Disney used its Q2 earnings to position Disney+ as the center of its broader consumer ecosystem spanning ESPN, advertising, gaming, parks, and commerce. Josh D’Amaro made clear the company’s strategy now centers on driving engagement, personalization, retention, and long-term customer…
Warner Bros. Discovery structured HBO Max’s India launch as a paid add-on within JioHotstar rather than a standalone service, using an existing platform to bypass the market’s pricing pressure, fragmentation, and operational complexity. The move prioritizes distribution efficiency and scale,…
Disney is paying $50 million to settle a class action lawsuit over live TV bundling practices, but the agreement leaves its distribution strategy unchanged. The case reinforces ESPN’s leverage as a must-have asset that continues to anchor bundle pricing across…
Basics of Streaming reframes bundling as a structural response to fragmentation, where consumers now juggle multiple services, pricing models, and interfaces that increase friction and churn. Instead of just packaging content, bundling integrates billing, access, and discovery across platforms while…
ESPN’s intervention in the WWE lawsuit shows it’s enforcing arbitration to keep streaming-related disputes private and under its control. The case also exposes distribution gaps in ESPN Unlimited, where uneven carriage deals led to inconsistent pricing and access for WWE…
Ampere Analysis finds HBO Max leads peers in bundle scale across partners, markets, and packages. Streaming growth is increasingly driven by distribution deals, with discounted wholesale pricing functioning as the core customer acquisition cost. As more growth comes through hard…
Skip breaks down why Disney is folding Hulu into Disney+ and shutting down the standalone Hulu app in 2026, and why the move isn't as dramatic as it sounds. The real shift is Disney consolidating its streaming ecosystem into a…
From the Archives revisits Sling TV’s 2015 debut, when Dish Network launched a $20 internet-delivered bundle that kickstarted the skinny bundle era. By pairing major networks like ESPN with modular add-ons, Sling reset how live TV was packaged and distributed,…
YouTube TV has begun rolling out lower-priced, genre-based bundles that give subscribers multiple downgrade paths without sacrificing core product features. The new Sports, Sports plus News, Entertainment and Family plans highlight YouTube TV’s growing leverage with programmers and its focus…
Basics of Streaming breaks down why streaming platforms must manage revenue like a portfolio instead of chasing a single model. SVOD, AVOD, TVOD, and licensing each serve different audience behaviors and market needs, and combining them provides flexibility, stability, and…
