Nickelodeon breaks out of cable’s cage, preps standalone streaming service

By Christine Persaud January 29, 2015

viacom takes nickelodeon stand alone streaming no subscription little girl watching tv

Nickelodeon, which serves as home to popular kid’s shows like iCarly and SpongeBob SquarePants, is following the lead of networks like HBO and CBS – though for a very different audience – with plans to launch its own subscription video service, reports Variety.

The service would give parents the opportunity to access tons of children’s programming for a small, yet-to-be-confirmed fee without needing a cable or satellite TV subscription. That’s a huge leap of faith for parent company Viacom, but perhaps a very smart decision. Children’s programming is one of the most popular genres among cord-cutters, and one that competitive video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon focus heavily on. Get ‘em young when it comes to the new TV, it seems.

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And it makes sense – anyone who has kids knows that a toddler isn’t going to happily sit through a one-minute commercial break every few minutes – standard practice on regular network television. And while they are growing up pretty tech-savvy, most kids either don’t know how to skip through commercials, or don’t understand the very concept of having to do so. On-demand is the way to go with the young’uns.

Interestingly, Nickelodeon will reportedly be focusing mainly on the mobile side – presumably for parents who are looking to entertain their kids while out and about using a smartphone or tablet. Though there’s no reason the content wouldn’t be just as easily accessible on a computer or large screen TV.

That said, more details, including a name for the service and what programming will be made available there, are to be revealed next month.

This new business model is promising for those who have been craving TV packages that are more customized. But one must wonder if the better option would be to partner up with a Netflix or Hulu or Amazon and let these guys take care of the on demand needs. Sure, the more a la carte options customers have, the better. But at some point, those costs will add up and customers will come full circle, looking once again for a one-stop-shop solution that’s tailored to them, and offers exactly the channels they want. Surely, the industry can meet somewhere in the middle.

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YouTube TV rolls out multiview: watch up to 4 NCAA games at once

An example of YouTube TV's multiview feature.

If you love college basketball and can process more than one game at a time, you're going to go bananas for YouTube TV's new multiview feature, which will be rolling out on a limited, early access basis starting March 14. With multiview, you'll be able to pick up to four channels and see them all simultaneously, with the ability to easily flip the active audio from one to another. The new feature is compatible with any TV-based YouTube TV installations (streaming media players, smart TVs, and game consoles), but it doesn't yet work on mobile devices or computers.

Initially, multiview will only be available to select YouTube TV users, who will be chosen at random. But Google says the goal is to include every subscriber by the time NFL football season starts in the fall. Another limitation, at least for now, is that YouTube TV will preselect the multiview channels you can choose. At launch, only channels that carry NCAA tournament games will be included in that preselected list.
How to use YouTube TV multiview
If you're one of the lucky, randomly chosen users, you'll see an option to watch up to four preselected, different streams at once in your “Top Picks for You” section. After selecting multiview, you can switch audio and captions between streams, and jump in and out of a full-screen view of a game.
It's all about sports
At the moment, YouTube TV sees multiview as an enhancement of the sports viewing experience, so only sports content will be eligible. YouTube TV has had some big sports wins in 2022, including 4K coverage of the Soccer World Cup, and that trend will continue in 2023 thanks to its acquisition of the NFL Sunday Ticket games. However, YouTube TV recently lost access to MLB Network and the MLB.tv add-on, which reduces the amount of sports content available for multiview in 2023.

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How to cancel your Disney Plus subscription

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So you've ripped through the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, been to that galaxy far, far away several times, and devoured all the Pixar films, all 34 seasons of The Simpsons, and everything else Disney Plus has to offer. Now, you've decided that you're done. Or maybe you just want to save a little money for a bit.

Whatever your reasons are, if it's time to delete your Disney Plus account, the process is relatively straightforward. Actually, the only thing that will make the steps different for each user is which devices you used to create a Disney+ account in the first place.

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What is Dolby Vision? The dynamic HDR format fully explained

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Of all the new TV technologies to emerge over the last few years, it's arguable that none has had as big an impact on overall picture quality as High Dynamic Range, or HDR. When properly implemented, HDR makes everything pop, while enhancing details and improving color. We think it has been more impactful than the move from Full HD (1080p) to 4K Ultra HD or even 8K resolution.

But not all HDR is created equal; in fact, HDR is a catch-all term that refers to several distinct and competing technologies. The one with the biggest brand recognition is Dolby Vision. Dolby Labs has done such a good job of marketing Dolby Vision as its own platform, many consumers aren't even aware that it's an HDR format. That shouldn't be a surprise: TVs that have Dolby Vision technology are often labeled as "4K HDR TV with Dolby Vision," making it seem as though the two terms aren't related.