Disney’s just launched its premium subscription streaming service Disney+ but was not without issues — high demand resulted in content not being accessible for hours on its first day of availability. The company cited higher-than-expected demand as a factor, and now we have a rough estimate of the size of that demand — Disney has revealed that it signed up 10 million users since its Tuesday debut. That’s a lot of subscribers in a very short period. To put it in perspective, Netflix recently reported 158 million subscribers, but that’s…
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New: Naspers Ltd. spun off African pay-TV unit.
Naspers Ltd. spun off African pay-TV unit MultiChoice Group Ltd. at an initial valuation of about 42 billion rand ($3 billion), enabling the continent’s biggest company to focus on its current incarnation as a global internet-technology firm. MultiChoice shares started trading at 95.5 rand in Johannesburg, and was at 96.15 rand as of 9:13 a.m. Naspers, which makes up almost a fifth of Johannesburg’s stock exchange, traded 2.3 percent lower at 3,069.99 rand after the spin off. Key Insights MultiChoice’s valuation could eventually settle at about $5 billion to $6…
Read MoreTanzania New freeze of its local free to air channels.
Tanzania (DStv)has removed free-to-air (FTA) channels from its subscription list, barely a week after the country’s communications regulator warned it would suspend the pay TV licence. The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) had said it would suspend Multichoice licence for its continued carrying of free channels on its service despite holding a licence that barred it from doing so. “In exercising its powers, the authority hereby notifies the general public that it intends to suspend all the licenses issued to Multichoice Tanzania Ltd for failure to comply with the authority’s…
Read MoreYouTube new section for displaying additional credits for songs
YouTube will now provide additional information for songs with a section called “music in this video,” found within the “show more” area that can be expanded underneath videos. The new “music in this video” section will be available on over half a billion videos, and it will provide a more in-depth look at the credits associated with a song. For example in for Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” the “music in this video” section shows all the contributing artists (in this case, Young Thug), the songwriters involved, the labels and publishers who…
Read MoreEU Investigating Apple’s New Purchase of Shazam
The EU has launched an investigation into Apple’s acquisition of music identification service Shazam. It’s concerned that the deal could shrink consumer options for mobile music streaming services within the EEA (European Economic Area). In February, multiple countries, including Austria, France, Iceland, and Spain, requested that the European Commission assess the acquisition to determine whether it’s allowed under a European Union merger law. The deal, according to the commission, “may have a significant adverse effect on competition in the European Economic Area.” That request is now being acted on, with…
Read MoreSpotify New Tests of Explicit Song Blocker
Spotify, the UK’s biggest music streaming service, has started testing a way of filtering out songs which have explicit lyrics. The feature has been introduced on its iPhone and iPad apps – six years after being requested on its online forums. But some users have told BBC Radio 5 live: that the feature does not have enough controls. Rivals such as Apple Music already have password-protected parental controls to skip explicit tracks. Since 2011, streaming music providers have been expected to display the word “explicit” next to tracks that record…
Read MoreSpotify New $1.6 billion lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing.
Spotify is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing, the publisher that represents artists like Tom Petty, Missy Elliot, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter first reported. The suit, filed December 29, alleges copyright infringement, specifically alleging Spotify is using thousands of its songs without a proper license. The lawsuit seeks at least $1.6 billion in damages and injunctive relief. Before Spotify launched in the U.S., the company made deals with major record labels to obtain the appropriate rights to the sound recording copyrights in the…
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