thousands of stations, at no cost. The limited access that the new free service provides — it’s only available through Alexa, and when
Shares of the social pinning service Pinterest closed at $24.45 — 28.6% above their IPO price — on the company’s first day at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday as investors were looking to get in on the latest tech listing. Pinterest’s shares opened at $23.75, 25% above the IPO pricing of $19 per share,
Netflix plans to open a new production and office facility in Manhattan — which will provide up to $100 million in investments to New York City and result in hundreds of new jobs, according to New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Netflix’s new corporate offices in the Big Apple will take up 100,000 square
April 18, 2019 8:45AM PT Nashville city leaders have sided against the streaming services Amazon, Spotify, Google and SiriusXM/Pandora in the appeal of the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision that would give songwriters a pay raise. The Nashville Metro Council adopted the resolution as part of its consent agenda earlier this week, although the move is
Amazon and Google have finally made peace: The two companies have agreed to bring their video services to each other’s devices in the coming months. At that point, Fire TV users will be able to access the official YouTube app, and Chromecast and Android TV users will finally be able to watch Amazon Video. The
Verizon Media, the telco’s content subsidiary formerly known as Oath, has been busy building out its network of video production facilities around the world: In the first few months of this year, Verizon Media opened or upgraded studios in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil and Australia. In addition, it also launched a
April 18, 2019 6:00AM PT Subscribers of DirecTV Now and AT&T’s U-verse TV no longer have access to the NFL Network — meaning they’ll miss the network’s coverage of the 2019 NFL draft next week. AT&T dropped NFL Network as the telco and the league continue to try to hammer out an agreement on the
Is there a “Netflix killer” looming out there that will give the No. 1 subscription-streaming leader a run for its money and throw a serious wrench into its growth trajectory? Maybe. But a more likely scenario is that new services from Disney, Apple, WarnerMedia and others will be a rising subscription VOD tide lifting Netflix’s
April 17, 2019 9:27AM PT Facebook just announced a major addition to the line-up for its Oculus Quest VR headset: Google is bringing its Tilt Brush virtual reality (VR) drawing app to the standalone headset, which is widely expected to become commercially available in the coming weeks. “When we learned that Oculus was building a
After more than four years in the works, Netflix’s TV adaptation of Dr. Seuss classic “Green Eggs and Ham” is set to come to the streaming service in the fourth quarter of 2019. The Q4 launch of “Green Eggs and Ham,” from executive producer Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. Television, was announced by Netflix chief
April 17, 2019 8:01AM PT Disney’s Marvel Entertainment is promising to spill the tea on all things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — obviously excluding certain, ahem, spoilers — with “Marvel Live!,” a new live-streaming show on Twitter debuting this week. The show is hosted by Ryan Penagos, VP and creative executive for Marvel New
April 17, 2019 7:00AM PT [embedded content] The Emmy award-winning VR filmmakers from Felix & Paul Studios have teamed up with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) for a new VR film dubbed “Gymnasia” that is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month — and judging from the trailer that
Sony Pictures Television will comb through Wattpad’s 500 million stories for the next potential breakout entertainment property. SPT entered into a co-production deal with Wattpad for original TV programming, giving Sony a first look at new Wattpad stories. The companies plan to work together to identify and develop popular stories shared on Wattpad platform. The deal,
New downloads of the massively popular video sharing application TikTok have been halted in India. The move was ordered on Tuesday by the federal government, following a request by a Tamil Nadu state court. The app, owned by China’s Bytedance, is hugely successful in India. It had over 240 million downloads by February, according to
It’s 2019, and if you haven’t cut the cable cord yet, it might be time to consider making the switch to streaming. With a ton of affordable options in the marketplace, streaming services get you much of the same content as conventional cable, with the added convenience of taking your programming on the go. It
Netflix gained 9.6 million streaming customers in the first quarter of 2019 — ahead of projections and a quarterly record — but a price hike in the U.S. and other countries has impacted its momentum going into Q2. The company reported paid net adds in Q1 of 9.6 million (with 1.74 million in the U.S.
Netflix is getting ready to reveal even more data about the performance of movies and TV shows on its service: The company will begin to test Top 10 lists of the most popular content across multiple categories in the U.K. this quarter, executives revealed in their letter to shareholders Tuesday. “For those who want to
April 16, 2019 12:23PM PT Apple and Qualcomm have agreed to settle their long-running patent dispute, both companies announced Tuesday. The agreement effectively ends all lawsuits between the two companies; Apple will license Qualcomm’s chips for 6 years, and also agree to pay a one-time undisclosed payment for past use of Qualcomm’s technology. News of
PBS’s documentary series arm POV is diving into new forms of story-telling with POV Spark, a new unit that’s all about interactive and immersive experiences. Some of the first projects coming out of POV Spark are 3 new immersive media projects as well as a series of Instagram Stories produced in partnership with the National
Digital media players face uncertain and challenging economic times — and the best outcome these days for struggling independents may be to get swallowed by a larger entity. Nine months after Viacom scooped up Awesomeness for a fire-sale price, the co-heads of the youth-targeted division — Rebecca Glashow and Shelley Zimmerman — say they couldn’t
SiriusXM is taking its first step to repurpose content from its exclusive talk shows and other entertainment programming for Pandora’s streaming-audio audience. SiriusXM is launching 22 new podcasts, available to more than 100 million audio listeners and subscribers of Pandora and SiriusXM. The new podcasts feature content from some of SiriusXM’s most popular shows, including
CAA inked a deal with data analytics firm Parrot Analytics, which will provide the entertainment and sports agency with analytics about global audience demand for entertainment. Parrot’s data set spans audience consumption in more 100 countries and comprises more than 3.5 trillion data points — aggregated from social media and video streaming platforms, piracy networks,
SAG-AFTRA has tapped 7Park Data Media and Entertainment to provide previously unavailable viewership data for titles on leading streaming platforms including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. The performers union announced the partnership Tuesday, two days after its national board launched the process of crafting a proposal for a successor deal to its master contract covering
Logitech has a new plan to simplify the clutter of streaming devices in your living room: The company has built a universal remote dubbed the Harmony Express that relies on voice control to switch between streaming devices connected to your TV, launch apps and flip channels. To supercharge its new voice remote, the company has
April 15, 2019 3:26PM PT YouTube’s ongoing effort to dispel conspiracy theories suffered a major fail Monday. On live video of news broadcasts streamed on YouTube covering the massive fire that engulfed Notre Dame in Paris, a box underneath some of the livestreams displayed Encyclopedia Britannica’s article about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in
AT&T has sold its 10% minority stake in Hulu — now majority owned by Disney, with the rest held by Comcast — back to the streaming-video joint venture for $1.43 billion. The transaction values Hulu at $15 billion. According to the companies, the transaction didn’t require any governmental or other third-party approvals and was simultaneously
April 15, 2019 1:13PM PT Following its 2017 release of the “Star Wars: Jedi Challenges” augmented reality (AR) headset, Lenovo and Disney seem to be preparing the release of hardware related to yet another blockbuster franchise: A new FCC filing suggests that the companies are getting close to unveil a Marvel-themed AR headset. The heavily-redacted