Advanced Television

Broadcast

Disney closing Hotstar in US

Disney is to close down its Hotstar streaming service in the United States in late 2022, but has yet to confirm an end date. It is streamlining its streaming services by moving content over to Hulu and ESPN+. “The move from Hotstar, a premium brand for South Asian content, to ESPN+ and Hulu in the […]

September 1, 2021By Colin Mann

HBO: 45-day Asia SVoD window for Warner titles

New blockbuster movies from Warner Bros such as The Suicide Squad will soon be available to stream on HBO GO as early as 45 days after their in-market theatrical premiere in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The first movies out of the blocks are The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – available […]

September 1, 2021

Disney’s Star+ launches in LatAm

Star+, The Walt Disney Company’s new general entertainment and sports streaming service for adults, has launched in Latin America. The service includes fiction and non-fiction productions fully created in Latin America, a broad offering of live sports from ESPN, new international original productions, the full collection of animated comedies from 20th Television, exclusive movie premieres, […]

September 1, 2021

Court blow for US local net streamer

Network broadcasters have won a judgement that puts the future of TV station streamer, Locast, at risk. The US Court of Appeals for the Southern District of New York has ruled against its copyright defence of the service. Locast has relied on the premise that because it did not charge a user fee – it […]

September 1, 2021

Verimatrix protects IDC sporting events

Verimatrix, a specialist in powering the modern connected world with people-centred security, has announced that Ontario, Canada-based International Datacasting Corporation (IDC), a global provider of products, systems and services for the distribution of multimedia broadband content, selected Verimatrix VCAS video encryption technology to protect the airing of sporting events for its broadcasting customers serving the […]

September 1, 2021

Analysis: SVoDs take churn revenue hit

Findings from Wurl Analytics, the research division of streaming TV specialist Wurl, suggest that lost US revenue for four of the top SVoD platforms as a result of churn totalled $80.2 million (€68.1m) in the month of April 2021 alone. In its first report, Churn Analysis Report 2021, Wurl Analytics uncovers the far-reaching financial impact […]

August 31, 2021

The Orwellian Ofcom appointment

George Orwell’s dystopian future world of a sinister, mind-controlling dictatorship is often called upon as an analogy for political shenanigans in ‘the real world’. Usually, the comparison is overblown and inaccurate, and I’m not going to break with that tradition. However, the UK government’s manipulation of the ‘independent’ appointment of the chair of the media […]

August 31, 2021

Analyst: 15m Arabic SVoD subs by 2026

There will be 15 million SVoD subscriptions across 13 Arabic countries by 2026, up from 8.61 million in 2021, according to the Middle East and North Africa SVOD Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research. Netflix will bring in more subscribers than second-place OSN and third-placed StarzPlay combined. [Disney+ will not start in the […]

August 31, 2021

BritBox launches on Roku

The BritBox SVoD service is now available on Roku streaming players and Roku TV models. Existing BritBox customers can log in to BritBox on their Roku streaming device whilst Roku users who do not yet have BritBox can sign up via their remote control thanks to seamless integration with Roku Pay. BritBox UK, a joint […]

August 31, 2021By Nik Roseveare

Bank predicts next Viaplay markets

Investment bank Berenberg, in a major report on Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) and the prospects for further expansion for the broadcaster, suggests some appealing markets which NENT might be looking at to launch its Viaplay service. NENT is due to hold its Capital Markets Day (CMD) on September 22nd when it might make announcements as […]

August 31, 2021By Chris Forrester