Charter Communications, the nation’s largest cable TV operator, is launching the Spectrum App Store for its flagship TV brand. The digital storefront — accessible through the My Spectrum App and on Spectrum.net — will allow Spectrum customers without a traditional TV package to manage and purchase streaming apps à la carte. The move is an effort to appeal to younger audiences, which cable has been losing to streaming standalones like YouTube for the past 10 years. Charter also announced Spectrum is partnering with Apple to present a slate of immersive 2025-26 season L.A. Lakers games on the Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. Continue reading Charter Announces Spectrum App Store, Lakers on Vision Pro

AMC Networks has begun rolling out an ad-supported version of its flagship AMC+ streaming service. Initial availability will be on AMC’s own direct-to-consumer platform and apps, with third-party platforms and channel providers added in the coming weeks. Priced at $4.99 per month, the ad-supported tier includes less than five-minutes per hour of sponsored messages and the same content that comes with the $8.99 per month ad-free plan (or $83.88 annually). Chief Commercial Officer Kim Kelleher says the new product offering is “bringing ads to the only piece of our distribution ecosystem that wasn’t already ad-supported.” Continue reading AMC Offers a New Commercial Tier for Its Streaming Service

During a conference call with investors, AMC Networks explained the company’s plans for attracting new subscribers to its streaming services, including a new ad-supported version of AMC+, slated to launch later this year, and continuing to extend carriage deals of its FAST channels. AMC Networks — which operates AMC+, ALLBLK, Acorn TV, HIDIVE, Sundance Now and Shudder — experienced a drop in direct-to-consumer numbers during the quarter that ended March 31. Its overall 11.5 million subscriber count decreased about 300,000 since the end of 2022 (subscriber data was not revealed for each individual service). Continue reading AMC Networks Maps Out Its Future Ad-Supported Strategies