At Apple’s WWDC 2024, the company revealed a handy new feature for Apple TV+ called InSight.
Apple TV+’s new feature appears to be similar to Amazon’s X-Ray technology, where Fire TV users get an overview of actor bios and behind-the-scenes information while watching TV shows and movies.
To use “InSight,” Apple TV+ subscribers can use their remote to bring up a display with actor names and character information in real-time.
Apple also announced several updates to tvOS, the software running on Apple TV.
According to the company, there will be better vocal clarity over background noise, music, and action scenes on Apple TV 4K.
Truth Social, the social media platform owned by Donald Trump’s media company, has announced plans to launch a live TV streaming platform.
The streaming service will launch in three phases.
The company first plans to introduce Truth Social’s CDN (content delivery network) for streaming to the Truth Social app for Android, iOS and the web.
Next, Truth Social plans to release over-the-top (“OTT”) streaming apps for phones, tablets and other devices.
Truth Social went public last month after shareholders approved a merger of TMTG and Digital World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Amazon is trying to keep live shopping relevant with the launch of an “Amazon Live” FAST (free ad-supported TV) channel on Prime Video and Freevee.
Previously only available as a feature on desktop, mobile, and Fire TV, the new live channel will give customers in the U.S. more ways to engage with interactive, shoppable content.
Viewers can browse and buy the items influencers show off by using the Amazon Shopping app on their mobile device.
Amazon Live launched in 2019 as a QVC-like shopping experience to help brands get their products discovered and for talent to interact with fans.
According to the company, more than 1 billion customers in the U.S. and India streamed Amazon Live’s shoppable videos in 2023 alone.
Announced earlier this year, Roku revealed today that its Pro Series TVs, the lineup of high-end televisions, are now available for purchase in the U.S.
Starting today, Roku Pro Series TVs are being sold at Best Buy stores and online at BestBuy.com, Amazon.com, and Walmart.com.
Compared to the Roku Select and Roku Plus Series TVs, which were the first-ever Roku-branded smart TVs that launched in 2023, the Roku Pro Series has a slimmer design that can be flush mounted to the wall.
Like the Roku Plus TVs, the Pro Series has HDR10+ and Dolby Vision for a cinematic viewing experience, as well as 4K QLED displays and local dimming.
In addition to the Pro Series launch, Roku announced new software updates coming to all Roku TVs that aim to enhance the viewing experience.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock will let you watch four live streams at once for 2024 Paris OlympicsToday, during NBCUniversal’s annual technology conference, One24, the company revealed a slew of features coming to its streaming service Peacock ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics in July.
Since up to 40 Olympic events will be happening simultaneously, the unique offering helps viewers determine which four events are the most important.
Peacock’s multiview feature is not only available on the web, but also on smart TVs, streaming devices, and tablets.
The feature lets fans watch highlights of a game to quickly catch up without having to exit out of the main screen.
The company noted that multiview and Live Actions will extend to other live sporting events after the Olympics.
Watchworthy will now tell you which streaming services to cancel and which to keepTV recommendation app Watchworthy released two new features to give viewers access to more personalized recommendations, including a new recommendation category for streaming services and a collaborative watchlist to get movie suggestions for your entire friend group.
Watchworthy is best known for its “worthy” score, which tells you the likelihood that a TV show or movie is worth your time.
For instance, if you’re obsessed with home improvement shows, Watchworthy recommends Discovery+ as a top pick, listing it as 95-99% worthy.
As major streaming services continue increasing subscription costs, viewers are having a hard time deciding which subscription is worth investing in.
Watchworthy helps you discover over 200 streaming services, such as Netflix, Max, Disney+ Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and Hulu, among others.
Paramount Global has reached a binding agreement to sell its stake in Reliance-controlled Indian media house Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 million, both companies said Wednesday.
The deal will increase Reliance’s stake in Viacom18, which operates dozens of TV channels as well as streaming service JioCinema, to 70.49%, Reliance said in its disclosure.
Law firm JSA Associates said late last month that it was advising the two firms for the deal.
The move follows Disney announcing plans to merge its India business with Viacom18 late last month.
Viacom18 also counts Bodhi Tree, an investment firm run by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, among its backers.
Here’s the full list of countries where you’ll find music videos starting today: Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Poland, Philippines, Sweden and UK.
In addition to living in one of those countries, music videos also require an active premium subscription.
Instead of searching for music videos directly or browsing videos in a separate section of the app, music videos can be started from the “Now Playing” screen.
With music videos, Spotify is adding more video content to its app, beyond Clips (short videos of artists talking to fans) and Canvas (looping album artworks).
Apple Music also has music videos in a separate section on each artist page.
Notably, the experience is free for Sling TV and Sling Freestream customers, and they can play games while simultaneously watching live TV content — providing entertainment during commercial breaks.
Sling TV also allows users to expand the Arcade row on the home screen to have a more immersive playing experience.
Sling TV says that 10 games will be available at launch, with new titles to be added regularly.
Sling didn’t say if it would partner with other gaming companies to expand its gaming library, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
Dish, which recently merged with EchoStar, reported a loss of 65,000 Sling TV subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023, bringing the total to 2.06 million.
Roku users around the country turned on their TVs this week to find an unpleasant surprise: the company required them to consent to an arbitration agreement in order to access their device.
Users (at least, this user) received an email the day before saying that “we have made changes to our Dispute Resolution Terms, which describe how you can resolve disputes with Roku.
We encourage you to read the updated Dispute Resolution Terms.
But there really is something rather despicable about totally disabling a user’s device until they agree, and having basically anything the user does count as agreement.
Don’t delay or, when people sue them over how they held devices hostage in order to coerce them into consumer-hostile dispute resolution terms, you won’t be able to join in on the fun.
