In this week's collection of recent cord-cutting news items from around the web: Dish is suing stores selling pirate streaming boxes, YouTube TV give a free week after World Cup outage, only 39% go to live linear TV first, Netflix debuts new feature for binge-watching, will spend $12 billion on content this year, Philo now on Apple TV and Fire TV and raised another $40M, and more!
Dish Network is suing stores for selling pirate streaming boxesTorrentFreak reports that Dish "has filed a lawsuit against several New York companies that sell or distribute 'pirate' streaming boxes. The case centers around the controversial 'Shava TV' devices, which remain widely available in the US despite a $25 million court order last year."
Variety reports that "Google is offering YouTube TV subscribers a credit for one week of free service after the internet-streaming TV service went down on July 11 — right in the middle of the World Cup semifinal match between England and Croatia. 'We're really sorry for the recent YouTube TV outage during the FIFA World Cup Semifinal,' YouTube said in an email to subscribers... 'To help make this right, we'd like to give you a week of free service.'"
CuriosityStream comes to YouTube as $3 add-on, says FierceCable. The "science, technology and nature channel launched by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks" brings "first-in-class documentaries from around the globe covering science, history, health, human interest and more."
Only 39% go to live linear TV first. New data from Hub Entertainment Research, which was reported by StreamingMedia.com, shows that "only 39 percent start out with live linear TV from a pay TV service, a decline from 47 percent last year. Today, 48 percent of viewers are more likely to start their viewing with a time-shifted or on-demand option, such as Netflix, Hulu, or a DVR."
European networks are joining forces to take on Netflix and Amazon. "Old media broadcasters in Germany and France are setting up ambitious joint national video platforms," says The Hollywood Reporter, but asks "do they have what it takes to compete with the streaming giants? "Instead of trying to be cooler than Netflix, the argument goes, European networks might be better off playing to the middle-of-the-road viewers who prefer a home-grown cop show, or live sports, to the latest episodes of Orange Is the New Black."
Netflix debuts "Smart Downloads" feature for binges, reports Deadline. Initially announced in a Netflix blog post, Smart Downloads "will automatically delete episodes that are viewed and then download the next episode once you are connected to WiFi. The feature will only be available initially on Android phones and tablets, and is focused on episodic series, not movies or specials."
And there will be even more binge-watching content in the future; The Economist reports that Netflix will spend $12 billion or more on content this year, "more than any studio spends on films, or any television company lays out on stuff that isn't sport. Their viewers will get 82 feature films in a year when Warner Brothers, the Hollywood studio with the biggest slate, will send cinemas only 23... Netflix is producing or procuring 700 new or exclusively licensed television shows, including more than 100 scripted dramas and comedies, dozens of documentaries and children's shows, stand-up comedy specials and unscripted reality and talk shows. And its ambitions go far beyond Hollywood. It is currently making programmes in 21 countries, including Brazil, Germany, India and South Korea."
FierceCable reports that Philo has launched on Apple TV and Fire TV while raising another $40M. "With the new funding, Philo has raised more than $83 million, according to Crunchbase. That includes a $6.3 million series A round in 2013, a $10 million series B in 2015 and a $22 million series C last year."
