All articles tagged with #streaming
NBC and Peacock combined to average 18.6 million viewers for the U.S.-Canada Olympic men’s hockey final, the largest hockey audience since 2010, with 3.7 million streaming viewers and encore airings pushing total reach to about 20.7 million; Nielsen-only figures would be around 14.9 million, underscoring NBC’s success leveraging streaming and new measurement methods for Olympic hockey’s marquee moment.
Atlanta announced BravesVision, a team-owned network that will broadcast Braves games on TV and streaming with no local blackouts (except national exclusives), following the end of its RSN deal with Main Street Sports; while initial revenue may be softer than the old RSN arrangement, the move promises broader fan access and reflects MLB’s push toward centralized streaming options.
The Atlanta Braves are launching BravesVision, their own broadcast network for the 2026 season after splitting with Main Street Sports Group and FanDuel Sports Network. BravesVision will produce at least 140 games, with viewing options including a Braves.TV subscription on MLB’s streaming platform for the home market (GA, TN, AL, MS, NC, SC), MLB.TV for out-of-market viewers, and direct-to-distributor partnerships; pricing and packages will be announced in March.
YouTube Premium Lite is gaining background playback and offline downloads, letting you play videos while using other apps and save content for offline viewing. The perks are rolling out at no extra charge with Lite, but ad-free viewing still requires the full YouTube Premium plan ($13.99/month); most videos are ad-free on Lite, though some content (music, Shorts, and browse/search results) may still show ads.
Paramount Skydance filed what appears to be a sweeter bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which the WBD board says it is reviewing with advisers, while Netflix’s existing transaction to buy WBD’s studios and streaming assets remains in effect. Netflix has four business days to match Paramount’s revised offer under the Netflix merger agreement; if Paramount’s proposal is deemed a “Company Superior Proposal” by WBD, the Netflix deal could be terminated and a definitive merger with Paramount could proceed. Financial terms of Paramount’s updated bid were not disclosed.
BravesVision will be the Braves' team-owned media home, delivered via cable/satellite, Gray Media over-the-air, and an in-market Braves.TV direct-to-consumer option (no blackouts for Braves.TV); a separate out-of-market MLB.tv option remains for broader access with typical local blackout rules. Availability depends on distributors; pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but MLB.tv-like packages could be around $20/month. The move could boost in-market revenue and sidestep some league revenue-sharing rules, with more details to come ahead of Opening Day.
Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu’s gold-medal free skate to Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park triggered a 505% surge in U.S. on-demand streams for the song (roughly 12,000 daily streams before the skate, then about 115,000 on Friday and 139,000 on Saturday). Spotify streams for MacArthur Park jumped nearly 1,300% the day after her performance. The boost underscores the growing commercial impact of music choices in skating and highlights ongoing licensing considerations in the sport.
Switch your Smart TV from WiFi to a wired Ethernet connection for a faster, more stable streaming experience; connect a Cat5e/Cat8 cable from your router to the TV’s LAN port, then enable Wired in the TV’s settings. Netflix lists about 15 Mbps for 4K and 25 Mbps for smoother loading; Ethernet can also reduce ping for gaming and apps. While researchers have demonstrated ultra-fast speeds in labs, practical home use should stick with wired Ethernet for now.
Timothée Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey headline CNN/Variety's Town Hall tonight at 7 p.m. ET, filmed at the University of Texas at Austin, where they’ll discuss acting, craft, and take student questions; viewers can watch without cable via streaming options like DIRECTV's five-day trial or Sling TV's $4.99 Day Pass.
NY Post outlines the Milan-hosted 2026 Olympic figure skating exhibition gala (Feb. 21, 2 p.m. ET) and how to watch: NBC will carry in‑progress coverage, starting around 2:55 p.m. ET, while streaming options include Peacock (Premium with ads or Premium Plus ad-free; annual plans available) and a DIRECTV five‑day free trial. The 2.5‑hour gala features top skaters such as Alysa Liu, Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, and Madison Chock/Evan Bates, performing exhibition programs in a relaxed format at Milano Ice Skating Arena; the event is part of the Games’ closing‑time festivities with the closing ceremony on Feb. 22.
Netflix will drop support for its app on PlayStation 3 and other decade-old devices, with a March 2, 2026 deadline; older smart TVs and set-top boxes will also lose Netflix access, and while no official announcement has been made, notices shared on Reddit and X corroborate the change, affecting over 87 million devices.
YouTube suffered a Tuesday night outage that prevented videos from loading on desktop and mobile, with users seeing “Something went wrong. Try again.” The company later attributed the disruption to a glitch in its recommendations system that hid videos across surfaces (homepage, app, Music, Kids). The homepage returned first and full restoration followed by about 7:40 p.m. PT, as the platform—home to roughly 2.7 billion monthly users—returned to normal amid social‑media frustration.
Paramount+ adds three notable titles: Old Guy (2025), a low-budget action‑comedy starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu and Cooper Hoffman; The Beldham (2024), a haunting horror about a mother and daughter; and Cinema Paradiso (1988), the beloved film about a boy’s love of cinema. Spanning comedy, horror, and timeless cinema, the trio highlights Paramount+’s February slate and offers something for varied tastes, with Old Guy earning strong audience buzz despite mixed critical reviews.
YouTube TV is gradually launching a new lineup of lower-cost, modular plans that let subscribers pick bundles (Sports, Sports + News, Entertainment, and combos), while keeping the original plan. All plans include local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and The CW, with prices ranging from $54.99 to $77.99 per month depending on the package. The rollout is staged to minimize disruption and gather feedback, appealing to cost-conscious viewers who want to tailor live TV to their interests amid competition from Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV.
A Valentine’s weekend streaming guide highlighting five new titles across Netflix, Apple TV, Starz, and Hulu: How to Train Your Dragon (Netflix) live‑action remake; Tyler Perry’s Joe’s College Road Trip (Netflix); Eternity (Apple TV); Good Fortune (Starz); Predator: Badlands (Hulu). The picks span family-friendly fare, rom‑com vibes, and sci‑fi thrills for a weekend binge.