Hacker News with Generative AI: Streaming Services

Apple TV+ announces Neuromancer based on the novel by William Gibson (apple.com)
Apple TV+ announced today that it will expand its acclaimed slate of science fiction offerings with “Neuromancer,” a new 10-episode drama based on the award-winning novel of the same name by William Gibson.
Apple TV+ Losing $1B Annually as Apple Services Falter (macrumors.com)
Apple TV+ is hemorrhaging money amid a broader stall in Apple's services, according to a new report from The Information's Wayne Ma.
Spotify Tricked Us All (inews.co.uk)
Music lovers embraced it as a 'celestial jukebox' - but a new book reveals how its business model is flattening the musical landscape into ‘vibes’ curated by robots
Plex no Longer Offers Free Remote Playback for Personal Media (macrumors.com)
Media platform Plex today announced that it is raising prices for the Plex Pass subscription service, marking the first price increase that Plex has introduced in a decade.
Plex price increases for 2025, remote streaming of personal media no longer free (appleinsider.com)
Plex has announced that it will no longer offer free remote streaming for personal media and says its subscription options will see a significant price increase effective April 29, 2025.
"Awful": Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen (arstechnica.com)
Owners of smart TVs and streaming sticks running Roku OS are already subject to video advertisements on the home screen. Now, Roku is testing what it might look like if it took things a step further and forced people to watch a video ad play before getting to the Roku OS home screen.
Spotify has paid $4.5 illion to publishers, but songrwriters struggle (variety.com)
Spotify announced earlier this year that it paid out a record $10 billion-plus to the music industry in 2024, bringing its total to nearly $60 billion since its inception in 2006.
Pocket Casts makes its web player free, takes shots at Spotify and AI (arstechnica.com)
To push that point forward, Pocket Casts, owned by the company behind WordPress, Automattic Inc., has made its web player free to everyone.
YouTube Forces Ads in Moldova Without Offering Premium as an Option (ycombinator.com)
Until March 2024, users in Moldova enjoyed an ad-free experience on YouTube. However, in March 2024, YouTube began showing intrusive ads in the region. Despite this change, YouTube Premium — the service that allows users to remove ads — remains completely unavailable in Moldova. (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6307365)
YouTube Premium Lite: Ad-Free Viewing for $7.99/Month (youtube)
Today we'll begin expanding our Premium Lite pilot to users in the US. Premium Lite gives viewers a new, more affordable way to enjoy most videos on YouTube ad-free for $7.99 per month. In the coming weeks, we'll also make Premium Lite available to all users in our current pilot countries - Thailand, Germany, and Australia.
YouTube launches a $7.99 per month, ad-free Premium Lite subscription (techcrunch.com)
YouTube on Wednesday announced a new premium subscription tier called Premium Lite, which will users to watch “most” videos ad-free for $7.99 per month.
Hulu Outage During Oscars (reddit.com)
Netflix says its brief Apple TV app integration was a mistake (theverge.com)
Netflix says its brief Apple TV app integration was a mistake
The Apple TV app is now available on Android (apple.com)
Android users can now download the Apple TV app from Google Play, offering access to Apple TV+ and MLS Season Pass.
Netflix increases UK subscription prices despite record audience (theguardian.com)
Whether you are binging The Night Agent or American Primeval, getting a Netflix fix has become pricier in the UK as the streaming giant increased subscription costs despite a record audience.
Disney+ Ad Policy Change (rossmanngroup.com)
In January 2025, Disney+ updated its Subscriber Agreement to include provisions allowing advertisements in content across all subscription tiers, including those marketed as "no ads" or "ad free."
UK Weighs Making Netflix Users Pay License Fee to Fund BBC (bloomberg.com)
The UK is considering making households who only use streaming services such as Netflix and Disney pay the BBC license fee, as part of plans to modernize the way it funds the public-service broadcaster.
Crunchyroll Premium Login Details Leaked; Users at High Risk (animehunch.com)
On Jan 23, 2025, an account on X published a list of login details for multiple Crunchyroll Premium accounts.
Netflix Increases Prices Again (macrumors.com)
Netflix is raising its prices for all plans in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina.
Some Hulu users have to answer questions about the ads shown to them to continue (reddit.com)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'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.
YouTube TV Price Increase: $83 per Month (cnet.com)
Streaming TV is getting more expensive.
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.
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?