YouTube is reportedly working on adding a 'channel store' for easy streaming service subscription

It looks like Google is following in Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video's footsteps. The company is reportedly working on adding a "channel store." According to the Wall Street Journal, YouTube plans to "launch an online store for streaming video services and has renewed talks with entertainment companies about participating in the platform." 

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BBC Studios' BBC Select streaming service to launch in Canada in 2021

BBC Studios will be launching its new streaming service in Canada and the US in early 2021. BBC Select is described as a TV service for "independent thinkers." It'll arrive on Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV app, specializing in factual programming, highlighting culture, politics, and ideas. According to BBC Studios, the service will celebrate diverse voices through a candid, unbiased, and occasionally playful lens.

Some of the initial shows you can expect are Louis Theroux's BBC documentaries Selling Sex and Surviving America's Most Hated Family, and Channel 4's Grayson Perry: Big American Road Trip. There will also be exclusives like classicist Mary Beard's Shock of the Nude, Reggie Yates in China, Putin – A Russian Spy Story, and Adam Curtis' All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace.

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Facebook is reportedly talking to streaming services for its camera-enabled TV streaming device

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It isn’t news that Facebook is still developing Portal video chat devices. It also isn’t news that Facebook is working on a camera-toting device that can double as a TV streaming device. What is news is that Facebook is reportedly trying to get big streaming services onboard. And that the device is expected to be announced this fall. According to The Information, Facebook supposedly approached Netflix, Disney, HBO, and Hulu about adding their subscription services to its hardware.

Disney+ isn’t going to launch until November 12^th in the US, but with a big company that owns tons of popular characters and franchises, it makes sense that Facebook would want to work with them. Netflix isn’t part of either of Facebook’s Portal products either. But now with something that serves as a streaming device, it might be more enticing for Netflix. An important question though is whether consumers will trust Facebook to put a camera in their living rooms and in front of a product they use a lot. That’s a question for another story. But we would like to see how this product turns out.

Source: The Verge

Disney set to leave Netflix, plans to launch own streaming service in 2019

Looks like Disney wants a piece of the streaming service pie. The company plans to end its distribution deal with Netflix to launch its own service, which they plan to unveil two years from now and it’ll come first to the US and then internationally. It seems like a natural move for Disney with its big library of movies and shows to offer, which they’ve kept mostly close to their chest. The Netflix deal, which was secured back in 2012, only took into effect last year, so this is going to be a big blow to the streaming giant.

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