Our weekly news brief summarizes cordcutter news from around the Web. In this week's round-up: Hulu wants to avoid service launch problems like those experienced by DirecTV Now, Apple has hired the head of Amazon Fire TV to breath life into Apple TV, Sling TV will be rolling out its cloud DVR service to more devices, and more.
Apple has hired Amazon's head of Fire TV to run Apple TV business. Bloomberg speculates that this "suggest(s) a renewed focus on the Apple TV," which failed to be updated in 2016 and had just 12% of the Internet-connected TV market, behind both Chromecast and Roku.
You aren't the only one tired of commercials: Disney's CEO also thinks there are too many ads on TV. He said during Tuesday's quarterly earnings call, "In general there is probably too much commercial interruption in television," and added Disney would evaluate the amount of ads it airs on ESPN and ABC channels.
Iger also said Disney plans to develop direct-to-consumer apps, and to expect one for ESPN in 2017. Business Insider reports the following "rundown of ESPN's future battle plan, according to Iger:"
- Launching ESPN on all new streaming TV services.
- Investing in "industry-leading programming."
- Growing ESPN's presence on mobile.
- Investing in tech that will allow direct-to-consumer products.
As it readies it's own streaming TV service, Hulu is focused on avoiding DirecTV Now-like bugs according to James Murdoch, CEO of Hulu co-owner 21st Century Fox. Murdoch was making reference to the vast extent of problems experienced by DirecTV Now users immediately after the launch of that service late last year.
Murdoch didn't confine his comments to Hulu; a transcript of the earnings call shows that he also said that "within the next few months, [Fox] will be rolling out a major overhaul of our streaming apps, which will deliver a step change for customers and future customers in quality, in discovery and in engagement."
Last November Sling TV launched a beta test of a cloud DVR service on Roku. This week Sling TV announced the upcoming addition of cloud DVR to more devices. Amazon, Android TV and Android mobile devices will be the first to be added, followed at a later time by Apple TV. No timetable was provided for when this service would be added, or as to when the service will be made available to all Sling TV users on Roku.
