Category Archives: Streaming

Disney+ Will Launch in November 2019

Streaming

Disney announced that Disney+ will launch in the U.S. market on November 12, 2019, at $6.99 a month. The launch date coincides with the holiday season, when many children (and some adults) have days off. Plenty of time to watch Disney content!

Disney+ will launch in November with a robust library of theatrical and television content, and in its first year will release more than 25 original series and 10 original films, documentaries and specials by some of the industry’s most prolific and creative storytellers.

New original titles for Disney+ include:

From Marvel Studios:

  • The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, a live-action series with Anthony Mackie returning as Falcon and Sebastian Stan reprising his role as Winter Soldier
  • WandaVision, a live action series with Elizabeth Olsen returning as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany reprising his role as The Vision.
  • Marvel’s What If…?, the first animated series from Marvel Studios and takes inspiration from the comic books of the same name. Each episode will explore a pivotal moment from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turn it on its head, leading the audience into uncharted territory.

From Walt Disney Studios:

  • Toy Story-based projects Forky Asks a Question, an animated short series, and the short film Lamp Life.

From National Geographic:

  • The World According to Jeff Goldblum, a documentary series where Goldblum pulls back the curtain on a seemingly familiar object to reveal a world of astonishing connections, fascinating science and a whole lot of big ideas.
  • Magic of the Animal Kingdom, a documentary series which takes viewers behind the scenes with the highly respected animal-care experts, veterinarians and biologists at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot’s SeaBase aquarium.

From Disney Television Animation:

  • The Phineas and Ferb Movies (working title), an animated film featuring many of the original voice cast.

This list is in addition to previously announce Disney+ scripted originals that are part of Disney’s Star Wars, Marvel, Walt Disney Studios content. All 30 seasons of The Simpsons will be available on Disney+ on day one. Family friendly Fox titles like The Sound of Music, The Princess Bride, and Malcom in the Middle will also be on Disney+.

To me, it sounds like there will be a ton of interesting things to watch on Disney+. It is astounding how much stuff The Walt Disney Company owns. Disney+ will be competing with Hulu and Netflix.

Disney+ Will Have New Star Wars and Marvel Series

Streaming

Disney has announced that their new direct-to-consumer streaming service will be called Disney+. It is scheduled to launch in the United States in late 2019. I haven’t seen anything that specifically states what a subscription to Disney+ would cost.

Disney+ will have a Star Wars live action series that will go into production next year. It will follow the adventures of Cassian Andor during the formative years of the Rebellion and prior to the events of Rogue One. Diego Luna will reprise the role of Andor.

In addition, Disney+ will also have a Marvel live action series centered around Loki, the god of mischief. Tom Hiddleston will star.

CNBC reported that in August of 2017, Disney said it would pull all of its movies from Netflix in 2019. If you are a Netflix subscriber, I recommend you watch those movies now, before they are removed.

I believe that Disney+ will attract a lot of consumers, especially those who have children. It sounds like Disney+ is going to offer plenty of interesting things for teens and adults, as well. Disney+, in my opinion, could be a fierce rival for Netflix. I think current Netflix subscribers could be tempted to switch to Disney+ if the subscription price is lower than what Netflix charges.

Or, maybe people will subscribe to both. To me, it feels like we are at a place where people can “just pay for the channels they want” instead of paying for cable. If so, that’s something a lot of people have been wanting for a long time.

Image from Pexels

26 Seasons of Doctor Who Coming to Twitch

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Twitch announced that they will stream 26 Seasons of Doctor Who starting on May 29, 2018. That’s over 500 episodes for Doctor Who fans to binge watch.

Join us and tons of other fans in Twitch chat for over seven weeks of classic Doctor Who, starting with the 1963 episode “An Unearthly Child.” Together we’ll make our way through the first seven Doctors spanning 26 seasons. Come relive (or experience for the first time ever) the origins of the iconic Daleks, the Cybermen, and the trusty Sonic Screwdriver.

Twitch will stream new episodes every day for eight hours starting at 11AM PDT, followed immediately by two eight-hour repeat blocks. There will be exclusive Doctor Who emotes for everyone who subscribes to /twitchpresents and a shiny new Tardis Cheermote.

Twitch is partnering with Yogscast to bring you seven new episodes featuring a cast of Doctor Who screenwriters, experts, and fans who will introduce each new Doctor and highlight some of the best upcoming story arcs.

There will also be prizes. Twitch will be giving away Doctor Who fan packs (which include a Tardis money box, a themed Monopoly set, and Doctor Who doormat) and a grand prize trip to London Comic Con. For more details about how to enter this sweepstakes, and to read the Official Rules, please visit the Twitch blog.

Two New Rokus for UK

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After a very long wait, Roku are bringing two new models to the UK market with the Roku Express and Roku Streaming Stick+.

While North America fans have enjoyed new models for over a year, the UK has lagged behind with long-standing Roku 2 and 3 models: owners of 4K TVs have had to look elsewhere for their ultra high definition fix. Fortunately the new Roku Streaming Stick+ supports both 4K and HDR up to 60 f/s.

Taking a quick look over the two models, the Roku Express is the second generation of the model and is perfect for standard HD TVs with HDMI. Connectivity is provided by b/g/n wifi and there’s an IR remote, so you will need line of sight to control the Express.

The new star of the show is the Roku Streaming Stick+, delivering 4K UHD with HDR via 802.11ac dual-band MIMO wifi. The advanced wireless remote allows the stick to be mounted behind the TV, plus there are now buttons to turn the TV on/off and control the volume.

To showcase 4K content, a 4K Spotlight Channel will offer instant access to 4K movies and TV shows from various streaming channels. Both remotes have channel shortcut buttons too.

“The Roku Express is one of our most popular streaming players and we are excited to bring it to the UK. It is a great starting point for first time streamers or for people looking to extend the Roku experience to other TVs,” said Chas Smith, general manager of Roku TVs and players. “Consumers will love our new sleek Roku Streaming Stick+ with an innovative advanced wireless receiver that gives up to four times the wireless range and a remote that controls TV volume and power. At £79.99, it makes HD, 4K and HDR streaming simple.”

Of course, the free complementary Roku app for iOS and Android provides all the usual Roku features including streaming media from a mobile device to the TV, remote control, voice search and private listening.

Available from 18th October online with retail availability shortly afterwards, the Roku Express costs GB£29.99 whereas the Streaming Stick+ comes in at £79.99. Put one on your Christmas list.

Disney is Starting its Own Streaming Services

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Disney announced that it will launch its own streaming services. This comes as a result of an acquisition and may affect some of the Disney-owned content that is available on Netflix.

The Walt Disney Company announced today that it has agreed to acquire majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC and will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport streaming service in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019.

The ESPN-branded multi-sport service will offer a robust array of sports programming, featuring approximately 10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year, including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam Tennis, and college sports. Individual sport packages will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live.

The new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the United States for subscription-video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate, which includes Toy Story 4, the sequel to Frozen and The Lion King from Disney live-action, along with other highly anticipated movies.

Disney will also make a significant investment in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service. Additionally, the service will feature a vast collection of library content, including Disney and Pixar movies and Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD television programming.

These upcoming changes will affect the content that is currently available on Netflix. Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.

PlayOn Cloud comes to Android

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If you aren’t familiar with PlayOn, It is a portal to over 100 streaming websites, allowing you watch multiple shows. And the Cloud acts as a DVR, allowing you to download shows and then watch, even offline.

Now that Cloud capability comes to the Android platform. This includes shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, Yahoo View, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HBO NOW, PBS, The CW, and YouTube.

The company announces “We have officially launched PlayOn Cloud for Android. Now you can record and download any show or movie from top streaming providers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO and more, with a simple touch of a button on your Android device.

There is more good news. Thanks to new optimizations and processing improvements that are designed to bring down the cost for all of this. The company claims it will now be $0.20 per recording. You’ll have to buy credits from the website.

If you have severed your ties with cable and satellite TV then PlayOn may be something you want to look at. That said, there are plenty of others as well.

NewTek and Wowza Deliver Joint Streaming Device

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NewTek and Wowza Media Systems announced the immediate availability of MediaDS, a revolutionary real-time encoding and live streaming video delivery system.

MediaDS is a hardware and software solution merging NewTek’s industry-leading live production technology with the powerful, proven Wowza streaming software in an IRU footprint. The result is the industry’s first end-to-end streaming solution to allow producers to launch their own multi-channel content networks from their production site and deliver a live video stream directly to their viewers.

For enhanced scalability, producers can also create a virtual CDN or edge network by connecting together multiple MediaDS  – either through a local area network, or remotely over IP to cross wide geographic boundaries. Video production to content delivery over IP makes enterprise deployments effortless.

MediaDS also organized to extend their brand beyond actual video content. The system not only acts as a media server, but also will host all required content – including web pages which are independently customizable – for audience viewing, to ensure that the on-screen experience adheres to organizational brand guidelines. Embed codes are also available to insert the Wowza Player into existing webpages to complement your current web presence.

MediaDS ensures the optimal audio-visual experience for viewing audiences right from the system by introducing another layer of quality control into any signal flow. With support for dedicated multiviewer monitoring, a local operator can observe all video streams in real time or focus on a specific channel full-screen, and manage image and sound quality with integrated waveform and vectorscope displays, independent of color correction tools, and multi-channel audio level control available for every stream. Producers can also stack multiple channels from the same source, and encode them into different renditions as a grouped stream to enable adaptive bitrate streaming.

MediaDS is available immediately for $11,995 USMSP. International pricing may vary.