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A new explainer outlines how major streaming platforms handle offline downloads, noting that Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and YouTube support downloading content for offline viewing on desktop and laptop computers. Netflix and several other services, by contrast, now limit offline downloads mostly to mobile devices and Chromebooks. Crunchyroll offers downloads for its anime library, but only on mobile.
Takeshi's Castle, the Japanese physical-challenge game show that originally aired on TBS from 1986 to 1990, received a reboot on Amazon Prime Video on 21 April 2023. German-Japanese actor Subaru Kimura joined returning host Tani as co-leader of the contestants in the new version. The reboot's finale game, Yabusame, pits contestants against castle defenders including kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in a tennis-ball shooting contest for a million-yen prize.
Meta has partnered with Walmart, Stripe, Sierra and other companies to publish what they call a 'personal agent protocol,' an open standard meant to govern how AI agents interact with businesses and consumers. The move comes alongside other items in CNBC's Morning Squawk roundup, including the S&P 500 closing at a record before futures pulled back, and new research tying ICE immigration raids to localized economic slowdowns in cities like Minneapolis.
Amazon has announced a six-year deal to stream the Emmy Awards on Prime Video starting in 2027, with the event available free worldwide without requiring a Prime subscription. The company reportedly paid between $20-25 million annually, totaling over $120 million for the rights. This move marks a shift of the Emmys from traditional TV to a streaming platform, reflecting broader industry trends.
Amazon Prime Video has released Mike Flanagan's new adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, starring Summer H. Howell as the telekinetic teen and Samantha Sloyan as her mother Margaret. The series marks the first project from Flanagan's exclusive deal with Amazon, following years of acclaimed horror work for Netflix including The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass.
Amazon announced it is expanding Prime Video's news section with on-demand short-form clips covering local and national stories, initially available on TVs and living room devices before expanding to web and mobile apps. The clips will appear in Trending Topics and Local News carousels within the app's News destination, supplementing existing news partnerships available to all U.S. users regardless of Prime membership.
Amazon's Prime Video announced an AI feature that digitally alters actors' mouth movements to align with dubbed dialogue tracks, starting with the English version of German series Maxton Hall. The company says it plans to expand the tool to other titles, framing it as a way to make dubbed content feel more natural to viewers.
Amazon announced new shopping tools for Prime Video, letting viewers browse products tied to shows through an upgraded X-Ray Shop tab and a 'shop the scene' feature powered by its Lens technology. Users can pause a title on Fire TV, open X-Ray, and jump into a synced product feed in the Amazon Shopping app.
Amazon Prime Video has rolled out an AI-driven visual effects feature that adjusts actors' lip movements to match dubbed audio tracks, starting with the English dub of the German series Maxton Hall's first two seasons. The company says the tool blends AI and VFX to sync mouth movements with human-translated dialogue, and plans to bring it to season 3 in December and more titles later.
A new breakdown outlines how fans can watch most NFL games this season without a costly cable package by combining a digital antenna, NFL Plus, and Amazon Prime Video for Thursday games. It also notes that international, holiday, and Super Bowl games are scattered across Netflix, CBS, Fox, NBC, Peacock, ESPN, and ABC, meaning no single cheap service covers everything.
Spectrum is now offering a complimentary Amazon Prime subscription, normally priced at $14.99 monthly, to customers enrolled in its Internet Assist program for low-income households and seniors. Eligibility includes recipients of SSI, SNAP, Medicaid or the National School Lunch Program, and both new and existing Spectrum internet customers can claim it regardless of which internet tier they use. The perk arrives shortly after Spectrum reported losing 172,000 internet subscribers in its latest quarterly earnings.
According to a New York Times report, Netflix executives have discussed integrating third-party streaming services such as Peacock and Fox One directly into its app. It's not yet clear whether this would mean selling subscriptions to those services or embedding their content, and no deal is currently imminent.