streaming

chick-fil-a-plans-to-launch-streaming-service-with-original-shows

Chick-fil-A plans to launch streaming service with original shows

Chick-fil-A, streaming, Tech / /

What the cluck? —

Fast-food chain is paying up to $400K for unscripted content, Deadline reports.

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a Chick-fil-A meal is displayed at a Chick-fil-A restaurant on June 01, 2023 in Novato, California.

Enlarge / Would you like a streaming subscription with that?

Look out, Peacock. There’s reportedly a new video streaming service that’s avian-themed.

The fast-food chain Chick-fil-A plans to launch a video streaming service, Deadline reported today, citing anonymous sources. The streaming service is expected to focus on “family-friendly” content and include original TV shows, the publication said.

Chick-fil-A declined to comment on Deadline’s report.

Deadline reports that Chick-fil-A is in discussions to license and acquire content but is also working with numerous “major production companies, including some of the studios” to make family shows. It’s also reportedly recruited TV show producer Brian Gibson to head programming.

Chick-fil-A is reportedly particularly interested in unscripted shows. The poultry chain has a budget “in the range of $400,000 per half-hour” for unscripted content, Deadline said. Chick-fil-A is already looking to license an unnamed “family-friendly game show” from the production company that makes The Wall, a Chris Hardwick-hosted trivia game show that airs on NBC, per Deadline.

Chick-fil-A also reportedly ordered 10 episodes of an unnamed show from Sugar23. The production company has experience producing shows for streaming services like Netflix (examples include Maniac and The OA) and Apple TV+ (Dickinson).

A fast-food company entering the video streaming business is an unusual development. Food delivery companies, like Grubhub and DoorDash, have been peddling bundled streaming packages in combination with their own services. But a company known for fried chicken looking to launch an original hit on its own streaming service is a new one for the streaming industry.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that a known, non-entertainment company has sought to produce original shows. As Deadline pointed out, Airbnb produced the Gay Chorus Deep South documentary that aired on MTV. Companies like Lyft and Chick-fil-A have also produced their own web series before. But this new venture would hatch a whole new type of business for the fried chicken joint.

A Chick-fil-A streaming service could give the company new product placement opportunities. Chick-fil-A already uses clothing, accessories, and games to promote the restaurant. But for people to actually stomach yet another streaming service, Chick-fil-A would have to offer much more than half-baked shows with people eating chicken sandwiches in the background.

Chick-fil-A’s purported streaming attempts come as the broader industry faces a boiling point. An influx of options, price hikes, and changing terms of use have left many customers rethinking their subscriptions and frequently canceling. Ultimately, Chick-fil-A’s ability to stand out during this tumultuous time is dubious, especially when there are already streaming services offering family-friendly content (like Disney+). A killer Chick-fil-A streaming exclusive and low (or free) pricing could pique some interest. But we don’t expect Netflix’s millions of subscribers to fly the coop for Chick-fil-A-Plus (or whatever the streaming service would be called).

Chick-fil-A plans to launch streaming service with original shows Read More »

judge-calls-foul-on-venu,-blocks-launch-of-espn-warner-fox-streaming-service

Judge calls foul on Venu, blocks launch of ESPN-Warner-Fox streaming service

antitrust, competition, ESPN, Fox, Policy, sports, streaming, syndication, warner bros. discovery / /

Out of bounds —

Upcoming launch of $42.99 sports package likely to “substantially lessen competition.”

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Texas losing to Alabama in the 2010 BCS championship

Gina Ferazzi via Getty

A US judge has temporarily blocked the launch of a sports streaming service formed by Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bros and Fox, finding that it was likely to “substantially lessen competition” in the market.

The service, dubbed Venu, was expected to launch later this year. But FuboTV, a sports-focused streaming platform, filed an antitrust suit in February to block it, arguing its business would “suffer irreparable harm” as a result.

On Friday, US District Judge Margaret Garnett in New York granted an injunction to halt the launch of the service while Fubo’s lawsuit against the entertainment giants works its way through the court.

The opinion was sealed but the judge noted in an entry on the court docket that Fubo was “likely to succeed on its claims” that by entering the agreement, the companies “will substantially lessen competition and restrain trade in the relevant market” in violation of antitrust law.

In a statement, ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery said they planned to appeal against the decision.

Venu was aimed at US consumers who had either ditched their traditional pay TV packages for streaming or never signed up for a cable subscription. “Cord cutting” has been eroding the traditional TV business for years, but live sports has remained a primary draw for customers who have held on to their cable subscriptions.

Fubo TV was launched in 2015 as a sports-focused streamer. It offers more than 350 channels—including those carrying major sporting events such as Premier League football matches, baseball, the National Football League and the US National Basketball Association—for monthly subscription prices starting at $79.99. Its offerings included networks owned by Disney and Fox.

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros said Venu was “pro-competitive,” aimed at reaching “viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options.”

Venu was expected to charge $42.99 a month when it launched later this month. It “will feature just 15 channels, all featuring popular live sports—the kind of skinny sports bundle that Fubo has tried to offer for nearly a decade, only to encounter tooth-and-nail resistance,” Fubo said in a court filing seeking the injunction.

Venu was expected to aggregate about $16 billion worth of sports rights, analysts have estimated. It was not expected to have an impact on the individual companies’ ability to strike new rights deals.

Analysts had questioned its position in the marketplace. Disney plans to roll out ESPN as a “flagship” streaming service in August 2025 that will carry programming that appears on the TV network as well as gaming, shopping and other interactive content. Disney chief executive Bob Iger said he wants the service to become the “pre-eminent digital sports platform.”

Fubo shares rose 16.8 percent after the ruling, but the stock is down 51 percent this year.

© 2022 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

Judge calls foul on Venu, blocks launch of ESPN-Warner-Fox streaming service Read More »

redbox-app-axed,-dashing-people’s-hopes-of-keeping-purchased-content

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

redbox, Roku, streaming, Tech / /

Roku kills Redbox app —

Customers uncertain as app remains downloadable after company’s Chapter 7 filing.

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Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content

Roku has finally axed the Redbox app from its platform. Redbox parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June and moved to Chapter 7 in July, signaling the liquidation of its assets. However, the app has remained available but not fully functional in various places, leaving customers wondering if they will still be able to access content they bought. This development, however, mostly squashes any remaining hope of salvaging those purchases.

Redbox is best known for its iconic red kiosks where people could rent movie and TV (and, until 2019, video game) discs. But in an effort to keep up with the digital age, Redbox launched a streaming service in December 2017. At the time, Redbox promised “many” of the same new releases available at its kiosks but also “a growing collection” of other movies and shows. The company claimed that its on-demand streaming service was competitive because it had “newest-release movies” that subscription streaming services didn’t have. The service offered streaming rentals as well as purchases.

But as Cord Cutters News pointed out this week, people can no longer open the using the Roku version of the Redbox app. When they try to use the app, they reportedly see a message reading: “Redbox is currently not supporting this app. For questions about the service on your account, please contact Redbox” and recommends other streaming apps, like Apple TV+.

Roku’s move suggests that Redbox customers will not be able to watch the stuff they bought. Barring an unlikely change—like someone swooping in to buy and resurrect Redbox—it’s likely that other avenues for accessing the Redbox app will also go away soon.

Interestingly, the Redbox app is still downloadable elsewhere. For example, I was able to download the app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and PlayStation Store today. In the case of the former two, the app’s contents, including shows, wouldn’t load. On PlayStation, the app asked me to sign up for an account, which did not work due to an “error.”

Looming questions

Ahead of Redbox’s bankruptcy announcement, people noticed a decline in Redbox’s services, including fewer kiosks and less promotion of new and upcoming titles.

Since Redbox filed for bankruptcy, though, there has been some confusion and minimal communication about what will happen to Redbox’s services. People online have asked if there’s any way to watch content they purchased to own and/or get reimbursed. Some have even reported being surprised after learning that Redbox, owned by Chicken Soup since 2022, was undergoing bankruptcy procedures, pointing to limited updates from Redbox, Chicken Soup, and/or the media.

There is also uncertainty about what will happen to the 24,000 remaining Redbox kiosks and their DVDs. As Chicken Soup filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it’s expected that the kiosks will be taken down, but we don’t know when or how they’ll be disposed of.

Last month, CVS filed a motion [PDF] asking the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (where Chicken Soup filed for bankruptcy) to allow it to “dispose of” thousands of Redbox kiosks. In its filing, CVS said that its contract with Redbox ended in 2023, at which point Redbox was obligated to remove “over 2,500 kiosks” from CVS stores, but many remained. The legal filing reads:

Throughout that time, [Redbox] has generally behaved as though the Kiosks were abandoned, although it did remove a very small number of them once it was threatened with a preliminary injunction in a state court lawsuit.

Redbox’s failure to remove the Kiosks has caused and continues to cause CVS substantial and unjustifiable economic harm, as well as damages for loss of use and enjoyment of its premises that are not readily financially compensable.

7-Eleven has also previously alleged [PDF] that Redbox failed to remove kiosks from its stores after their contract expired. 7-Eleven also claimed that Redbox owes it about $270,000 in commissions.

As Chicken Soup sorts through its debts and liquidation, customers are left without guidance about what to do with their rental DVDs or how they can access movies/shows they purchased. But when it comes to purchases made via streaming services, it’s more accurate to consider them rentals, despite them not being labeled as such and costing more than rentals with set time limits. As we’ve seen before, streaming companies can quickly yank away content that people feel that they paid to own, be it due to licensing disputes, mergers and acquisitions, or other business purposes. In this case, a company’s failure has resulted in people no longer being able to access stuff they already paid for and presumed they’d be able to access for the long haul.

For some, the reality of what it means to “own” a streaming purchase reality, combined with the unreliability and turbulent nature of today’s streaming industry, has strengthened the appeal of physical media. Somewhat ironically, though, Redbox shuttering meant the end of one of the last mainstream places to access DVDs.

Redbox app axed, dashing people’s hopes of keeping purchased content Read More »

“so-tired”:-disney+,-hulu,-espn+-prices-increase-by-up-to-25-percent-in-october

“So tired”: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ prices increase by up to 25 percent in October

Disney, Disney Plus, ESPN, streaming, Tech / /

The cycle continues —

Not even ad tiers are safe as Disney looks to coax people into bundle packages.

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The Doctor and Ruby in 1960s

Enlarge / A scene from the new season of Doctor Who, which is streaming on Disney+.

Disney+

Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will get more expensive as of October 17, whether users have a subscription with or without ads. After most recently jacking up streaming prices in October 2023, The Walt Disney Company is raising subscription fees by as much as 25 percent, depending on the streaming service and plan.

Here’s how pricing will look in October compared to now:

Now As of October 17
Disney+ with ads $8/month $10/month
Disney+ without ads $14/month

$140/year		 $16/month

$160/year
Hulu with ads $8/year

$80/year		 $10/month

$100/year
Hulu without ads $18/month $19/month
Hulu and Live TV with ads $77/month  $83/month
Hulu and Live TV without ads $90/month $96/month
Disney+ and Hulu with ads $10/month $11/month
Disney+ and Hulu without ads $20/month No change
ESPN+ $11/month

$110/year		 $12/month

$120/year
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ with ads $15 No change
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ without ads $25 No change

Disney didn’t announce any pricing changes for the bundle that contains Disney+, sister streaming service Hulu, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s rival streaming platform, Max.

Based on the updated pricing, Disney is seemingly trying to coax people to sign up for one of its streaming bundles, which combine multiple services for a lower price than if the services were each subscribed to individually. Streaming companies have been trying to use bundles to deter people from frequently canceling their streaming subscriptions. But as we’ve written before, streaming bundles don’t address subscribers’ complaints around incessant price hikes, content quality, confusing packages, or features.

Another price hike

One of the biggest problems that streaming subscribers, especially long-term ones, are facing is ever-rising prices. Disney already increased prices in October 2023, meaning Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ are facing their second price hikes in about a year.

Early reactions online, including on forums like Reddit, show people dissatisfied with streaming price hikes that don’t seem to align with the quality of content available. For example, Reddit user Montysucker wrote: “easy[,] cancel now,” adding:

“The enshittification of media in the last few years is insane and it’s wild how seemingly no one cares anymore about making something that is actually enjoyable to watch and not their egotistic[al] pipe dream.”

Of course, many expressed being overwhelmed with continuing to see streaming prices rise, as Slow_Investment_2211 wrote:

On October 12, 2023, as Variety summarized, Disney+ without ads went up by 27 percent, from $11 to $14 per month. Hulu without ads went up 20 percent ($15 to $18/month). Hulu with Live packages each also increased by $7 at the time, while ESPN+ pricing increased by $1.

Disney paired the price hike announcement with the revealing of new upcoming features for Disney+. However, the new linear channels are little comfort for people who don’t use Disney+.

The new channels will be ABC News Live, which Disney+ users can access on September 4, and channels “focused on preschool content, featuring TV series and shorts available on Disney+.” Disney+ will also get four more channels (or as Disney’s calling them, playlists) that show: 1) “Seasonal Content” from Disney+; 2) “Epic Stories” from big franchises like Marvel and Star Wars; 3) “Throwbacks” with “nostalgic pop culture”; and 4) “Real Life” documentaries.

It’s possible that Disney will introduce more channels to appeal to more users. But with all the price hikes that streaming subscribers have endured over the past few years, many would prefer avoiding price bumps that are partially for extra channels that they may never watch. Charging for unwanted content in media packages that are already priced questionably is reminiscent of cable, something that streaming was initially supposed to replace, not replicate.

Subscribers to Disney’s trio of streaming services will be unlikely to be alone in facing price hikes for long; analysts suspect Netflix pricing will also increase this year.

“So tired”: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ prices increase by up to 25 percent in October Read More »

netflix-is-kicking-us-subscribers-off-its-cheapest-ad-free-plan-soon

Netflix is kicking US subscribers off its cheapest ad-free plan soon

ads, netflix, streaming, Tech / /

It was only a matter of time —

Subscribers will have to pay $15.49 for commercial-free Netflix.

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cobra kai

Enlarge / Ad-free Basic subscribers will be crane-kicked off the plan soon.

Netflix/YouTube

Netflix today confirmed suspicions that it will stop letting people pay $12 per month to stream without commercials.

The ad-free Basic plan was the cheapest way to watch Netflix without commercials. The plan limits users to 720p resolution and one device and lets people download content. Netflix stopped offering the Basic plan to new subscribers in January. In June, Netflix started booting subscribers in the UK and Canada off the plan and automatically put them onto a cheaper subscription plan with ads.

In a letter to shareholders today [PDF], Netflix confirmed publicly for the first time that it “will now start” to phase out the ad-free Basic plan in the US and France. This will make the cheapest commercial-free Netflix plan $15.49/month in the US. That Standard plan supports up to two devices, downloads, and 1080p resolution.

Netflix thinks killing the Basic plan will help it gain more subscribers who watch commercials, which, on average, generates more revenue for the company.

As expected from a streaming company these days, Netflix touted its ad tier to shareholders, noting that the $7 tier now represents “over 45 percent” of new sign-ups in areas where it’s sold. Per Netflix’s letter, ads will only be an increasingly larger part of its strategy, as Netflix aims to “achieve critical ad subscriber scale for advertisers in our ad countries in 2025, creating a strong base from which we can further increase our ad membership in 2026 and beyond.”

The news comes as streamers grapple with increasing streaming subscription costs. Netflix most recently hiked pricing in October. In January, the company suggested to shareholders that more price hikes were possible, saying that it would “occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect” platform improvements.

Not cozying up with competition

If today’s news makes you hope for a convenient streaming-only deal that lets you subscribe to Netflix and another video streaming service for cheaper, you’re out of luck. Netflix today said it’s not interested in streaming-only bundles.

Bundle deals, which combine streaming and other services for a cheaper subscription rate, have become the streaming industry’s answer to high cancellation rates among subscribers, including those who quickly cancel and resubscribe depending on what’s available to stream that month.

In its letter, Netflix noted that although cable or mobile providers or device-makers may offer deals combining Netflix and another streaming service, Netflix does not make deals that bundle it with another rival streamer, like Disney+ or Max. The company claimed that Netflix is already “a go-to destination,” which “limits the benefit to Netflix of bundling directly with other streamers.”

That means if you’re hoping to save money on your Netflix subscription, which keeps getting more expensive, the only options are to watch Netflix with commercials or get a cable-reminiscent bundle that includes a different kind of service, like Comcast or Verizon Wireless.

We know which option Netflix would like you to pick. But for frustrated streamers, finding a reasonable way to watch all the stuff you want online the way you want keeps getting harder.

Netflix added 8 million subscribers in Q2 2024, it said today. It’s still the biggest video streaming service by subscriber count at 278 million. Amazon Prime Video, which claimed “over 200 million” users in April, follows.

Netflix is kicking US subscribers off its cheapest ad-free plan soon Read More »

report:-apple-tv+-will-soon-get-a-lot-more-movies-made-by-studios-other-than-apple

Report: Apple TV+ will soon get a lot more movies made by studios other than Apple

Apple, Apple TV, culture, films, movies, streaming, Tech / /

Streaming services —

Apple TV+ series have made an impact, but its films have been less successful lately.

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A photo of a TV showing the landing page for Argylle in the Apple TV+ app

Enlarge / Apple seeks to continue to augment its library of original films like Argylle with films from other studios.

Apple TV+ has carved a niche for itself with strong original programming, and while it’s still far behind the likes of Netflix in terms of subscribers, it has seen a fairly strong initial run. To build on that, Apple is talking with major studios about ways to complement its slate of original programming with films from other companies in order to expand and extend the service’s appeal.

That’s according to Bloomberg reporters Lucas Shaw and Thomas Buckley, who cite people familiar with Apple’s workings. Those sources say Apple is “having discussions” with more than one large film studio about bringing more movies to the service.

Apple previously experimented with this by licensing around 50 movies and making them available on the service for limited runs over the past several months. That experiment seems to have gone well, leading Apple to begin laying the groundwork for expanding on that.

That test run was just in the United States. Bloomberg claims the focus this time is international, with the possibility of new films not just in the US but in other regions, too.

Hollywood studios have reportedly been anticipating this move. As you may have noticed amid the numerous subscription service price hikes, media companies have begun putting greater emphasis on profitability after the conclusion of a long period where subscriber growth at any cost was the goal. Licensing deals like this can help with that new goal.

It’s worth noting that while Apple has found some big successes in terms of series (Ted Lasso, Severance, The Morning Show) it has struggled to make as much of an impact with its movies. Despite big stars and budgets, the films have not always made as much cultural impact as the shows.

That means that bringing in films from studios with a more proven record can be a win-win: It will help Apple bolster the TV+ subscription service while generating revenue for film studios that are struggling to keep up in the new era.

Services like TV+ are a growing part of Apple’s business, which has historically been focused on hardware sales. In the second quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, the services bucket accounted for $23.9 billion in quarterly revenue, which is more than half the revenue generated by iPhone hardware sales.

Report: Apple TV+ will soon get a lot more movies made by studios other than Apple Read More »

streaming’s-bundling-obsession-ignores-the-real-problem-with-subscription-costs

Streaming’s bundling obsession ignores the real problem with subscription costs

streaming, Tech / /
scrambled tv TV with human hand with TV remote control

Video streaming providers have a big churn problem. While many streaming companies are not profitable yet, the entire industry is grappling with high and fast cancellation rates.

Users who sign up for streaming services only to cancel a few months later, likely because they watched what they wanted to already or are trying to save money, has created huge churn concerns for streaming companies. Those companies are largely responding with packages that bundle their services with other services, including rival streaming platforms. But with streaming subscribers already pushed to their financial limits, it’s time for streaming providers to earn their keep, not piggyback on others.

This week, media research firm Hub Entertainment Research published its 2024 Monetization of Video report with findings from June interviews of 1,600 TV viewers ages 16 to 74. The respondents reportedly each watch at least one hour of TV weekly, and the sample is “US census balanced,” per Hub. When Hub asked respondents if they will “still have/use” their video streaming services a year from now, 85 percent of those using ad-free services said they definitely or probably will, compared to 74 percent of subscribers of streaming services with ads. Further suggesting that ad-free subscription tiers garner more loyalty, 15 percent of ad-free subscribers said they “might/might not” or “probably/definitely won’t” have their subscription next year versus 26 percent of ad subscribers.

Hub Entertainment Research

“Those paying extra for ad-free services say they are more likely to keep that service than cheaper ad-supported plans,” the report says. “The act of paying more potentially increases perceived loyalty to that expense.”

Streaming providers charge less for subscriptions that show commercials because they’re able to make up the lost revenue through ad sales. Streaming firms like Netflix say they get higher monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) from ad subscribers than those who pay more for commercial-free plans. Despite the lower prices, Hub’s research found that 25 percent of respondents associate “excellent” value with paid streaming video on demand (SVOD) services with ads compared to 22 percent who think the same of SVOD without ads.

Churn troubles

Hub’s report also highlighted high streaming cancellation rates, noting that 50 percent of respondents “sign up, cancel, then re-subscribe to the same service.” Earlier this month Ampere Analysis also detailed high churn rates, saying that 42 percent of US streaming subscribers “regularly subscribe, cancel, and resubscribe” (Ampere said it examined “anonymized subscription receipt data from a panel of 3 million opted-in US email users” between February and March 2024 for its survey).

“As the SVOD market in the US has become increasingly saturated, new subscribers are harder to find, which makes retention all the more important,” said Daniel Monaghan, research manager at Ampere Analysis, said in a statement accompanying the findings.

Streaming providers have largely adopted bundling to combat high cancellation rates, with the idea being that people are less likely to pull the plug on one service if it’s tied to others. In Hub’s report, 37 percent of respondents said they’re “less likely to cancel and then resubscribe to a bundle of multiple services compared to an individual service.”

Bundles also carry price savings, a key driver for streaming subscriptions. Per Hub’s report and following a slew of streaming price hikes, people are approaching the limit of what they’re willing to spend on streaming subscriptions:

Hub Entertainment Research

But streaming services could better prove their value if they went beyond pricing and tried building loyalty through improved selection and features.

Streaming’s bundling obsession ignores the real problem with subscription costs Read More »

dvds-are-dying-right-as-streaming-has-made-them-appealing-again

DVDs are dying right as streaming has made them appealing again

Blu-ray, dvd, streaming, Tech / /

RIP Redbox —

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

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A Redbox kiosk

Enlarge / A Redbox movie rental kiosk stands outside a CVS store.

Since 2004, red DVD rental kiosks posted near entrances of grocery stores and the like tempted shoppers with movie (and until 2019, video game) disc rentals. But the last 24,000 of Redbox’s kiosks are going away, as Redbox’s parent company moved to chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy this week. The end of Redbox marks another death knell for the DVD industry at a time when volatile streaming services are making physical media appealing again.

Redbox shutting down

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which owns Redbox, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 29. But on Wednesday, Judge Thomas M. Horan of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a conversion to chapter 7, signaling the liquidation of business, per Deadline. Redbox’s remaining 24,000 kiosks will close, and 1,000 workers will be laid off (severance and back pay eligibility are under review, and a bankruptcy trustee will investigate if trust funds intended for employees were misappropriated).

Chicken Soup bought Redbox for $375 million in 2022 and is $970 million in debt. It will also be shuttering its Redbox, Crackle, and Popcornflix streaming services.

DVDs in decline

As a DVD-centric business, Redbox was living on borrowed time. The convenience of on-demand streaming made it hard to compete, and bankruptcy proceedings revealed that Redbox was paying employees more than it was earning.

Overall, the past year hasn’t been a good one for DVD or Blu-ray devotees, as many businesses announced that they’re exiting the industry. In August, Netflix quit its original business of mailing out rental DVDs. Now the king of streaming, the remaining DVD business was so menial that Netflix gave away DVDs as it shut down operations.

Once industry disruptors, DVDs and Blu-rays have been further ushered out the door in 2024. In April, Target confirmed that it will only sell DVDs in stores during “key times,” like the winter holiday season or the release of a newer movie to DVD. The news hit especially hard considering Best Buy ended DVD and Blu-ray sales in-store and online this year. Disney is outsourcing its DVD and Blu-ray business to Sony, and Sony this month revealed plans to stop selling recordable Blu-rays to consumers (it hasn’t decided when yet).

Bad timing

It’s sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales. Per CNBC’s calculations, DVD sales fell over 86 percent between 2008 and 2019. Research from the Motion Picture Association in 2021 found that physical media represented 8 percent of the home/mobile entertainment market in the US, falling behind digital (80 percent) and theatrical (12 percent).

But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable. And with the streaming industry becoming more competitive and profit-hungry than ever, you never know if the movie/show that most attracted you to a streaming service will still be available when you finally get a chance to sit down and watch. Even paid-for online libraries that were marketed as available “forever” have been ripped away from customers.

When someone buys or rents a DVD, they know exactly what content they’re paying for and for how long they’ll have it (assuming they take care of the physical media). They can also watch the content if the Internet goes out and be certain that they’re getting uncompressed 4K resolution. DVD viewers are also less likely to be bombarded with ads whenever they pause and can get around an ad-riddled smart TV home screen (nothing’s perfect; some DVDs have unskippable commercials).

Streaming isn’t likely to stabilize any time soon, either. Team-ups between streaming providers and merger/acquisition activity make the future of streaming and the quality of available services uncertain. For example, what’s ahead for Paramount+ and Pluto now that Paramount is planning a Skydance merger?

There’s also something to be said about how limiting reliance on streaming can be for movie buffs and people with unique tastes. Treasured content, like older movies or canceled TV shows, isn’t always put on streaming services. And what is put on streaming is sometimes altered, including with new music and controversial scenes/episodes or embarrassing moments at live events removed.

A DVD company like Redbox closing was years in the making. There are people who believe it’s prudent to maintain a physical media library, but renting one is even more niche. Still, places that offer DVDs have gotten significantly rarer recently, and relying solely on an increasingly cable-like streaming industry for home entertainment is a scary proposition. Seeing an alternative option in the form of a red, slender box outside my grocery store actually sounds nice right now.

DVDs are dying right as streaming has made them appealing again Read More »

bleeding-subscribers,-cable-companies-force-their-way-into-streaming

Bleeding subscribers, cable companies force their way into streaming

Charter, Comcast, peacock, streaming, Tech / /

Enter NOW TV Latino —

Companies like Charter brought about the streaming industry they now want to join.

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A person's hand aiming a cable TV remote control at a TV screen

Getty Images | stefanamer

It’s clear that streaming services are the present and future of video distribution. But that doesn’t mean that cable companies are ready to give up on your monthly dollars.

A sign of this is Comcast, the US’ second-biggest cable company, debuting a new streaming service today. Comcast already had an offering that let subscribers stream its Xfinity cable live channels and access some titles on demand. NOW TV Latino differs in being a separate, additional streaming service that people can subscribe to independently of Xfinity cable for $10 per month.

However, unlike streaming services like Netflix or Max, you can only subscribe to NOW TV Latino if Xfinity is sold in your area. NOW TV Latino subscriptions include the ability to stream live TV from Spanish-language channels that Xfinity offers, like Sony Cine and ViendoMovies. And because Comcast owns NBCUniversal, people who subscribe to NOW TV Latino get a free subscription to Peacock with commercials, which usually costs $6/month.

From cable to streaming

In addition to NOW TV Latino, recent Comcast efforts to stay relevant in a TV and movie distribution world dominated by online streaming has centered on bundling. As streaming giants like Netflix struggle with customer churn, bundling is the current favored tactic to keep customers subscribed for longer.

Comcast is selling NOW TV Latino as a separate service, but it’s truly a Peacock bundle. The cable giant is also selling the streaming service bundled with its cable service or with its recently released streaming bundle that combines Comcast’s Peacock with Netflix, Apple TV+, and ads for $15/month.

While popular for streaming service providers, cable companies were some of the pioneers of the bundling strategy, which can overwhelm customers with confusing rates and services that some may not need. As Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in May while announcing the aforementioned Peacock/Netflix/AppleTV+ bundle: “We’ve been bundling video successfully and creatively for 60 years, and so this is the latest iteration of that.”

Bleeding customers

The cable industry has been in a nose-dive for years. Comcast’s Q1 2024 earnings report showed its cable business losing 487,000 subscribers. The cable giant ended 2022 with 16,142,000 subscribers; in January, it had 13,600,000.

Charter, the only US cable company bigger than Comcast, is rapidly losing pay-TV subscribers, too. In its Q1 2024 earnings report, Charter reported losing 405,000 subscribers, including business accounts. It ended 2022 with 15,147,000 subscribers; at the end of March, it had 13,717,000.

And, like Comcast, Charter is looking to streaming bundles to keep its pay-TV business alive and to compete with the likes of YouTube TV and Hulu With Live TV.

In April, Charter also announced a Spanish language-focused streaming service, but in traditional cable fashion, one must subscribe to Charter’s Spectrum Internet to be able to subscribe (TV Stream Latino is $25/month). Charter also sells the ability to stream live TV from some of the channels that its cable service has.

In 2022, Charter and Comcast formed a joint venture, Xumo, that focuses on streaming but includes cable industry spins, like set-top boxes. The companies are even trying to get a piece of the money made from smart TV operating systems (OSes), with budget brands such as Hisense now selling TVs with Xumo OS.

It’s a curious time, as cable TV providers scramble to be part of an industry created in reaction to business practices that many customers viewed as anti-consumer. Meanwhile, the streaming industry is adopting some of these same practices, like commercials and incessant price hikes, to establish profitability. And some smaller streaming players say it’s nearly impossible to compete as the streaming industry’s top players are taking form and, in some cases, collaborating.

But after decades of discouraging many subscribers with few alternatives, it will be hard for former or current cable customers to view firms like Comcast and Charter as trustworthy competitive streaming providers.

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Canada demands 5% of revenue from Netflix, Spotify, and other streamers

netflix, Policy, streaming / /

Streaming fees —

Canada says $200M in annual fees will support local news and other content.

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Illustrative photo featuring Canadian 1-cent coins with the Canadian flag displayed on a computer screen in the background,

Getty Images | NurPhoto /

Canada has ordered large online streaming services to pay 5 percent of their Canadian revenue to the government in a program expected to raise $200 million per year to support local news and other home-grown content. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced its decision yesterday after a public comment period.

“Based on the public record, the CRTC is requiring online streaming services to contribute 5 percent of their Canadian revenues to support the Canadian broadcasting system. These obligations will start in the 2024–2025 broadcast year and will provide an estimated $200 million per year in new funding,” the regulator said.

The fees apply to both video and music streaming services. The CRTC imposed the rules despite opposition from Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, Netflix, Paramount, and Spotify.

The new fees are scheduled to take effect in September and apply to online streaming services that make at least $25 million a year in Canada. The regulations exclude revenue from audiobooks, podcasts, video game services, and user-generated content. The exclusion of revenue from user-generated content is a win for Google’s YouTube.

Streaming companies have recently been raising prices charged to consumers, and the CBC notes that streamers might raise prices again to offset the fees charged in Canada.

Fees to support local news, Indigenous content

The CRTC said it is relying on authority from the Online Streaming Act, which was approved by Canada’s parliament in 2023. The new fees are similar to the ones already imposed on licensed broadcasters.

“The funding will be directed to areas of immediate need in the Canadian broadcasting system, such as local news on radio and television, French-language content, Indigenous content, and content created by and for equity-deserving communities, official language minority communities, and Canadians of diverse backgrounds,” the CRTC said.

CRTC Chairperson Vicky Eatrides said the agency’s “decision will help ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content.” The agency also said that streaming companies “will have some flexibility to direct parts of their contributions to support Canadian television content directly.”

Industry groups blast CRTC

The Motion Picture Association-Canada criticized the CRTC yesterday, saying the fee ruling “reinforces a decades-old regulatory approach designed for cable companies” and is “discriminatory.” The fees “will make it harder for global streamers to collaborate directly with Canadian creatives and invest in world-class storytelling made in Canada for audiences here and around the world,” the lobby group said.

The MPA-Canada said the CRTC didn’t fully consider “the significant contributions streamers make in working directly with Canada’s creative communities.” The group represents streamers including Netflix, Disney Plus, HAYU, Sony’s Crunchyroll, Paramount Plus, and PlutoTV.

“Global studios and streaming services have spent over $6.7 billion annually producing quality content in Canada for local and international audiences and invested more in the content made by Canadian production companies last year than the CBC, or the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm combined,” the group said.

The fees were also criticized by the Digital Media Association, which represents streaming music providers including Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. The “discriminatory tax on music streaming services… is effectively a protectionist subsidy for radio” and may worsen “Canada’s affordability crisis,” the group said.

The Canadian Media Producers Association praised the CRTC decision, saying the decision benefits independent producers and “tilts our industry toward a more level playing field.”

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Spotify raising prices by up to $3 as frustrated subs beg it to “just do music”

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As high as $20/month —

Spotify last raised prices in July 2023.

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Spotify raising prices by up to $3 as frustrated subs beg it to “just do music”

After keeping Spotify Premium subscription pricing flat since debuting it in 2011, Spotify increased monthly pricing in July 2023 and will do so again in July 2024, it announced today.

Individual monthly subscriptions will increase from $11 per month to $12/month. Family plans, which support up to six members, will go from $17/month to $20/month. Duo plans, for two accounts, are rising from $15/month to $17/month. Spotify didn’t announce pricing changes for its Student ($6/month) or free plans.

Spotify said it’s increasing prices so that it can “continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experience.”

It said it would email subscribers directly “over the next month” about the changes. The message that Spotify said it will send to subscribers will include a link to the account page, where subscribers can cancel their subscription if desired, as well as the support site for asking questions.

“Just do music”

Spotify went 12 years without changing subscription prices, but now it’s doing it for a second time in about a year.

In July 2023, monthly pricing for Spotify’s Premium plan for individual users went from $10 to $11. Duo pricing went from $13 to $15, and the Family and Student plans also each increased by $1 per month. However, these sweeping pricing changes occurred at a time when rivals, like Tidal, were making similar changes. And as Spotify’s first price hike ever, it seemed more digestible.

The second price hike comes as Spotify seeks its first year of profitability. These efforts have included attempts to diversify revenue by expanding from Spotify’s traditional music-streaming service to include things like podcasts, which Spotify has reportedly invested over $1 billion in, and audiobooks, a newer business for Spotify that it fueled with a $123 million Findaway acquisition. Meanwhile, Spotify has been working on adding high-fidelity audio to its service since 2021.

Some subscribers would rather see predictable pricing than new endeavors. For example, a reported user going by “ccolburn” on Spotify’s online forum reacted to this news with a post titled, “I only want music only! Stop increasing the prices to justify adding things I don’t want!“:

I DONT want podcast in my music app. … I dont want audio books when I want music. I also dont wanna pay more for the same service. JUST DO MUSIC!!!! [sic]

Apparent subscribers have shared similar sentiments elsewhere online, like on Reddit, where “crazytalk151” recently wrote:

Can you just do music and stop with all the other crap? No I dont want your shit podcasts or audio books. Just music and the same price. Whats the best alternative? [sic]

A tightrope

But like with many subscription price hikes among streaming services, Spotify’s growing prices are tied to profitability goals. Despite having profitable quarters, the 18-year-old company hasn’t reported a profitable year.

In its Q1 2024 earnings report shared on April 23, Spotify recorded its highest quarterly profit ever, at 1 billion euros (about $1.08 billion). The company noted price increases helping to boost the average revenue it sees per user. However, Spotify’s total monthly active users fell 3 million short of its 618 million user goal. The report also followed about 1,500 layoffs in December 2023.

During Spotify’s Q1 2024 earnings call, Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek called 2024 Spotify’s “year of monetization” and said the company would focus on “strong revenue growth and margin expansion” via “ambitious plans.” Ek didn’t announce price changes at the time but noted that Spotify often reviews its “value-to-price” ratio in relation to subscription prices, as Variety reported at the time.

Spotify stock opened 5.5 percent higher on news of subscription prices rising, The Wall Street Journal reported today. However, subscribers, who are generally getting increasingly fed up with ever-rising subscription prices, will likely be less impressed by the news.

The announcement of price changes follows Spotify’s recent decision this December to brick its Car Thing hardware after releasing it to the general public in February 2022. Spotify has given some users refunds if they can provide proof of purchase. However, some users online have reported problems with getting refunds due to things like the devices being linked to a third-party or unknown account, people owning multiple devices, or people reportedly being offered Spotify Premium credits initially instead. Spotify has previously declined to specify to Ars Technica the exact criteria required for receiving a full refund on Car Thing.

As Spotify tries to push toward profitability by raising prices and adding new endeavors and by distancing itself from old ones, it walks a tightrope in maintaining the type of customer satisfaction and trust that’ll keep people subscribing.

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Cable TV providers ruined cable—now they’re coming for streaming

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Cable 2.0 —

Comcast wants to tie its cable/Internet to your streaming subscriptions.

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Cable TV providers ruined cable—now they’re coming for streaming

In an ironic twist, cable TV and Internet provider Comcast has announced that it, too, will sell a bundle of video-streaming services for a discounted price. The announcement comes as Comcast has been rapidly losing cable TV subscribers to streaming services and seeks to bring the same type of bundling that originally drew people away from cable to streaming.

Starting on an unspecified date this month, the bundle, called Streamsaver, will offer Peacock, which Comcast owns, Apple TV+, and Netflix to people who subscribe to Comcast’s cable TV and/or broadband. Comcast already offers Netflix or Apple TV+ as add-ons to its cable TV, but Streamsaver expands Comcast’s streaming-related bundling efforts.

Comcast didn’t say how much the streaming bundle would cost, but CEO Brian Roberts said that it will “come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today” when announcing the bundle on Tuesday at MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York, per Variety. If we factor in Peacock’s upcoming price hike, subscribing to Apple TV+, Netflix, and Peacock separately would cost $39.47 per month without ads, or $24.97/month with ads.

According to Roberts, Comcast is hoping that the upcoming package will help Comcast “add value to consumers” and “take some of the dollars out of” other streaming businesses.

For subscribers, the more immediate effect is the continuing and rapid blurring of the lines between cable and streaming services. And Comcast knows that.

As Roberts notes: “We’ve been bundling video successfully and creatively for 60 years, and so this is the latest iteration of that.”

Comcast is hemorrhaging subscribers

Last month, Comcast said it lost 487,000 cable TV subscribers in Q1 2024. It ended the quarter with 13,600,000 subscribers, compared to 14,106,000 at the end of 2023 and 16,142,000 at the end of 2022.

Comcast’s broadband subscriber base also decreased from 32,253,000 at the end of 2023 to 32,188,000.

Peacock, Comcast’s flagship streaming service, hasn’t made any money since launching in 2020 and lost $2.7 billion in 2023. However, in April, Comcast said that Peacock’s Q1 losses lessened from $704 million in Q1 2023 to $639 million in Q1 2024.

It’s worth noting that in January, Comcast raised prices for its cable and Internet services by 3 percent, blaming the price hikes on broadband investments and an increase in programming costs.

Déjà vu

One of the common reasons people abandoned cable TV were bundled packages that forced people to pay for services, like phone or Internet, or channels that they didn’t want. Now, Comcast is looking to save its shrinking subscriber base by bundling its cable TV or Internet service with some of its biggest competitors. Like streaming services, Comcast is hoping that bundling its products will deter people from canceling their subscriptions since they’re tied to each other.

Subscriber churn is also a problem in the streaming industry. Antenna, a subscription analyst company, estimates that around 25 percent of video-streaming subscribers in the US have canceled at least three such subscriptions in the last two years. These high-churn subscribers represent around 40 percent of new subscriptions and cancellations last year, Antenna told The New York Times in April.

But Comcast’s announcement hints at déjà vu as Comcast blatantly seeks to re-create the cable bundle or triple-play package using the very streaming services that are eating away at Comcast’s cable business. Ironically, Comcast is seeking to bandage a declining business by feeding some of the biggest contributors to that decline, using the same tactics that drove many customers away in the first place.

We’re expected to hear a lot more about bundled services. Last month, we learned that a Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle would be released this summer, for example. And there’s already a lengthy list of streaming bundle packages available from third parties like Verizon and T-Mobile.

But for people who left cable to avoid overloaded bundled packages and to get away from companies like Comcast, which group cable TV or Internet with streaming services that often raise prices, limit show and movie availability and features, and increasingly focus on ads, it just isn’t worth the monthly savings.

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