Advanced Television

VOD

Disney+ wins see reshuffle to focus on streaming

The Walt Disney Company has announced a strategic reorganisation of its media and entertainment businesses after the immense success of its Disney+ SVoD platform. Under the new structure, Disney’s creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the Company’s streaming services, as well as for legacy platforms, while distribution and commercialisation activities […]

October 13, 2020

Mickey mugs the big screen

The Disney Corporation is known for two things: Family-friendly entertainment, and taking no prisoners. It is at the top table of world media as much through the second attribute as the first. Nowhere is its ruthlessness more evident than in its exploitation of the direct route to its consumers. Going direct over the heads of […]

October 13, 2020

Cinemas ‘shocked’ by Disney+ film premieres

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), representing European cinema operators, has responded to Disney’s decision to forego a cinema release for its upcoming Pixar animation Soul, and instead launch the movie straight onto its Disney+ streaming service on Christmas Day. It marks the third time during the pandemic that Disney has released a tentpole movie […]

October 13, 2020By Nik Roseveare

Sweden: Media spend starting to normalise

Mediavision’s analysis of household spend on media services points towards a stabilisation in the third quarter, following substantial pandemic effects in Q2. During this spring, online video services reached new record levels which have now normalised. Meanwhile, Mediavision concludes that spend on digital text subscriptions increase substantially. Mediavision’s Q3 analysis shows that Swedish households spend […]

October 13, 2020

Netflix’s Narcos on Pluto TV

Netflix’s crime drama series Narcos will be available to stream for free on ViacomCBS’s AVoD service, Pluto TV, in the US beginning on October 20th. The deal marks the first time that Narcos will be widely available to US streaming viewers without a Netflix subscription. All five seasons of the show (Narcos and Narcos: Mexico) […]

October 13, 2020

The Witches goes PVoD

The Witches is the latest film title that will skip a UK cinema release and instead premiere as a PVoD rental in homes. The adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl story, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Octavia Spencer, will be available to download from October 26th. Once downloaded, the […]

October 13, 2020By Nik Roseveare

Report: 41,000+ European movies on 367 VoD services

An update of the European Audiovisual Observatory’s LUMIERE VoD film directory shows the presence of 41,550 European film titles (produced or minority co-produced by countries of the European Union and Council of Europe) in 367 different VoD catalogues (119 TVoD and 248 SVoD catalogues), representing 472,180 film presences at the end of August 2020. When the number of available

October 12, 2020

Research: AVoD set for meteoric rise in US

Research from Ampere Analysis has found that almost one in five US Internet users are accessing AVoD services. Based on Q3 2020 figures, 17 per cent of Internet users in the US used one or more AVoD service in the prior month, up from 13 per cent in Q3 2019. The rise of AVoD services […]

October 12, 2020

Dungey exits Netflix

Channing Dungey, VP of original series for Netflix, has left the company after less than two years, with reports suggesting she is taking a leading role at Warner Bros Television. Dungey joined Netflix in 2018 after 14 years with Disney-owned ABC Entertainment. The news comes after Cindy Holland, Netflix VP of original content, left the […]

October 12, 2020

Freeview Play on Amazon Fire TV Edition

Freeview Play is launching on selected Fire TV Edition TVs, thanks to a new agreement between Digital UK and Amazon. Freeview Play is home to over 85 channels and nine on-demand players; BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5, UKTV Play, CBS Catchup Channels UK, Horror Bites, STV Player and BBC Sounds. Freeview Play gives […]

October 12, 2020