STIRR – a free, ad-supported streaming service owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group – is celebrating its one-year anniversary with some new audience and programming announcements.
The company said STIRR has tallied up more than 1.6 million app downloads since it launched in 2019. With an eye toward growing its audience, STIRR is planning some new content, including a new channel dedicated to live 2020 election events.
The new channel will offer a continuous stream of live election coverage and live access to campaign events including town hall meetings and stump speeches. Sinclair is promising to present the coverage “without any commentary, giving viewers the most transparent, bias-free view into the campaign trail.”
STIRR will soon offering post-broadcast on demand viewing of syndicated shows including “Judge Judy,” “Dr. Phil,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy” and more. Launching late in the first quarter of 2020, episodes from syndicated TV shows originally aired by Sinclair broadcast stations will be available to viewers dependent upon the city a viewer is located in.
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“STIRR’s offering of live, local news content reflects that its purpose isn’t to solely entertain, but to serve members of local communities and provide information that impacts their lives,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in a statement. “We’re incredibly proud of the growth and success the platform has seen throughout the year and look forward to providing users with more value. With the addition of local broadcast TV syndication programming coming to the platform, we’re excited for what the next year has in store for STIRR.”
STIRR now offers audiences 100 linear channels and more than 5,000 hours of video-on-demand content. This includes the STIRR City channel, a curated, 24/7 linear TV station with a lineup based on the viewer’s city, offering local news and sports, as well as syndicated TV series, movies and city-focused lifestyle programming.