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Streaming

Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
YouTube’s picture-in-picture mode is rolling out to all users globally.

Users in the US have been able to shrink YouTube videos while they access other apps for some time now, but now Google is expanding the feature to more regions in the coming months. It’s only available for long-form, non-music content on Android and iOS.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
A TV show renewal? I’ve seen stranger things.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Tales From ‘85, the animated Stranger Things spinoff, but it evidently did well enough that there’s more in store. Netflix has confirmed it’s coming back for season 2, and it’s happening soon — it’ll start streaming this fall.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Netflix has a new party game where you match GIFs with captions.

It looks very Jackbox-like — though if you want to play some actual Jackbox games on Netflix, that’s an option, too.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Brendan Carr is reportedly preparing to call in Disney/ABC’s broadcast licenses over Kimmel.

While the Trump administration’s attempt to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air was ultimately unsuccessful last year, the president is once again demanding his removal.

Now Semafor and CNN report the FCC is planning to “call in all of the TV station licenses for Disney/ABC for early renewal,” which would start a lengthy and potentially expensive process of hearings for the broadcaster that Carr has hinted at using before.

Update: And now that process has begun.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
“Welcome back, coach.”

We knew Ted Lasso was set to return this summer, and now Apple has released a more specific timeframe: season 4 will start streaming on August 5th. There’s also a new trailer showing that, even though Ted is in charge of a new team, things don’t seem to have changed all that much.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Pop Culture Jeopardy! returns for a second season on Netflix.

The game show spinoff, which covers topics like music, movies, culture, sports, celebrities, and entertainment, debuted on Amazon Prime Video. Now it’s headed to Netflix for another trivia-filled season starting May 11th, with host Colin Jost.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
DirecTV is streaming TV directly into Meta Quest headsets.

DirecTV now supports mixed reality with its new app for the Quest 2, 3, 3S, and even Pro headsets. There’s live TV for subscribers, plus on-demand and ad-supported content anyone can watch, available in the app store or through the Horizon TV hub Meta launched last year.

A person watching The Pitt on DirecTV with a Meta Quest headset
Image: DirecTV
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
WBD’s shareholders yearn for the sweet embrace of David Ellison.

Deadline reports that WBD’s shareholders have “overwhelmingly” voted the sell the legacy studio to Paramount Skydance for $31 per share. Shareholders rejected a proposed compensation package for current CEO David Zaslav that could range from $500-800 million. But Zaslav could still wind up walking away with a lot of money because that vote was non-binding.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
Apple TV’s sci-fi run continues.

Over the last few weeks the streamer has provided updates on new seasons of Dark Matter and Silo, and now we have the first proper trailer for Star City, the For All Mankind spinoff that shows things from the Soviet perspective. It starts streaming on May 29th.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Get in the robot, Sydney.

Netflix has announced the leading cast for its upcoming Gundam movie from director Jim Mickle (Sweet Tooth), and the lineup looks like… an interesting group of faces, to say the least.

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The least cast of Netflix’s Gundam movie.
Image: Netflix
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
We (literally) Don’t Talk About Bruno.

In celebration of National Deaf History Month, Disney has reanimated three songs — Frozen 2’s “The Next Right Thing,” Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” and “Beyond” from Moana 2into American Sign Language. The full reimagined musical sequences are coming to Disney Plus on April 27th.

Gaby Del Valle
Gaby Del Valle
I promise you Nick Fuentes has enough money.

The Washington Post analyzed more than 1,400 of the far-right provocateur’s streams and found that he’s generating more than $400,000 in revenue. Much of those donations are coming from people who are struggling economically, including one 57-year-old Air Force veteran who told the Post she thought he was struggling financially — and who is struggling herself.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Savant lives.

Though Apple has been radio silent about The Savant ever since it postponed the show’s debut last year, Deadline reports that the series may finally start streaming some time this July.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Former NBC News anchor Brian Williams is hosting Netflix’s latest original podcast.

We’re Back! With Brian Williams is among a handful of new shows coming to the platform including Allegedly, Shut Up Evan, The Puzzle Room with David Kwong, and The Rotten Files. They’ll join the streamer’s growing library of video “podcasts,” which are only available on Netflix, with no RSS feed downloads.

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Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Prime Video’s pricier “Ultra” plan goes live today.

Going ad-free on Prime Video now costs $4.99 per month, instead of $2.99. It also comes with “exclusive” access to 4K streams.