Our weekly news brief summarizes cord-cutter news from around the Web. In this week's round-up: Free STARZ on Sling this weekend, Roku raising $200 million in new funding, The Weather Network adding livestreaming, MLB may stream on Facebook and more.
- All Sling Orange and Sling Blue customers have free access to live and on-demand TV shows and movies from STARZ through Sunday, February 26. Not a Sling TV subscriber? Get a free 7-day trial here.
- Fortune reports that Roku is raising a new round of funding, with at least $200 million in new funding primarily from U.S.-based investors. Past funding has brought in $210 million from investors that include Fidelity Investments, MHearst Ventures, Viacom, Fox Networks, Netflix and others.
- At the same time, Roku is expanding its advertising presence in New York City, signing a lease for 15,931 square feet at 114 West 41st Street, moving up from their current 3,000 square feet of NYC office space.
- The Weather Network is adding livestreaming video to its Amazon and Apple apps and to The Weather Network Roku channel. Fierce Cable reports that the livestream "will include local weather information for cities around the world along with maps, warnings and alerts. The apps also feature user generated content and a collection of on-demand video content."
- The major streaming video services regularly add and remove TV shows and movies, leading to disappointed viewers who were planning to binge-watch a show that just got dropped. From Newsweek, here is a list of dozens of movies and TV shows that are coming and going on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in March.
- MLB may be streaming on Facebook this season. Reuters reports that "Facebook is in talks with Major League Baseball to live stream one game per week during the upcoming season." Facebook and MLB declined to comment to Reuters about this possible deal.
- 5G is coming! StreamingMedia.com editor Troy Dreier posted an article on StreamingMedia.com that states "[w]hile 5G mobile networking mass adoption is years away and still lacks standards, communications giant Ericsson... announced the launch of its 5G platform." Not yet a consumer product, it's "targeted to operators ready to take early steps with 5G and experiment with trial networks."
- AMC Networks saw its 4th-quarter 2016 net income fall to $14 million, down from $90 million in the previous-year's 4th quarter, according to FieceCable. That loss was due, though, to international declines. "AMC's national networks segment — which houses AMC, WE tv, BBC AMERICA, IFC and SundanceTV, as well as AMC Studios — saw its operating income increase 9.2%."
- A report from Parks Associates predicts that "10 percent of U.S. broadband households are likely to cancel their fixed broadband service over the next 12 months." No, they won't be going off the grid. Advanced Television reports that "these consumers would use wireless or mobile data services as a replacement for their traditional broadband service."
