The world breathes a collective sigh of relief as 2020 finally, mercifully, comes to an end.
We’re ready to move forward into a 2021 filled with vaccines, NFL playoff games on Nickelodeon, the “Friends” reunion, the return of live music and getting back to actually going out and doing things with other people – culminating with what will likely be the most hug-filled Thanksgiving in history.
But before all of that, let’s take a quick look back at Fierce Video’s top 10 stories from 2020.
10. HBO Max offers big discount promo to attract subscribers – HBO Max launched a heavily discounted promotional rate for a limited time to attract subscribers to its recently launched streaming video service.
9. Comcast opens Showtime on-demand for all Xfinity and Flex customers – Comcast opened access to on-demand content from Showtime, Epix and other services for all of its Xfinity X1 and Flex subscribers as the coronavirus kept people at home.
8. Deeper Dive—AT&T hints at what the future holds for DirecTV – In a world where all traditional pay TV providers are losing subscribers, DirecTV still stands out. After another quarter of major losses, AT&T dropped some hints about the fate of its suffering satellite business.
7. Peacock lands on Roku. Is HBO Max not far behind? – Peacock, NBCUniversal’s ad-supported streaming service, landed on Roku devices in September and we speculated that HBO Max may not be far behind. (It took another three months but at least it happened before the end of 2020.)
6. The future looks bleak for YouTube TV and other vMVPDs – YouTube TV are fuboTV raised their prices to help confront the dramatically unprofitable realities of the virtual MVPD market but it will cost them future subscriber growth. (Spoiler alert: it hasn’t yet.)
5. AT&T under pressure again to sell DirecTV: report – AT&T reportedly came under pressure again to sell off its DirecTV business as the satellite TV industry continues to rapidly lose customers.
4. Deeper Dive—HBO Max confusion hits Roku subscribers on iOS – HBO Max had been out in the world for more than three weeks without a deal with Amazon or Roku. That caused problems beyond the TV screen.
3. The DirecTV and U-verse slow march toward extinction begins now – AT&T officially went nationwide with its new AT&T TV streaming service and that meant DirecTV and U-verse were officially old news for the telecom giant.
2. DirecTV ditches cheapest plan for new subscribers – DirecTV, AT&T’s satellite TV provider, again switched up its pricing and this time removed its least expensive video tier for new subscribers.
1. DirecTV, Dish hit with massive channel blackouts – DirecTV and Dish Network, the U.S.’s two major satellite TV providers, were both experiencing massive channel blackouts as distribution talks with broadcasters broke down. AT&T and Tegna along with Dish and Nexstar have since settled their differences.