In this week's collection of recent cord-cutting news items from around the web: Everything coming to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu in May; YouTube TV has added two channels from Cheddar; The Roku Channel to offer ABC News Live and PeopleTV, and may become available on non-Roku devices; Netflix, Amazon and Hollywood sue "SET TV" for piracy; AT&T to launch a $15/month sports-free streaming service; and more!
Nerdist gives us a list of everything coming to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu in May. "Fans of The Matrix, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Rocky will be able to enjoy almost every movie in those respective series, as well as few notable streaming debuts from last year. Overall, though, it's another quiet month for original streaming series and movies." Check out the full list here.
"DirecTV Now mobile app usage surges 185% year over year," according to research reported by FiercCable. The research was conducted by Apptopia, which "also found that year-over-year usage of fuboTV and Hulu apps increased by 170% and 163%, respectively. Conversely, usage of the Sling TV mobile app fell 34%."
Also from FierceCable, pay TV bills up 74% since 2000 and are a leading cause of cord cutting," according to research company Kagan, S&P Global Market Intelligence. "'The eroding legacy multichannel affordability partly explains the popularity of over-the-top services such as Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video,' Kagan said in a statement."
"YouTube TV has added two channels from Cheddar," reports Variety: "The startup's flagship financial-news network and Cheddar Big News, its brand-new general news network... 'Cheddar's emphasis on tech and media news coverage make it a strong fit for the millennial, tech-savvy audience that also loves YouTube TV,' said Christian Oestlien, director of product for YouTube TV."
YouTube TV isn't the only service to be adding Cheddar. Live and linear news are coming to The Roku Channel according to a recent Roku blog post, and that will include Cheddar. "The Roku Channel will offer ABC News Live, a new 24/7 live and linear news stream from ABC News that gives viewers access to breaking news and live event coverage from all over the world. Roku customers can also view live and linear news feeds from Cheddar, covering technology, media and entertainment; PeopleTV, delivering celebrity, pop culture, lifestyle news and more; and others.
And you may not need a Roku device to watch The Roku Channel in the future. Variety reports that "Roku has plans to bring its ad-supported Roku channel to many more third-party devices, recent tweaks in its privacy policy suggest. The channel could soon pop up on game consoles and streaming devices manufactured by other companies, according to those changes." A Roku spokesperson told Variety via email, "We are looking at a variety of distribution opportunities for The Roku Channel but don't have anything specific to share today."
Netflix, Amazon and Hollywood sue "SET TV" over IPTV Piracy. According to TorrentFreak, the companies complain that "the Set TV software is little more than a pirate tool, allowing buyers to stream copyright infringing content... In addition to the software, [SET TV] also offers a preloaded box. Both allow users to connect to live streams of TV channels and 'on demand' content. The latter includes movies that are still in theaters, which SET TV allegedly streams through third-party sources."
TechCrunch reports that AT&T is launching a new $15-per-month, sports-free streaming service in a few weeks. Called "AT&T Watch," AT&T Unlimited Wireless subscribers would receive it for free. The new offering was revealed by AT&T's CEO while defending AT&T's planned merger with Time Warner in an antitrust trial covered by Variety.
RokuGuide.com may receive a referral fee for any purchases or subscriptions made through links on this page. See our full FTC Disclosure Statement for more information.
