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Charter deals with Disney to offer access to streamers

US telco giant Charter has struck a carriage deal with Disney offering access to Mouse House-backed streaming services such as Hulu and Disney+, as well as its forthcoming college sports channel ACC Network. The deal avoids any potential blackout of Disney channels including sports network ESPN on Charter’s Spectrum pay TV service, but also means […]

Disney reveals SVOD bundle, two-market international roll-out plan

Disney has lifted the lid on its highly anticipated bundle offering for streaming services Disney+, ESPN+ and ad-supported Hulu, and confirmed that Disney+ will launch in two markets outside the US in November.  Disney boss Bob Iger revealed during the company’s Tuesday (6 August) earnings call following the release of its fiscal Q3 results that […]

Disney+ unveils price point, two-year global expansion

Disney has given investors a first glimpse into its new SVOD service, which is to launch on 12 November with a “rapid” global expansion planned within the next two years. The Mouse House’s long-anticipated Investor Day in Burbank, California, included extensive presentations on Hulu, Hotstar, ESPN+ and Disney+ from execs including chairman and CEO Bob […]

Disney to lose $150m in third-party licensing revenue in 2019

Disney has confirmed that the business will this year lose around $150m in content licensing revenues – money from content it would have sold to third-party channels and platforms. The business will instead keep that content for its own services, most notably Disney+, which is expected to launch at the end of this year. Chief […]

NBCU has ‘best US skinny bundle’ networks

NBCUniversal networks were the group of channels that most US viewers would choose if they had to select package of five channels groups for a ‘skinny TV plan’, according to The Diffusion Group. The research firm found that the ‘big-four’ broadcast network groups occupied the top five slots when viewers were asked which they would […]

YouTube TV ups price and adds Turner channels

YouTube TV is set to up its price from US$35 to US$40 per month, has added a host of Turner channels, and plans to up its sports output. The news came as YouTube said it will also expand its over-the-top pay TV service to 100 top US markets in the coming weeks. YouTube is adding […]

Disney’s ESPN streaming service set for US spring launch

Disney’s direct-to-consumer sports streaming service, ESPN Plus, is due to launch in the US this spring as part of a revamped ESPN app, according to Mouse House CEO Bob Iger. The app comes ahead of the launch of Disney’s entertainment-focused global SVOD service next year, which will compete directy with Netflix and Amazon. Speaking on […]

Jordan Peele to rekindle Twilight Zone for CBS SVOD net

CBS is reworking classic sci-fi anthology The Twilight Zone for its SVOD service, a move that comes as the US broadcaster separately axes a number of jobs. CBS Television Studios is producing the new show in association with Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. The original Twilight Zone ran on CBS between […]

Report: Disney preps ‘digital locker’ service with studios

The Walt Disney Company has reportedly partnered with major Hollywood movie studios on a new ‘digital locker’ service that will let users watch purchased films across different devices. According to Bloomberg, the Movies Anywhere offering could be announced as early as this week and includes participation from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. […]

Disney ups BAMTech stake in strategic SVOD move

Disney will pay US$1.58 billion to up its stake in video streaming technology firm BAMTech, is it prepares to make a major push into the SVOD market and cut ties with Netflix. Disney will acquire an additional 42% in BAMTech, as part of an accelerated move to take a controlling ownership of the direct-to-consumer streaming tech […]