NBCUniversal plans to relaunch Sprout as “Universal Kids”
NBCUniversal plans in September 2017 to relaunch preschooler cable channel Sprout as an ages 2-11 aimed channel named “Universal Kids.”
Comcast
Netflix and Amazon combined outspend CBS, Turner on programming
A recent study by research firm IHS Markit states that Amazon and Netflix spent a combined total of $7.5 billion on programming in 2015. $4.9 billion of that was by Netflix, while $2.6 billion was by Amazon.
Cable TV boxes face new FCC rules, other challenges
A recent survey by Leichtman Research Group reports that 65% of US households have at least one TV set connected to the Internet. This includes smart TVs (TVs with streaming media apps built in), video game consoles, Blu-Ray players, and streaming devices (Rokus, Apple TVs, etc.). This number’s gone up from 44% in 2013. It … Read more
Comcast to buy DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion
As of Thursday morning, it’s been made official: Comcast will buy DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion. This will be a very big deal for both companies involved, as well as the animation media landscape. For DreamWorks, it’ll mean more breathing room to turn its movie efforts around, plus the support of a large media conglomerate behind … Read more
Fandango buys Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster
Movie showtimes and ticket seller website Fandango (owned by NBCUniversal, itself owned by Comcast) has just purchased movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and movie discovery app Flixster. Rotten Tomatoes has been a popular online source for those wondering what the general consensus among movie critics is about films. Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster were previously owned … Read more
My choice of video services (winter 2015-2016)
There’s been a lot of talk about “cord cutting,” or cancelling cable TV services. Less spoken about is “cord shaving,” or just cutting back on cable TV services to cheaper packages. For any cord cutters/shavers, streaming video becomes much more important. I’ve made a few changes to my own cable TV and streaming video services recently. … Read more
Charter to buy Time Warner Cable in a $78.7 billion deal
Cable company Charter has announced they’ll be buying Time Warner Cable for what amounts to a $78.7 billion deal. Charter also plans to buy smaller cable company Bright House Networks in a separate $10.4 billion deal. More details in this The Verge article. While Charter’s the fourth largest cable company in the US, it’ll affirm … Read more
Comcast is now primarily an Internet service provider, not a cable TV company
A tipping point’s been reached for the nation’s biggest cable TV and Internet service provider. In an earnings announcement on Monday, Comcast has announced that for the first time, it has more broadband Internet subscribers than cable television subscribers. It’s pretty reflective of several trends, particularly the prominence of cord cutting. Cord cutting’s increasing popularity likely stems … Read more
It’s official: Comcast and Time Warner Cable aren’t merging
While there’d been discussion brewing for awhile, as of Friday, it was made official: Comcast and Time Warner Cable aren’t going through with their merger after all. The reason? Too much federal scrutiny into the whole deal. Specifically, the Justice Department and the FCC indicated they were already questioning the whole deal’s premise on competitive … Read more
Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable
As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Comcast will be buying Time Warner Cable to the tune of $45 billion. Comcast hopes to have the deal closed by the end of the year (and after the approval of the federal government). More details here on Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/13/comcast-time-warner-cable/ Yours truly is a customer of Time Warner Cable … Read more