When over-the-top (OTT) streaming providers like YouTube TV, FuboTV, and DirecTV first entered the market, they promised to give viewers more flexibility to pick and choose the channels they wanted - like NESN, the official broadcaster of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins - all while saving money on their cable bill in the process. Instead, these OTT providers and the broadcast rights holders keep raising their prices and getting into contract fights,
Watt's ire was caused by the ongoing carriage dispute between Disney and YouTube TV, which resulted in ESPN, and a bunch of other Disney networks, going dark on the Google-owned pay TV service on October 30th. The two companies are fighting over the money YouTube has to pay to carry Disney's networks, with both rejecting the other side's demands as unreasonable.
Amazon's Prime Vision feature will debut in the UK on Tuesday during the first round of UEFA Champions League matches. The optional feed layers real-time stats, like players' names, running speeds, and jump heights, directly onto the live stream. Additionally, the graphics will feature Amazon's expected goals (xG) algorithm, which tracks match momentum and estimates which team is most likely to score next.
Irony is the NFL finally being fully available to cord-cutters just as streaming has begun to bundle itself a la traditional TV. You're probably already aware of streaming being in its aggregator era. I mean, former WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey declared his intent to make HBO Max an aggregator back in 2019 - the media company has gone through three name changes and two corporate restructurings since then.
Fubo is launching a new Sports plan on September 2nd that costs $55.99 per month and comes with over 20 live sports and news-focused channels, including the ESPN and Fox Sports channels, as well as local stations owned by ABC, CBS, and Fox. Where available, this package includes coverage for network TV-broadcast pro and college football games that might slip through the cracks of other streaming options, while going light on channels that aren't all about sports: