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Streaming

Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Marty Supreme will stream on HBO Max starting April 24th.

Been meaning to catch the film, maybe I will once it’s available to stream. My colleague Kevin Nguyen reviewed it last year.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Mister Rogers is getting his own YouTube channel.

Until now, Mister Rogers Neighborhood has only been available on YouTube in a limited capacity via the PBS Kids account and sketchy uploads. But now it will have an official home on YouTube thanks to a partnership between Fred Rogers Productions and Little Dot Studios, which has, let’s say, diverse interests.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
We’ve got Stranger Things at home.

Now that Stranger Things is overthe main series, anyways — you can finally own the whole thing on disc. Arrow Video is releasing a box set of the complete series on Blu-Ray and 4K UHD, which will be available in July. I hope the collection spans exactly 11 discs.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
“It was very difficult trying to come up with something that no one had ever seen.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein won a handful of Oscars last night, including one for best make-up and hairstyling. Last year I had the chance to talk to Mike Hill, who designed the creature from the film, about his relationship with del Toro and all the work that went into recreating the character.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Dolby Vision returns to Disney Plus in Europe.

After being removed last month the HDR format and 3D movies are once again available to Disney Plus Premium subscribers in Europe, although some German users are still reporting them missing. Disney confirmed to FlatpanelsHD the removal was a result of a “German patent dispute with American company InterDigital.”

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
A new batch of assassins.

Last year Netflix confirmed that its long-gestating Assassin’s Creed series was still happening, and now we have further proof of life thanks to a casting announcement. Noomi Rapace, Sean Harris, Ramzy Bedia, and Corrado Invernizzi have joined the cast, though there’s still no word on when it’ll start streaming.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
YouTube thumbnails just got an upgrade.

Creators can now upload video thumbnails up to 50MB instead of just 2MB, according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. Bring on the hi-res YouTube Face.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
What is, a Jeopardy mobile game?

This spring, Peacock is bringing a new Jeopardy! game to its mobile app. It will feature daily trivia rounds straight from the Jeopardy! team, along with shareable scores and streak challenges.

Screenshots of the Jeopardy! mobile game
Image: NBCUniversal / Peacock
What it was like to watch grieving parents stare down Mark Zuckerberg in court

Parent advocates were determined to make their presence known to Meta’s CEO.

Lauren Feiner
Bespoke AI models are the next big thing in filmmaking

Ben Affleck’s AI startup, recently purchased by Netflix for around $600 million, has a different approach to gen AI.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
David Pierce
David Pierce
This is immediately my new favorite way to watch YouTube.

It’s called Channel Surfer, and it presents YouTube as an old-school grid of TV channels, which you can flip though to see what’s on. All the simplicity of watching cable in a hotel room; all the videos you actually want to watch. It’s fun on its own, but it feels like magic as soon as you import your own subscriptions to create personalized channels.

David Pierce
David Pierce
“You’re sitting at home and just taking pictures of yourself, pulling various faces.”

One of my favorite things to do on social media is to just imagine the people setting up the camera right before the video starts — because as soon as you remember they set up a camera, the whole viewing experience changes. This fun Ringer story about the rise of YouTube Face (trust me, you know the face) pulls back a lot of that artifice and dives into some of the strange workings of the internet’s biggest video platform.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Overcooked, now with a Demogorgon.

The stressful-yet-delightful party game is now available as one of Netflix’s streaming TV games that you control with your phone. This version lets you play as 10 “Netflix celebrity chefs,” including the famous Stranger Things monster.

Netflix is also working on an Overcooked reality show.

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Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Handmaid’s Tale, but make it YA.

Hulu has dropped a trailer for its upcoming Handmaid’s Tale spinoff, The Testaments, and when the series premieres on April 8th, it looks like it will be a harrowing reminder of much violence the girls of Gilead were forced to endure.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
HBO’s Green Lantern series looks too grounded for its own good.

The entire point of HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series is to introduce new incarnations John Stewart and Hal Jordan — two superpowered space cops — to DC Studios’ cinematic universe. But Lanterns first teaser trailer makes it seem like the show might feel much more like True Detective when it premieres in August.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
The Paramount x Warner Bros. deal ain’t done yet.

While Trump’s federal regulators are seemingly in the bag for Larry Ellison’s big dumb gift to his large adult son, The New York Times notes that state attorneys general can sue to block mergers in the US, and EU regulators will have a say since properties like HBO Max and CNN are offered globally.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says he’s not pivoting to another studio after losing out on Warner Bros.

In an interview with Bloomberg, he explained why he backed out of the deal and said Netflix pursued Warner because it was a unique opportunity. “We definitely wanted this asset. We didn’t need it,” he said, praising its “incredible IP” and long history. But he was clear the plan was to just move on:

Is there a world in which you guys go after another studio in the next 6 to 12 months?

Unlikely. We are builders, not buyers. All that is still true.

So how are you going to use that $2.8 billion?

Just keep investing in the business.