Hacker News with Generative AI: Streaming Services

Apple TV+ free first weekend of 2025 (apple.com)
Apple TV+ is ringing in the New Year by offering an all-access pass to customers all around the world. Enjoy Apple TV+ for free the first weekend of 2025 (January 3 through January 5), Apple TV+ will be free on any device where Apple TV+ is available. All you need is an Apple ID to see what all the buzz is about.
Streaming Services, Apple TV+, Promotions
13 points by bookofjoe 18 days ago | 20 comments
Apple TV+ Announces Free Weekend (macrumors.com)
Apple TV+ is set to be available to stream for free from Saturday, January 4 to Sunday, January 5, providing its full catalog with no subscription fee.
Streaming Services, Apple, Promotions
8 points by gniting 18 days ago | 0 comments
Court of Milan orders Cloudflare to block ‘piracy shield’ domains, IP addresses (torrentfreak.com)
In a landmark ruling, the Court of Milan has ordered Cloudflare to block pirate streaming services that offer Serie A football matches.
Legal Issues, Piracy, Streaming Services, Italy, Football
148 points by DanAtC 25 days ago | 157 comments
After dropping Apple App Store, Disney+'s revenue dropped by 16% and Hulu by 27% (appfigures.com)
It's been almost two months since Disney+ and Hulu stopped accepting new subscriptions on the App Store, joining other apps like Spotify and Netflix in protest of Apple's fees.
Apple, Streaming Services, Revenue, App Store, Business
8 points by zdw 26 days ago | 4 comments
Noyb WIN: Dutch authority fines Netflix €4.75M (noyb.eu)
noyb has achieved a win against Netflix. Almost five years after the complaint has been filed, the Dutch data protection authority (DPA) has finally issued a decision. The authority is imposing a fine of €4.75 million against the streaming provider because it failed to adequately inform customers about what it does with their data.
Privacy, Data Protection, Lawsuits, Fines, Streaming Services
5 points by latexr 31 days ago | 0 comments
YouTube TV is hiking prices again after denying "erroneous" report days ago (arstechnica.com)
YouTube TV, now one of the country's leading cable (or cable-ish) television providers, is starting to act like it. The service told customers in an email this morning that prices are going up in the new year, from $73 per month for the Base Plan to $83 on January 13, 2025—just days after suggesting that wasn't happening.
YouTube TV, Streaming Services, Price Increases, Business, Consumer Tech
7 points by LinuxBender 37 days ago | 2 comments
YouTube TV's monthly cost soars to $82.99 (theverge.com)
I maintain that YouTube TV is the very best of the streaming TV services, but good grief is it getting expensive.
Streaming Services, Television, Pricing
8 points by ceejayoz 37 days ago | 0 comments
YouTube TV Price Increase: $83 per Month (cnet.com)
Streaming TV is getting more expensive.
Streaming Services, Price Increases, YouTube TV
11 points by palidanx 37 days ago | 2 comments
Spotify's Car Thing Accessory Is Officially Dead (macrumors.com)
Spotify today shut down all Car Thing accessories, several months after announcing plans to discontinue the product. As of this week, Car Thing is no longer functional and will not work with the Spotify streaming service.
Spotify, Car Technology, Discontinued Products, Streaming Services
12 points by usaphp 38 days ago | 7 comments
Ask HN: Can I download Torrent of a movie legally if I own the DVD/Blueray? (ycombinator.com)
I more and more often find that I pay for movies I already own, because it’s easier with streaming services. Can I legally download it as long as I already own it?
Legal Issues, Streaming Services, Movie Ownership, Torrenting
16 points by punnerud 49 days ago | 34 comments
European Police Pull Plug on 'Largest' Illegal Streaming Service (barrons.com)
An international police operation has shut down "one of the world's largest" illegal online streaming services, used by some 22 million people worldwide and causing billions of euros in copyright damages, EU law agencies said on Wednesday.
Copyright, Piracy, Streaming Services, Law Enforcement, Europe
11 points by SirLJ 51 days ago | 10 comments
Apple TV+ spent $20B on original content. If only people watched (arstechnica.com)
Reportedly high budget has brought Apple TV+ a lot of prestige, but not a lot of viewers.
Streaming Services, Apple, Business, Media
7 points by ctoth 58 days ago | 2 comments
Not even Spotify is safe from AI slop (theverge.com)
I first noticed something weird when a HEALTH album dropped on my Spotify new release radar. Except the cover design was funny — it didn’t look like a HEALTH album.
Music, AI, Streaming Services, Spotify
10 points by alsetmusic 64 days ago | 2 comments
YouTube Premium Showing Ads (reddit.com)
YouTube, Advertising, Streaming Services
104 points by rvnx 65 days ago | 89 comments
Pirating "The Pirate Bay" TV Series Is Ironically Difficult (torrentfreak.com)
The Pirate Bay made its debut as a TV series on the Swedish streaming platform SVT Play earlier today. International viewers are left waiting until other services pick it up. In the meantime, some may be tempted to explore unofficial channels for pirated copies of the show. But finding a pirated copy is proving surprisingly difficult.
Television, Piracy, Streaming Services
112 points by HieronymusBosch 71 days ago | 85 comments
Streaming subscription fees have been rising while content quality is dropping (arstechnica.com)
Subscription fees for video streaming services have been on a steady incline. But despite subscribers paying more, surveys suggest that viewers are becoming less satisfied with what's available to watch.
Streaming Services, Content Quality, Consumer Trends
26 points by pseudolus 87 days ago | 8 comments
You can no longer sign up for Hulu or Disney+ in Apple's App Store (engadget.com)
New subscribers to Disney+ or Hulu will no longer be able to sign up through Apple's App Store, both Disney-owned platforms announced through updates to their help centers.
Streaming Services, Apple, Mobile Payments
10 points by thunderbong 88 days ago | 0 comments
Disney Plus and Hulu won't let you sign up through Apple anymore (theverge.com)
If you want to subscribe to Disney Plus or Hulu on your iPhone, you can’t do that anymore.
Streaming Services, Apple, Disney, Hulu
21 points by athousandsteps 88 days ago | 31 comments
Man Arrested for Using AI Songs and a Bot Army to Scam Spotify for Millions (vice.com)
Is this the future of AI scamming? Michael Smith, a 52-year-old from Cornelius, North Carolina, allegedly used AI to automatically generate hundreds of thousands of songs that he then put on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. He’s accused of using an army of bots to “listen” to the tracks that he created with no effort and likely no musical talent.
Artificial Intelligence, Music, Crime, Streaming Services
12 points by type0 91 days ago | 4 comments
Smart TVs are like "a digital Trojan Horse" in people's homes (arstechnica.com)
The companies behind the streaming industry, including smart TV and streaming stick manufacturers and streaming service providers, have developed a "surveillance system" that has "long undermined privacy and consumer protection," according to a report from the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) published today and sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Privacy, Consumer Protection, Streaming Services, Surveillance
106 points by cx0der 102 days ago | 40 comments
Beware Hollywood's digital demolition: as if your favourite films never existed (theguardian.com)
Last June, fans of Comedy Central – the long-running channel behind beloved programmes such as The Daily Show and South Park – received an unwelcome surprise. Paramount Global, Comedy Central’s parent company, unceremoniously purged the vast repository of video content on the channel’s website, which dated back to the late 1990s.
Entertainment, Streaming Services, Media, Censorship
12 points by laurex 107 days ago | 1 comments
Hollywood industry in crisis after strikes, streaming wars (bbc.com)
Hollywood's big boom has gone bust
Hollywood, Film Industry, Labor Strikes, Streaming Services
14 points by ZeljkoS 111 days ago | 0 comments
New California law requires one-click subscription cancellations (thedesk.net)
A new law in California will make it easier for consumers to cancel their streaming subscriptions and similar products when they enroll in automatic renewal of those services.
Consumer Rights, Legislation, California, Streaming Services
145 points by thunderbong 115 days ago | 72 comments
YouTube Premium is getting a big price hike internationally (androidpolice.com)
YouTube, Streaming Services, Pricing, International
59 points by thunderbong 117 days ago | 108 comments
Netflix's Key-Value Data Abstraction Layer (netflixtechblog.com)
At Netflix our ability to deliver seamless, high-quality, streaming experiences to millions of users hinges on robust, global backend infrastructure.
Netflix, Backend Infrastructure, Streaming Services
93 points by gslin 121 days ago | 18 comments
Who Owns Nebula? (medium.com)
If this was a video essay this is where I’d put a supercut of content creators saying the phrase “my streaming service Nebula”. Unfortunately this is a blog post so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Streaming Services, Content Creators, Business
270 points by mintplant 127 days ago | 104 comments
Leaked Disney+ financials may shed light on recent price hike (arstechnica.com)
Disney+, Streaming Services, Business, Finance
58 points by milanaross 133 days ago | 61 comments
DirecTV Users Lose Access to Disney Networks Including ESPN and ABC (wsj.com)
DirecTV, Streaming Services, Disney, Television, Sports
3 points by bookofjoe 138 days ago | 2 comments
YouTube hikes prices in India by 58% (indiatimes.com)
YouTube, India, Pricing, Streaming Services
6 points by namanaggarwal 141 days ago | 0 comments
Crunchyroll is trying to turn India into a nation of anime lovers (restofworld.org)
Anime, India, Streaming Services, Culture
9 points by PaulHoule 143 days ago | 0 comments