FuboTV secured exclusive U.S. rights via a six-year sublicense with Fox Sports to stream select matches from Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), it said Monday. The deal starts with the UEFA Nations League in June. The UEFA coverage will stream on Fubo Sports Network, part of fuboTV’s base plan, and via distribution partners Hisense Smart TVs, LG Channels, Sports on Tubi, Plex, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Vizio Channels and Xumo, it said.

Netflix finished Q4 with 8.28 million global paid net additions, nearly 3% short of its Oct. 19 projections, said the streaming company’s shareholder letter Thursday. “We slightly over-forecasted paid net adds in Q4,” it said. “As our membership base continues to grow, there will naturally be more volatility in our absolute paid net adds performance vs. forecast.” For the full year 2021, paid net adds of 18 million were roughly half those in 2020, it said. The service “continues to grow globally,” with more than 90% of paid net adds in 2021 coming from outside the U.S. and Canada, it said. The stronger U.S. dollar against most other currencies “translates” into an estimated 2-point “negative impact” in the company’s 2022 operating margin, it said: “Over the medium term we believe we can adjust our pricing and cost structure for a stronger US dollar world.” The stock fell 19% to $413.26 at 5:12 p.m. EST. The shareholder letter didn't mention price hikes announced last week across all tiers (see 2201140056).

Sling TV is now available on Vizio’s SmartCast TV streaming platform, the companies said Thursday, bringing live TV and over 150,000 on-demand shows and movies to Vizio smart TV owners. For a limited time, SmartCast users can try out SlingTV for three days at no cost; plans start at $35 per month.

FuboTV expanded Multiview mode on Apple TV to support elements of its FanView feature as part of its interactive live TV streaming experience, it said Wednesday. Subscribers can create their own custom sports viewing dashboard on Apple TV, combining up to two live sporting event streams with live stats and scores, it said. They can also place different FanView widgets alongside each video player. In FanView’s scoreboard widget, subscribers can navigate through live scores and click to go directly to a selected game, no channel change required, said the virtual MVPD.

TuneIn launched TuneIn On Air, giving emerging content creators, educational and nonprofit broadcasters in the U.S. access to the same distribution tools as major broadcasters, it said Wednesday. The $249-per-quarter program will give broadcasters access to TuneIn’s 30 million U.S.-based listeners as part of the streaming service’s effort to “reinvent radio for a connected world” and offer “an open platform for everyone.” TuneIn’s device and auto partners include Tesla, Volvo, Sonos, Amazon and Samsung. The program also includes access to data analytics and support resources. Internet radio stations previously accessible only by website will now be accessible through a voice command on a TuneIn-supported smart speaker or in a car’s infotainment system, it said. A program goal is to “re-energize college radio stations and independent broadcasters,” giving them a path to “expand and grow their audiences through digital distribution,” said Andrew Bock, TuneIn chief industry evangelist.

Any near-term headwind from Netflix’s price increase, announced Friday (see 2201140056), won't likely be “meaningful,” Cowen analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Wednesday, previewing the streaming service’s Q4 earnings release Thursday. Cowen survey data showed 60% of respondents said they would be willing to pay more for Netflix in Q4 2021, up from 55% in Q4 2020; the percentage of respondents willing to pay an additional $2 or more per month for Netflix rose from 28% to 33%. The survey showed younger viewers watch Netflix “most often,” but TikTok is gaining mobile viewing share. Netflix spent several quarters working through “pull forward” of subscription adds from the COVID-19 pandemic, Blackledge said. Original content volume picked up at the end of 2021 “and should drive higher engagement & potentially lower churn.”

Twenty-seven percent of U.S. broadband subscribers listed a Samsung Tizen smart TV as their primary device for viewing video content in Q3, said a Tuesday Parks Associates report, which said the smart TV will become the default streaming platform in U.S. households this year. In 2022, there will be more content partnerships and service acquisitions among providers and manufacturers, said analyst Eric Sorensen, and content creators will leverage their ability to reach audiences directly. Service and content providers will adapt their business models to address higher churn levels, which rose 5.5 points to 45% for subscription VOD services last year, he said. Acquisitions and consolidations are becoming key ways for streaming firms to compete in the face of limited material and the constant demand for more new content, Sorensen said. Streaming media providers will face increasing competition from digital and social content producers this year as popular online content creators circumvent established distribution models to build streaming applications from the ground up, he noted, citing Kevin Frederick’s KevOnStage’s YouTube channel. "Streaming apps provide new revenue opportunities, especially with the chance to retain content ownership rights,” Sorensen said. Digital content creators can monetize content and build audiences collected from social networking and video sharing platforms, bringing them to their streaming applications and websites, he noted. The top 10 streaming services are Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, ESPN+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Starz and Showtime. Disney+ recently passed Hulu to join the top three; Hulu and ESPN+ are included in the Disney Bundle.

Netflix must continue hiking prices to offset ever-increasing content costs, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Tuesday, after the streaming service’s Friday across-the-board U.S. price increases (see 2201140056). “Netflix is approaching a ceiling in most of the high GDP per capita countries for above median income subscribers, while the lower GDP per capita countries appear to be fueling much of the new subscriber growth,” Pachter said. Netflix’s Q4 guidance implies roughly flat average revenue per user from Q3 “as the growth continues to come from lower” average revenue per unit subscriptions, he said. Wedbush modeled Q4 earnings per share of 84 cents, slightly above Netflix’s low guidance, “which underscores the sharply rising content costs as delayed productions were again underway in Q4, and as competition for content increases,” he said. Netflix typically raises prices when subscriber additions are strong, he said, “so we suspect that chatter about a subscriber ‘miss’ may be misguided.” Netflix reports Q4 earnings Thursday.

Netflix customers wanting 4K TV content will now have to pay $19.99 a month, up $2, said the Netflix website Friday. The company raised prices across all tiers, with limits on quality and number of screens that can be viewed simultaneously. The basic plan is $9.99 for one standard-definition screen and one mobile device for downloads. The standard plan, raised $1.50 to $15.49, allows viewing of two screens at once and two mobile devices for downloads. The $19.99 premium plan has a four-screen maximum for simultaneous viewing and four mobile download devices. HD content is available on the top two tiers, with Ultra HD only on Premium, it said. All three plans have unlimited movies, TV shows and games, viewable on a laptop, TV, phone or tablet. Prices apply to new members and will gradually take effect for all current members, Netflix said. Current members will receive an email notification 30 days before their price changes, unless they switch plans, said the company. Netflix didn’t respond to questions. Twitter users questioned the quality levels.

Comcast and ViacomCBS signed distribution agreements that renew carriage of ViacomCBS networks and extend the availability of the latter company's Paramount+, Showtime and Pluto TV streaming services, they said Thursday. The agreements give Comcast rights to BET+.