Looney Tunes and other classic cartoons get a streaming service

Your favorite Saturday morning cartoons are going digital. Turner and Warner Bros. are teaming up for a new standalone video subscription service called Boomerang. It’ll offer over 5, 000 titles from the Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes and MGM animation libraries when it launches this spring. Boomerang launched in 2000 as a digital TV channel, but this is the first time it’s offering classic franchises like Scooby-Doo , Tom & Jerry , The Jetsons and The Flintstones on a streaming platform. It will also stream exclusive new episodes of Scooby-Doo , Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry , along with brand-new original series like a Wizard of Oz spinoff and a remake of the 1968 show Wacky Races . Both Turner and Warner Bros. are owned by Time Warner, which has a firm foothold in the direct-to-consumer streaming market. It’s a co-owner of Hulu and it partnered with the Criterion Collection to launch Filmstruck , a Netflix-style service for classic movies. Boomerang will be available ad-free on the web, iOS and Android devices for $4.99 per month or $39.99 annually. Turner and Warner Bros. plan to expand to several more platforms after launch, including Amazon, Roku and Apple TV. Source: Time Warner

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Looney Tunes and other classic cartoons get a streaming service

HBO Now racks up 2 million subscribers

HBO Now’s growth isn’t about to slow down any time soon, it seems. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes reports that the internet-only video service now has over 2 million customers — not bad when it hadn’t even reached 1 million a year ago. And a good chunk of that may have come recently, as the company’s financial chief noted that there was a “nice uptick” in over-the-top (read: online) subscriber growth as of late. It’s not certain what prompted the rise in demand, although there are a few likely factors at work. Increased accessibility no doubt helps, as you’re more likely to spend that $15 per month if you know you can watch HBO on your PlayStation or Xbox . Gradually increasing internet speeds make streaming a more realistic option. And of course, good programming is key — the one-two combo of Game of Thrones and Westworld no doubt helped persuade some viewers. As for extending the streak? Time Warner says it’s planning to add more digital distribution allies to reach people who wouldn’t normally see its marketing (think cord cutters and others who don’t watch much conventional TV). There’s no telling that this will be enough, but it’s clear that the focus is shifting away from the novelty of internet-only HBO and more on its merits. Source: Variety

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HBO Now racks up 2 million subscribers

Time Warner Sells Telecom Business to Level 3

gavron (1300111) writes “We all know about TW Cable being acquired by Comcast (subject to regulatory approval) but news from today is that their non-cable business is being purchased by Level3 for almost 6 billion dollars. What used to be the ‘largest media and distribution company ever’ (AOL Time Warner) is now nothing more than a garage of pieces being parceled off to the first available bidder. This might be good for consumers, but recently Time Warner (and Comcast) won awards for consumer hatred.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Time Warner Sells Telecom Business to Level 3