Platform strategy now spans four business models at once: OTT, SVOD, AVOD, and FAST. This category covers recommendation engines, content discovery, CTV app experience, player SDKs, and the subscriber engagement data that tells you whether a feature actually worked.
Viasat has partnered with Xperi-owned TiVo to integrate the content-centric TiVo OS across its global satellite communications network. This collaboration enables Viasat to offer streaming television experiences and open up new premium advertising inventory in markets with limited or unreliable broadband access.
VITEC and LG Electronics have partnered to deploy IPTV and digital signage services over private 5G networks, targeting sports venues, airports, and hotels. The joint solution integrates VITEC's enterprise IPTV platform with LG's private 5G infrastructure to enable cable-free, low-latency video streaming in complex environments.
Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon Reality Elite XR platform, featuring 48 TOPS of on-device AI performance and substantial improvements to GPU, CPU, and NPU processing. Designed to shift generative and perception workloads locally, the chip aims to reduce network latency and cloud dependence for immersive applications.
The 2026 StreamTV Show in Denver kicked off with panels and keynotes from major streaming platforms and tech vendors. Discussions focused heavily on FAST monetization struggles, the role of AI in connected TV (CTV) advertising, and the strategic positioning of CTV operating systems like The Trade Desk's Ventura OS.
Following the shutdown of native Steam support on ChromeOS in January 2026, Chromebook-based gaming has transitioned almost entirely to cloud video streaming. NVIDIA's GeForce NOW has emerged as the dominant platform service in this space, surpassing 30 million registered users globally, highlighting the shift toward ultra-low latency infrastructure over local device hardware.
Uplynk has expanded its support for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to enable a unified hybrid deployment model for large-scale streaming workflows. This integration allows media companies to run core infrastructure like encoding, storage, and playout on OCI while using Uplynk as a centralized orchestration layer. The hybrid architecture aims to let content owners scale distribution and adopt cloud infrastructure without disrupting existing workflows.
IBM Video Streaming users can now generate detailed PDF reports for their video metrics, covering viewer data, viewing time, and various analytic charts. This feature allows streaming professionals to analyze performance for both live broadcasts and VOD content, including concurrent views, device usage, and geographic distribution. The reports offer insights into key metrics such as total views, peak concurrent views, unique devices, and authenticated viewers.
Frame.io has achieved SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, signifying its ongoing adherence to stringent security standards for handling sensitive media assets. This accomplishment demonstrates a proven commitment to data security for SaaS companies. The article highlights Frame.io's efforts to move beyond mere promises and provide verifiable security for its cloud-based media services.
The article discusses the growing trend of organizations across industries becoming "accidental media companies" as they produce and distribute broadcast-quality content across various platforms like OTT, FAST, social, and live streaming. These companies face challenges in scaling their operational infrastructure to manage content preparation, workflow, monetization, and distribution efficiently, requiring capabilities traditionally found in large-scale media organizations.
A new Chrome extension, ParamountQuality+, provides real-time streaming quality insights for Paramount+ content, including resolution, bitrate, and manifest data. This tool is designed to offer engineers and analysts direct access to in-browser video playback metrics for VOD and live streams. It injects lightweight instrumentation to inspect manifests and segments, supporting MPEG-DASH and HLS formats for both on-demand and Google DAI live streams.
Media Partners Asia projects the Asia-Pacific screen economy to reach $200 billion by 2031, driven by a shift towards retail media, commerce, and AI. Despite significant growth in SVOD subscriptions and CTV adoption, the region faces a per-capita monetization gap, necessitating a focus on converting reach into revenue through improved ad measurement and AI integration for efficiency and monetization. The report highlights microdrama's growth and the impact of AI on content production costs.
IBM has released a comprehensive guide for troubleshooting common audio issues in its Video Streaming broadcasts. The guide addresses problems such as no sound, incorrect volume levels, echo, artifacts like buzz/hum, and audio-video synchronization, providing practical solutions for equipment configuration and interference resolution.
An audio transcription worker deployed on Google Cloud Run was re-architected from a batch processing model to a streaming design to resolve persistent out-of-memory errors. This shift enabled continuous MP4-to-WAV conversion and transcription API calls, significantly reducing memory usage, improving transcription accuracy, and lowering operational costs for B2B streaming video applications. The new approach pushes heavy re-encoding work to a one-time pre-processing step, keeping the hot path light and predictable.
Singapore's RisingJoy has launched RJoy, a direct-to-consumer microdrama streaming service for the US and Japan, integrating with TikTok Minis. The platform will release 20 originals by late 2026, including AI-generated anime and 'AI human' content. This launch capitalizes on the significant microdrama revenues in these markets, marking RisingJoy's expansion into a full-service micro entertainment studio.
YouTube Live announced new features for musicians to engage fans and monetize content, including Premieres, Live Redirect, and shopping tools. These features are designed to enhance artist-fan interaction and revenue opportunities within the YouTube ecosystem. The platform also detailed how artists can customize streams and expand their reach.
BoxCast has announced a new '4K Plan' priced at $449/month annually or $499/month monthly, tailored for broadcasters requiring high-resolution streaming. This plan delivers up to 30 hours of 4K60 streaming per month, alongside features like automated captioning, geo-blocking, concurrent broadcasts, and API access. The offering aims to provide an advanced experience for delivering online live events, particularly highlighted for ministry use.
Server Room, a streaming server infrastructure provider, has released a series of live video streaming tutorials for streaming professionals. These guides cover the setup and configuration of various software and hardware encoders, including OBS, xSplit, TeraDek CUBE, SelenioFlex, Epiphan, and Wowza Streaming Engine, for optimal connection to Server Room's platform.
Akta has launched its AI-focused SaaS video platform on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), enabling broadcasters and streaming services to handle video workflows like live ingest and playout. The deployment relies on Oracle's networking economics to lower the high egress costs typically associated with cloud-native live channel distribution such as SRT.
VSiN launched 'Best Bets TV', a 24/7 Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channel focused on sports betting content, primarily streaming exclusively on OrkaTV. The new channel leverages existing content and aims to expand VSiN's distribution through free platforms. The channel's content creation and management involve partnerships with TVU Networks for AI clipping, Zype for content organization, and Amagi for dynamic channel scheduling based on metadata.
The Summit League has extended its media rights partnerships with CBS Sports and Midco Sports through the 2029-30 academic year. This expansion will increase the number of nationally televised games on CBS Sports Network and enhance The Summit League Network with features like "My Clips," international availability, and app support for Samsung and LG smart TVs, allowing for broader distribution and fan engagement.
FOX Sports has transformed its Los Angeles Pico Lot into the central production hub for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, managing 104 matches, and leveraging existing infrastructure and new technologies for future legacy. This includes significant investments in ST 2110 infrastructure, HDR, storage, and the deployment of their BRISK (Broadcast Remote IP Studio Kit) system for distributed production.
New York Post Media Group is launching its first free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, which will feature 150 hours of programming from its portfolio. The Post is partnering with VideoElephant for a managed service to handle scheduling, distribution, and monetization, rather than building the streaming operation internally. This move highlights a broader trend of publishers expanding into FAST to capitalize on growing CTV ad dollars and consumer interest in free content.
Saudi Telecom (stc) has launched stc tv Home, an Android TV-based set-top box that integrates IPTV, streaming apps, and fiber broadband for Saudi households. This product aims to position stc as an integrated digital service provider, enhancing customer engagement and ARPU through bundled offerings. The device offers live channels, VOD, and third-party apps, running on Google's Android TV platform and optimized for stc's broadband services.
Warner Bros. Discovery's Max streaming service offers ad-supported, ad-free, and Ultimate Ad-Free plans in the US, combining content from HBO, Warner Bros., and Discovery. The service is strategically incorporating live sports (via the B/R Sports add-on) to differentiate itself in the crowded streaming market and drive subscriber growth and ARPU. Max's strategy focuses on broadening its audience beyond traditional HBO viewers through diverse content and varying price points.
AWS has introduced automatic configuration for its Cost Anomaly Detection monitors, designed to adapt to growing AWS environments without manual updates. This feature aims to provide comprehensive cost tracking coverage, helping streaming companies efficiently manage their cloud spending. The service offers both AWS managed and customer managed monitors to track costs across various dimensions like services, accounts, tags, and cost categories.
The article details how AI tools, such as Google's Gemini Omni, are transforming video content creation in 2026 by enabling text, image, or audio to be converted into high-quality video, drastically reducing production times and costs. It outlines a step-by-step guide for professionals, reviews leading platforms like Synthesia and Pictory, and discusses ethical considerations and future trends in AI video technology. This significantly impacts content creation workflows for streaming professionals.
The APOS 2026 summit in Bali will feature executives from Netflix, Prime Video, Disney, and WBD discussing growth and profitability in Asian streaming. Key themes include AI in creative pipelines and content localization, and the emerging microdrama economy. Piracy enforcement will also be a central topic at the conference.
Netdata published a guide on diagnosing and fixing NGINX 502 Bad Gateway errors, detailing common causes such as upstream connection issues, oversized headers, and DNS failures. The article provides technical insights and solutions relevant for streaming industry professionals managing NGINX-based infrastructure to maintain service availability. Netdata also highlights how its monitoring tools can aid in preventing and resolving these issues.
MixStage has launched a new plugin that enables direct, low-latency, 18-channel audio streaming from Pro Tools and other VST-enabled DAWs into its collaboration platform. This enhances remote audio post-production workflows by integrating listening, editing, and decision-making within a shared project timeline, designed to reduce review cycle times.
AutoMQ now supports Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, enabling diskless multi-AZ Apache Kafka deployments on AWS with sub-10ms write latency. This integration eliminates cross-AZ data transfer costs and operational complexity, providing improved performance and scalability for streaming infrastructure. The solution optimizes the write-ahead log (WAL) challenge by using FSx for ONTAP as a shared storage layer, ensuring low latency and multi-AZ durability without traditional replication overhead.
Brightcove has released a detailed guide on using its Video Cloud upload module, highlighting features such as dynamic ingest, Zencoder transcoding, and ingest profile selection. The guide specifies use cases for MP4 renditions, including social sharing, offline playback, and compatibility with older devices. It also covers features like automated caption generation, forensic watermarking, and video sharing options within the platform.
Digital Power Corporation provides high-efficiency AC-DC and DC-DC power solutions for data centers and cloud computing, emphasizing 96% efficiency and 24/7 uptime. These solutions are crucial for continuous operation and optimizing energy use in compute-intensive infrastructure directly supporting streaming services. The focus is on power systems for servers, storage, cloud infrastructure, AI clusters, network, and edge computing.
This article previews the StreamTV Show 2026, an annual industry event featuring over 2,200 attendees, 175 sponsors, and 270 speakers in Denver. Key themes include short-form content, AI, premium video, creator content, and advertising innovations in CTV, impacting content, technology, and advertising within the streaming ecosystem. Various panels and keynotes will cover topics such as content discovery, user experience, monetization strategies, and the evolving role of TV OS players and AI in video applications.
The video streaming industry is seeing a transformative shift in 2024 towards profitability, driven by hyper-personalization, AI integration across workflows, and the emergence of HVOD models. The article, authored by Harmonic, also highlights increased efforts to combat sports piracy using forensic watermarking and AI-driven monitoring. These trends impact content creation, distribution, and monetization strategies for streaming technology vendors and operators.
Xperi showcased its TiVo OS, DTS, and IMAX Enhanced technologies at IFA 2025 in Berlin. TiVo OS was adopted by Sharp, Vestel, Metz, and Panasonic for their TVs, while Sony Pictures expanded its IMAX Enhanced content featuring DTS:X audio for Hisense and Toshiba TVs. DTS Clear Dialogue also received an award, highlighting solutions for audio intelligibility.
Xperi showcased its TiVo OS on several smart TV brands and the DTS AutoStage connected car entertainment system at IBC 2025. The company also demonstrated a large language model with TiVo Discovery and received a RedTech Best in Show award for DTS AutoStage's smart discovery feature. These presentations highlighted Xperi's advancements in integrated entertainment experiences for both home and automotive sectors.
Fox has announced its acquisition of Roku for $22 billion in cash and stock, a move aimed at enhancing its streaming position with existing assets like Tubi and Fox One. The deal, expected to close in 2027, will combine Tubi's on-demand consumption with The Roku Channel's FAST viewership, targeting a significant increase in total TV viewing share. Fox plans to keep Tubi and The Roku Channel as separate services while leveraging Roku's operating system to deploy Fox One and other content, gaining valuable first-party data and expanding its vertical integration in content, distribution, and advertising.
Fox, Telemundo, and Peacock are set to broadcast and stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with 104 games across 16 cities. Tubi will also provide 4K streams of two matches and opening ceremonies, showcasing a multi-platform distribution strategy for major sports events. The article details the full broadcast schedule across the various platforms.
FIFA has announced expanded media partnerships for the FIFA World Cup 2026, encompassing over 220 territories and new digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok. This strategy aims for broader fan reach and increased media rights revenues through diverse partners, including traditional broadcasters and immersive 12K shared-reality environments with Cosm. New production workflows and an International Broadcast Centre in Dallas will support advanced content distribution and media operations.
Grass Valley has launched AMPP Edge Live, a new hardware-software production system designed for enterprise teams, integrating Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU, and AMPP OS. Available in two models, AMPP Edge Live 4000 and 6000, it aims to simplify production workflows by offering flexible, scalable capabilities within a unified ownership model. This system will be unveiled at InfoComm 2026.
Reliance Jio commercially launched Jio AirFiber, a fixed-wireless access gateway providing 5G/4G home broadband and integrated TV/OTT bundles in India. The device offers fiber-like broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps and consolidates linear TV channels and OTT apps into a single subscription. This product launch aims to expand Jio's broadband footprint and increase ARPU by targeting legacy cable users with an easy-to-install solution.
Mux has enhanced its Video API with expanded live streaming features, including DVR and automatic on-demand archiving. This upgrade positions Mux as a comprehensive solution for developers seeking to embed reliable live video within their applications without extensive infrastructure know-how. The product updates intensify competition in the API-first media services market by offering a turnkey solution for full live workflows.
This op-ed discusses how sports leagues are shifting from exclusive content deals to more flexible distribution strategies to maximize content value and audience engagement. It emphasizes the need for production control and efficient customization workflows to create multiple tailored outputs from a single production source, often leveraging IP-based distribution. The article highlights how this benefits streaming services and broadcasters seeking relevant content for their audiences.
RTL Group's RTL+ streaming service in Germany has grown to 4.8 million paying subscribers, integrating video, music, and podcasts into a single entertainment bundle. This expansion positions RTL+ as a central pillar in RTL Group's strategy to shift from linear TV to digital streaming and subscription revenue, leveraging its own productions, licensed content, and ad-tech stack. The platform serves as a blueprint for RTL's broader digital transformation and data-driven advertising capabilities.
DIRECTV's new Gemini V2 streaming device (C81KW-650) has received FCC approval, signaling a potential hardware upgrade for DIRECTV Stream subscribers. Manufactured by Shenzhen SEI Robotics Co., Ltd., the device features an Amlogic S905X5 chip, Android TV 14, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Wi-Fi 6, and support for codecs including AV1, VP9, H.264, H.265, and H.266. This development points to DIRECTV's ongoing effort to refine its OTT hardware platform to compete in the evolving streaming market, offering enhanced capabilities for 4K streaming and emerging video standards.
UCTV utilizes Wowza Streaming Engine to power its 24/7 linear public television channel, ensuring continuous uptime and reliable performance. This enables UCTV to expand its distribution to various TV providers and streaming platforms without interruption, critical for maintaining public broadcaster credibility. The article highlights Wowza's role in providing a stable foundation for UCTV's distribution workflow.
NASCAR.com has released its 2026 broadcast schedule, detailing where races and related programming will air across numerous traditional and streaming platforms. Key distributors include Prime Video, The CW, FOX, FS1, FS2, Max, Peacock, FloRacing, USA Network, Tubi, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, and Xumo. The announcement highlights a diverse distribution strategy for sports content, utilizing a mix of linear TV, premium streaming services, and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platforms.
Sky has introduced new 'Real Time' channels for BBC and ITV World Cup games, offering its 'lowest latency streaming experience' to Sky Stream and Sky Glass subscribers. This aims to reduce delay for live sports, requiring a 40Mbps broadband connection. The service is available at no extra cost to qualifying Sky customers, coinciding with promotions for Sky Glass devices.
LG Electronics is integrating its free ad-supported streaming service, LG Channels, directly into its webOS smart TVs, including OLED models. This move positions LG's TV platform as a central hub for free content, generating advertising revenue and strengthening its software and services portfolio. LG Channels offers over 400 linear and on-demand channels, tightly integrated with the webOS interface to mimic traditional cable, and supports advertising as its primary monetization model.
Deutsche Telekom's MagentaTV aggregates linear TV and major streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ into a single interface for broadband and mobile users in Germany. This platform aims to enhance customer retention and incentivize upgrades to higher-value broadband contracts for the German telco. MagentaTV represents an incumbent's strategy to move from pure connectivity to integrated digital services.
