HBO Max, the HBO-centered $15-a-month streaming service launching in May, will be free for Charter cable customers who already pay for traditional HBO in their pay-TV packages, Charter and AT&T’s WarnerMedia said Wednesday, in a first for the forthcoming service. Related stories Peacock vs. Quibi vs. HBO Max vs. Disney Plus vs. Apple TV Plus vs. Netflix: How …

The new Peacock streaming service launches Wednesday for Comcast customers — and to them, it will probably feel familiar. Rather than creating another Netflix interface knockoff, Peacock adopts an atypical, complex look for its first iteration on Comcast’s TV boxes. But its nationwide launch in July, when everyone can get hold of Peacock on other TV streamers, phones and other devices, will really …

Disney Plus has surpassed 50 million subscribers in the five months since it launched, the company said Wednesday. By comparison, Netflix — the biggest subscription video service in the world — had 167 million global subscribers as of the end of last year. That’s three times the size of Disney Plus now, but Netflix began streaming more than a decade ago.  Disney Plus …

Canopy, a privacy-focused recommendations startup, has been acquired by CNN, a unit of wireless giant AT&T through its WarnerMedia devision. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.  Built by Spotify, Instagram, Google and New York Times alumni, the startup is trying to figure out how algorithm-powered recommendations, like the kinds that suggest videos on YouTube or items in your Facebook …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. YouTube has banned videos that falsely claim 5G next-generation mobile networks cause the symptoms of COVID-19, the respiratory illness actually caused by the new coronavirus, Google’s massive video service said Tuesday. That’s a lightning-quick change from its policy less than a day earlier, when it …

For unconventional streaming-video service Quibi, there’s at least one optimistic glimmer as it launches in the middle of a life-altering pandemic: Even if its $1.75 billion bet on mobile video is exactly wrong for this moment, CEO Meg Whitman says that Quibi is willing to change. Want to watch on your TV? Tell the company so, and it might happen.  …

YouTube TV, the live-channel streaming service from Google’s video giant, is pulling out of Apple’s in-app payment system as of March 13. It will make Google the latest tech giant to withdraw from the payment system built into iOS apps, as Apple’s fees and other App Store policies have raised complaints that Apple‘s own services have a built-in competitive advantage.  “YouTube TV …

Netflix is big and it’s getting bigger. And we’re not just watching it on our phones and tablets: That dominance translates to the biggest screen in US homes too, according to a new study Tuesday from TV-measurement giant Nielsen. Netflix gobbles up 31% of streaming to TVs, beating every other service.  In what may come as a surprise, YouTube is a …

Netflix is Samsung’s official mobile entertainment partner, an alliance that will unlock bonus content related to Netflix titles and more tightly integrate the subscription-streaming service into Samsung’s Galaxy phones.  “The mission of this partnership to make the Netflix viewing experience on Samsung mobile the absolute best it can be,” Netflix’s Chief Marketing Officer Jackie Lee-Joe said on stage in San Francisco …

Patreon, the platform that enables content creators to turn internet fans into subscribers, is widening the currencies it lets people use to pay on the service. The company is expanding beyond US dollars to include euros and British pounds, Patreon said Tuesday in a blog post. More currencies and payment methods, like direct debits, will come by summer. Patreon said …