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HBO Max comes back to Prime Video Channels

Today, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon announced that HBO Max is back on Prime Video Channels in the United States after it left as an Amazon offering in 2021.
Prime subscribers can sign up for HBO Max for $14.99 per month via the Prime Video app or at amazon.com/channels/hbomax. The channel can be canceled at any time.
The companies also noted in an announcement that customers would have access to the upcoming “enhanced” streaming service when it launches in 2023, which will combine HBO Max and Discovery+ content.
“Now, with the addition of HBO Max again, customers can easily add this subscription and enjoy even more award-winning and fan-favorite entertainment on Prime Video,” said Cem Sibay, vice president of Prime Video, in a statement.
“Warner Bros. Discovery is committed to making HBO Max available to as broad an audience as possible while also advancing our data-driven approach to understanding our customers and best serving their viewing interests. Today, we are thrilled to take an important step forward by announcing that HBO Max is returning to Prime Video Channels,” added Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Amazon offers more details about why HBO Max isn’t on Fire TV

HBO Max launched in May 2020 without support for Amazon devices because former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar wanted the streaming service to be available as a dedicated app on Fire TV devices rather than available through Prime Video Channels. A dedicated app gives Warner access to all customer data and subscription revenue as opposed to sharing it with Amazon. Despite this, however, HBO Max became available as a Prime Video Channel months later, likely so more consumers would subscribe to the service.
The streaming service then left Prime Video in 2021 due to the former parent company, AT&T, failing to reach an agreement to extend distribution. WarnerMedia lost 1.8 million subscribers that quarter due to no longer being available on Prime.
Aside from WBD CEO David Zaslav’s questionable content strategy, HBO Max’s return to Prime Video Channels is a smart move for the company. WBD fell short last quarter, missing Wall Street expectations after many titles disappeared from HBO Max.
While the reasoning behind the latest deal wasn’t disclosed, we guess that Zaslav wanted to strike a new deal with Amazon in order to gain new subscribers for the upcoming combined streaming service, which is rumored to be called “Max.”

Warner Bros. Discovery falls short of expectations in Q3 despite success of ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff

HBO Max comes back to Prime Video Channels by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
HBO Max comes back to Prime Video Channels

Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix

After Netflix’s historic launch of an ad-supported tier, a very unexpected move from the streamer, Netflix will make history again with its first-ever livestreaming event starring comedian Chris Rock. The company announced on Thursday that Rock’s live comedy special is set to stream in early 2023, with more details to be announced later.
“Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation,” Robbie Praw, Netflix vice president of Stand-up and Comedy Formats, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history. This will be an unforgettable moment, and we’re so honored that Chris is carrying this torch.”
Netflix confirmed in May that it would roll out a livestreaming capability. The company said it would focus on unscripted content, competition shows, reality reunion specials, live comedy shows and a future “Netflix is a Joke” festival.
Rock is an easy choice for the streamer as he will likely draw in thousands, if not millions, of viewers. This will be his seventh stand-up special overall and his second Netflix special after “Tamborine” premiered in 2018. He also made an appearance at the 2022 “Netflix is a Joke” festival.
Plus, many people will want to tune into Rock’s live comedy special to hear all the Will Smith-related gossip. Rock has yet to talk about the Oscars slap incident with Smith. During a show in London, the comedian told the audience, “People expect me to talk about the bull****, I’m not going to talk about it right now. I’ll get to it eventually, on Netflix,” Deadline reported.

Netflix subscribers may be getting a livestreaming option for unscripted shows and stand-up specials

However, livestreaming tech is complex and typically more unreliable than video-on-demand. A few months ago, many live TV apps crashed across the sports streaming space. If Netflix’s first test with Chris Rock goes well, it will potentially clear the way for dozens of Netflix titles to get the live treatment.
Netflix will also get to compete head-to-head with other live TV streaming services. Most recently, Disney+ had its first-ever live TV show when it debuted Season 31 of “Dancing with the Stars.” While Disney+ didn’t experience any major crashes, there were still reports of the app crashing as well as minor delays and lags.
Now that Netflix has ads and eventually livestreaming, it’s a no-brainer that Netflix should invest in live sports next. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the streaming giant is “warming up to the idea” of live sports coming to the platform.

Netflix is not yet considering live sports — but here’s why it should

Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix

Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier

Peacock announced that on November 30, its Premium Plus subscribers will get 24/7 access to their local NBC station in all of NBC’s 210 markets, including live TV programming like local news, sports, weather and entertainment.
Subscribers will soon be able to livestream popular programs like “The TODAY Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” without paying for cable. As part of yesterday’s soft launch, some Premium Plus subscribers already gained access to their NBC local affiliate channel livestream.
“With Peacock’s local affiliate livestream, our subscribers are getting the unique combination of the ad-free on-demand content they love with the local news and NBC programming that is already part of their daily life,” Kelly Campbell, president, Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer, NBCUniversal, said in a statement.
NBC’s local affiliate stations join brands and channels like NFL, Golf, Premiere League, NBC News, Sky News, TODAY, Hallmark, WWE and others.
Peacock is likely including more live TV options to compete with rival Paramount+, which has always included local programming on its platform. Paramount+, with its 46 million subscribers, brings live TV to 99% of the United States, the company claims on its website.
After experiencing a slowdown in subscriber growth, it’s also possible that Peacock is urging more of its subscribers to upgrade to Premium Plus. Peacock recently revealed that its total paid subscriber base jumped from 13 million paid subscribers to over 15 million in the third quarter.
While it’s unlikely that many Peacock subscribers of its free ad-supported plan will switch over to the $9.99/month Premium Plus tier, its possible subscribers paying $4.99/month for the Premium plan will want to switch over to get 24/7 access to their local NBC station.
Plus, $9.99/month is a better deal than paying the hefty price for cable or live TV streaming services like Sling TV.
“This is an exciting new offering that expands our best-in-class broadcast and local programming to new audiences,” added Philip Martzolf, president, NBC Affiliate Relations.

Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu

Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier

Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell revealed in a CNBC interview that Peacock added more than 2 million paid subscribers in the third quarter, bringing the total to over 15 million. The recent growth shows the streaming service is recovering from its slowdown at the end of the second quarter when Peacock stalled at 13 million paid subs.
Shell claimed the boost in subs stemmed from a strong content lineup, including NBC next-day episodes that Peacock reclaimed from Hulu.
“It’s really driven by the content…So all of our content that’s on NBC, Bravo, our other channels for the first time in the next couple of weeks is coming to Peacock where it used to go to Hulu,” Shell said in yesterday’s interview.
NBCUniversal announced in August that starting on September 19, Peacock Premium will get next-day access to current seasons of NBC shows the day after they debut on the linear network. Earlier this year, the company also took next-day Bravo shows from Hulu.
Paid subscribers can watch the hit franchise “Law & Order,” as well as “One Chicago” and other popular shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” “The Voice,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Shell also confirmed that Disney is planning to buy Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, as has been expected. “It sounds like [Disney is] going to buy it…It’s a great asset,” he said. “If it were put on the auction block, it would fetch a high price—it would be a pretty robust auction. We’d want to participate in the auction… that’s not what we anticipate happening.”
The company will lose a valuable asset once Comcast no longer owns a stake in Hulu. Peacock is behind its competitor Hulu, which has 46.2 million subscribers.
Expanding its content library and investing in more original titles appears to be helping the streamer get back on track — slowly but surely.
In addition to NBC and Bravo content, Peacock is investing in more originals to gain more subscribers. For instance, Peacock is investing in original films as part of its deal with Lionsgate. Also, the streamer recently announced its upcoming first original adult animation series, “In the Know,” starring “Beavis and Butt-Head” creator Mike Judge and Zach Woods from “Silicon Valley.”

Peacock invests in its first adult animation series, stars Mike Judge and ‘Silicon Valley’s’ Zach Woods

Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K

Disney+ today relaunched as a native app on PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles, which now supports PS5 capabilities like 4K HDR (High-Dynamic Range) streaming. The company also relaunched Star+, Disney+’s streaming service for Latin American subscribers.
PS5 users experienced various issues with the old Disney+ app, which was designed for PS4 compatibility. Subscribers reported crashes, log-in errors, poor video playback and poor sound quality. Hopefully, the new native PS5 app won’t have the same issues.
Also, Disney+ and Star+ subscribers could only stream content at 1080p resolution on the console. As of today, PlayStation5 users can experience higher video quality at no extra cost. Other streaming services like Netflix and YouTube TV charge subscribers a higher fee for 4K content.
“The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans,” said Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product & Design, Disney Streaming, in a statement.
Star+ launched in 2021, and is a standalone streaming service in Latin America that offers entertainment content from Disney, FX, 20th Century Studios, Star Original Productions, National Geographic and more. It also streams live sports from ESPN.
The streamer is available in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Disney will fuel international growth with Star brand and Star+ app

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K