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Amazon updates Fire TV’s YouTube app to redirect users to a web browser instead
The feud between Amazon and Google continues today with the early removal of YouTube from the Fire TV – a move Google had said wouldn’t take place until January 1, 2018. But as a number of Fire TV owners have now noticed, launching the YouTube app today informs you that you can choose to watch “YouTube and millions of other websites” by using a web browser. You then… Read More
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Thousands of major sites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
It’s no secret that ad blockers are putting a dent in advertising-based business models on the web. This has produced a range of reactions, from relatively polite whitelisting asks to dynamic redeployment of ads to avoid blocking. A new study finds that nearly a third of the top 10,000 sites on the web are taking ad blocking countermeasures, many silent and highly sophisticated. Read More
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Vice founders apologize for allowing a “boy’s club” culture at the company
Vice Media founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi say they are “truly sorry” for not doing enough to stop inappropriate behavior at the company. In a public statement issued shortly before The New York Times published an article on Saturday that described multiple accounts of sexual misconduct by Vice employees, Smith, its chief executive officer, and Alvi said they are taking… Read More
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CNN is killing its Snapchat news show only four months after its debut
CNN is giving up on its Snapchat news show, which launch only four months ago. “The Update,” as the program was called, had been designed for Snapchat’s vertical video format, but didn’t feature video produced only for Snapchat, nor did it have dedicated anchors. Instead, the news featured on “The Update” was a curated selection of CNN’s reporting from… Read More
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Podia helps content creators build their online business
More than a year and a half ago, I wrote about Coach, a startup offering tools for tutors and other freelancers to make money and operate their business online. Since then, the company has shifted focus in a big way, and it recently announced that it’s raised $3 million in seed funding. It’s got a new name, too — Podia. Read More
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FabFitFun expands its empire with a new app for Apple TV and Amazon Fire
FabFitFun, the women’s lifestyle subscription service and media company that’s become a household name among influencers of a certain generation, is expanding its empire with the launch of a new video app for Apple TV and Amazon Fire. The Los Angeles company founded by Daniel and Michael Broukhim has become one of the darlings of the tech scene in Southern California. Read More
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Netflix is turning Will Smith streaming original ‘Bright’ into a film franchise
Netflix will launch its first streaming-only franchise, with the news (via Bloomberg) that it’s greenlit a sequel to Will Smith film Bright, which is set to stream beginning December 22. Bright has the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster, and a fantasy setting that could be a good fit for an episodic film franchise, given what has traditionally done well with fans in terms of… Read More
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Twitch announces reality show for up-and-coming streamers
Twitch is planning to highlight some of its most promising users in a reality show called Stream On. The Amazon-owned video game streaming service says the show is for participants who are “right on the cusp of making streaming full-time a possibility.” More concretely, it’s holding auditions for users who have already achieved Partner status — the FAQ discourages… Read More
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Caavo’s over-the-top TV box for over-the-top TV boxes ships February 14
The streaming box that aims to bring sanity to your streaming world by combining all your streaming hardware sources into one will ship on Valentine’s Day next year, according to The Verge. Caavo offers a solution to a very modern problem – making it easy to switch between devices including your DVR, your Roku, your Apple TV, your PS4 and other devices seamlessly, using one remote… Read More
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Plexamp, Plex’s spin on the classic Winamp player, is the first project from new incubator Plex Labs
Media software maker Plex, which has been enjoying a bit of growth following its newer focus on DIY cord-cutters, today announced a new incubator and community resource called Plex Labs. The idea here is to help the company’s internal passion projects gain exposure, along with those from Plex community members. Plex Labs will also offer in-depth technical writing about Plex, the… Read More
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YouTube Red cancels release of Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Super Size Me 2’ following filmmaker’s sexual abuse confessions
YouTube’s subscription service, YouTube Red, is losing another of its bigger names. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” sequel will be pulled from YouTube Red’s 2018 lineup, following Spurlock’s recent confessions of sexual misconduct shared on Twitter last week. Spurlock on Wednesday admitted to a sexual encounter in college that sounds… Read More
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Netflix arranged a surprise proposal for two streaming superfans
Netflix is to dating what going to the movies once was, so it makes a lot of sense that couples would remember the streaming service and some of its signature shows as key facets in the progress of their relationships. The company capitalized on that with one couple, Conor and Kamela, to create a perfect proposal guest-starring Santa Clarita Diet leads Drew Barrymore and Timothy… Read More
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The Last Jedi should be the last Star Wars film
At the risk of being ostracized by the vast majority of my TC teammates, let me propose that Star Wars: The Last Jedi would — in a fairer universe — be the last Star Wars film… (Spoiler alerts!) Read More
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Apple picks up a new space drama from the creator of ‘Battlestar Galactica’
What the frak is this? According to a report from Deadline, Apple may have actually gotten its hand on a good show – a new space drama from “Battlestar Galactica” creator, Ronald D. Moore – to aid in its ambitions in building out its original video content. The still untitled series comes from Sony Pictures Television and Moore’s Tall Ship Productions, and has… Read More
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Erik Huggers is stepping down as CEO of Vevo
Vevo, the music video service backed by major record labels, just announced that its CEO Erik Huggers is departing. Huggers previously worked at the BBC, at Verizon (which owns TechCrunch) and elsewhere. He joined Vevo in 2015. Under his leadership, Vevo was working to become less reliant on YouTube (which was its major syndication partner) by developing more apps and products like the… Read More
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Live-streaming app Spotlite raises $10 million from Sequoia Capital China to help singers make money
Described to me as “American Idol meets musical.ly,” startup Spotlite recently raised more than $10 million from Sequoia Capital and BlueRun Ventures. The plan is to use the funding to build out the product, make key hires and expand its marketing and advertising efforts. Read More
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Original Content podcast: Netflix’s ‘Mudbound’ offers a somber look at Mississippi in the 1940s
Mudbound, a Dee Rees-directed film currently streaming on Netflix, is both epic and intimate, telling the intertwined stories of two families (one black, one white) farming on the Mississippi delta. That description might make the movie sound like a home work assignment, or perhaps a too-neat dissection of race relations in the American South. On the latest episode of the Original Content… Read More
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