Pay-TV platform beIN Media Group signed a deal with CBS for multiplatform licensing of CBS and CW programming, it said in a news release Tuesday. It said the deal covers rights to some CBS and CW series, making them available to beIN subscribers on the same date as U.S. broadcasts, and lets beIN stack CBS content on its on-demand platform.

A year after spending $1 billion to acquire 33 percent of BAMTech as the springboard to launch an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service for live sports (see 1608100024), Disney announced Tuesday it will pay $1.58 billion more to buy an additional 42 percent of the streaming-technology company. Disney also will launch its long-awaited ESPN-branded “multi-sport video streaming service” in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019, said the studio. Launch of the ESPN-branded service has had several delays. Disney CEO Bob Iger first indicated plans to launch it in 2016, then sometime in 2017, and now early 2018. The service will feature about 10,000 live regional, national and international games and events a year, including from Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis and college sports, Disney said. With the new “strategic shift” toward a Disney-branded service, “Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate,” it said. “Plans are for the Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN, in app stores, and from authorized MVPDs.” Netflix didn’t comment.

CBS is in “the early stages” of developing a “24/7" livestreaming sports channel in the mold of its CBSN online news service, part of its over-the-top strategy, said CEO Leslie Moonves on a Monday earnings call. The new channel, which will debut later this year, “does not yet have a name,” but “we think sports fans are looking for something like this,” he said. CBSN “has been a terrific growth engine," with streams up 38 percent in Q2, he said. “We're now broadening its reach by making it available on CBS All Access, and for the first time as a stand-alone channel in skinny bundles.” On Monday's announcement that CBS All Access will expand internationally starting in 2018's first half, the plan is to debut the service first in Canada “and then follow that up with additional countries on multiple continents shortly thereafter,” said Moonves. “Over time, we will add content from across our corporation to make our service more and more attractive. We are very aware of the international success that other streaming companies have had. We now see a huge opportunity for CBS to go direct to consumer on a much bigger scale worldwide.” CBS All Access and Showtime's over-the-top service are on pace to exceed 4 million subscribers combined in 2017, said Moonves. “We're more than halfway to our goal of 8 million subs by 2020, which is obviously quite conservative now. These services are just starting to hit their stride with much more and bigger programming to come.” Showtime OTT will beam the Aug. 26 pay-per-view matchup between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor direct to consumers, said Moonves. “This is the first time we've made a boxing or pay-per-view event available in this way."

LG's 2017 webOS smart TVs can now access Sling TV channels, giving the app more than 100 channels of content, the company announced Monday. Sling TV became available on 2016 LG webOS TVs earlier this year (see 1704190013). LG TVs with webOS 3.5 also have access to Channel Plus offerings including Bloomberg, Funny Or Die, Just for Laughs, Baeble Music, PBS Digital Studios, Family Feud, People/Entertainment Weekly Network, Cheddar, Tastemade, HSN and Refinery29, LG said.

While the U.S. movie rental and the movie and TV-buying markets decline as subscription VOD revenue grows, rentals, purchases, SVOD and movie box office combined still fall far short of what consumers pay for pay-TV services, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday, pointing to Digital Entertainment Group numbers (see 1708030048).

Netflix in its first acquisition bought comic book company Millarworld with the intent of turning its various franchises into films, series and children's programming. Millarworld will continue to publish under the Netflix label, Netflix said in a Monday announcement.

After protracted negotiations, CBS and DirecTV Now announced Monday they have a deal for the streaming service to carry CBS programming, giving DirecTV Now subscribers access to the four major TV networks and affiliated channels. John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group, expressed hope for a deal “down the road” when DirecTV Now launched in November (see 1611280058), and Monday’s news is a “huge positive” for the network, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors. The nine-month negotiations likely hinged on ancillary rights rather than rate, said Ryvicker. The deal includes Showtime, CW, Pop and CBS Sports Network, and affiliates of CBS and CW also will have the opportunity to participate, they said. Ryvicker said the agreement appears to be with just DirecTV Now, not part of a broader deal for CBS with AT&T and DirecTV, and she expects it to be similar to those DirecTV Now has with other services for a rolling five episodes vs. an entire season or library. The companies didn’t respond to questions. DirecTV customers have access to more than 120 channels, said the provider.

Faster broadband and widespread adoption of connected devices helped fuel 136 percent growth in the “cumulative number” of global children’s VOD services to 175 in 2016 from 2012, said IHS Markit in a Monday report. “An increase in original exclusive online content, ease of online payment, and the offer of a secure environment for age-appropriate content have further encouraged the uptake of on-demand content.” Children’s VOD services are booming in number, “with traditional linear broadcasters reaching their audiences online and a wave of new players led by Amazon, Netflix and YouTube competing for eyeballs,” it said. “Children do not have the same ingrained loyalty to existing media brands as older viewers, so it is not just a battle for today’s under-12 audience but also about establishing awareness among future consumers.” About 90 percent of the services are accessible on mobile devices, including a third of the services accessible only on a smartphone or tablet, it said: “The smartphone-fueled emergence of app stores has led to a new wave of subscription services. Besides the ability to offer a protected environment for young children, they can be rolled out internationally more quickly and at a fraction of the cost of linear TV channels.”

Comcast and FX Networks will jointly launch the FX+ commercial-free subscription VOD service starting Sept. 5, they announced Monday. FX+ will be available for $5.99 per month as an add-on for Xfinity TV subscribers who upgrade their FX subscriptions. Along with offering current series commercial free, all seasons of FX's library will be available, with shows to be rolled out over a period of time with the complete FX+ roster available in 2018, they said.

National Amusements, controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom, should force a merger of the two, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield wrote Friday. NA seemingly has no intentions of selling either, and the scale and size of each is such that it's unlikely acquisitions could diversify them away from their legacy businesses and the challenges in the TV advertising and cable network subscription business, he said: Failed individual CBS and Viacom efforts at mergers and acquisitions like CBS-Starz and Viacom-Scripps (see 1707310062) might have gone better if CBS-Viacom were combined. BTIG said a CBS-Viacom brings cost savings from a unified TV and film studio, removes inefficiencies, better positions the combined company for direct-to-consumer business with Viacom producing not-for-linear TV content for CBS All Access, cuts the risk of carriage disputes, helps in the pursuit of other M&A in and outside of the legacy media sector, and would give more cash flow and scale to help pursue sports rights. NA -- which backed and then called off CBS-Viacom talks last year (see 1612120060) -- didn't comment.