12 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Streaming

Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
Even more stranger things.

The main series feels like it just ended, but Netflix is headed back to Hawkins pretty soon. Here’s the latest trailer for Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, which starts streaming on April 23rd.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
What is, a terrible idea?

Jeopardy! is a beloved institution. Which is why Sony Pictures TV is trying to drag it into the streaming era with a YouTube Edition. The first episode will debut on March 31st at 9PM ET with contestants Monét X Change, Rebecca Black, and Brennan Lee Mulligan playing for charity. According to Variety:

“…they will compete across a dynamic range of clues that blend the classic format and style of Jeopardy! with the energy of internet culture with categories spanning YouTube-inspired topics—from viral trends to the rich 20+ year history of the platform—along with custom video clues featuring notable YouTube talent.”

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
HBO Max is finally available in the UK and Ireland.

Last month Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the streaming service would be coming on March 26th, which happens to be today. Subscriptions start at £4.99 per month in the UK for Basic with Ads. Until now, HBO content had been available in the UK through Sky or Now TV.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
HBO’s Harry Potter series premieres this Christmas.

HBO has released the first trailer for its upcoming Harry Potter series, which will help fund executive producer J.K. Rowling’s ongoing crusade against transgender people. In addition to dropping the trailer, HBO has also bumped the series’ premiere date up to December 25th 2026.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Spotify starts rolling out SongDNA to lead you down musical rabbit holes.

It’s like liner notes meets Wikipedia. Premium users can tap a SongDNA card at the bottom of the Now Playing screen to show the writers, producers, and other contributors, as well as any samples or interpolations. Spotify says you can then tap on those to expose connections to other artists and songs:

It’s an interactive way to follow the connections between tracks and see how artists, eras, and genres intersect, giving you a deeper understanding of how what you’re listening to came together.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
It’s a big week for For All Mankind news.

The show returns for season 5 on Friday, and Apple just announced that it would be coming back for one last season after that. Now we have the first teaser trailer for Star City, a spinoff that shows the other side of the alternate reality sci-fi story. It starts streaming in May.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
A juror’s vacation could complicate deliberations in the LA social media addiction trial.

There could be a sticky situation if jurors don’t reach a verdict today on day nine of deliberations, independent journalist Meghann Cuniff reports. One juror is set to leave on a prepaid vacation tomorrow, and the judge hasn’t yet said what would happen if they go before a verdict.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Wonder Man is coming back for a second act.

Though Disney almost put an end toMarvel’s Wonder Man series before it got a chance to stream, the studio is bringing it back for another season according to Variety.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Marty Supreme will stream on HBO Max starting April 24th.

Been meaning to catch the film, maybe I will once it’s available to stream. My colleague Kevin Nguyen reviewed it last year.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Mister Rogers is getting his own YouTube channel.

Until now, Mister Rogers Neighborhood has only been available on YouTube in a limited capacity via the PBS Kids account and sketchy uploads. But now it will have an official home on YouTube thanks to a partnership between Fred Rogers Productions and Little Dot Studios, which has, let’s say, diverse interests.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
We’ve got Stranger Things at home.

Now that Stranger Things is over — the main series, anyways — you can finally own the whole thing on disc. Arrow Video is releasing a box set of the complete series on Blu-Ray and 4K UHD, which will be available in July. I hope the collection spans exactly 11 discs.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
“It was very difficult trying to come up with something that no one had ever seen.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein won a handful of Oscars last night, including one for best make-up and hairstyling. Last year I had the chance to talk to Mike Hill, who designed the creature from the film, about his relationship with del Toro and all the work that went into recreating the character.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Dolby Vision returns to Disney Plus in Europe.

After being removed last month the HDR format and 3D movies are once again available to Disney Plus Premium subscribers in Europe, although some German users are still reporting them missing. Disney confirmed to FlatpanelsHD the removal was a result of a “German patent dispute with American company InterDigital.”

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
A new batch of assassins.

Last year Netflix confirmed that its long-gestating Assassin’s Creed series was still happening, and now we have further proof of life thanks to a casting announcement. Noomi Rapace, Sean Harris, Ramzy Bedia, and Corrado Invernizzi have joined the cast, though there’s still no word on when it’ll start streaming.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
YouTube thumbnails just got an upgrade.

Creators can now upload video thumbnails up to 50MB instead of just 2MB, according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. Bring on the hi-res YouTube Face.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
What is, a Jeopardy mobile game?

This spring, Peacock is bringing a new Jeopardy! game to its mobile app. It will feature daily trivia rounds straight from the Jeopardy! team, along with shareable scores and streak challenges.

Screenshots of the Jeopardy! mobile game
Image: NBCUniversal / Peacock
What it was like to watch grieving parents stare down Mark Zuckerberg in court

Parent advocates were determined to make their presence known to Meta’s CEO.

Lauren Feiner
Bespoke AI models are the next big thing in filmmaking

Ben Affleck’s AI startup, recently purchased by Netflix for around $600 million, has a different approach to gen AI.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
David Pierce
David Pierce
This is immediately my new favorite way to watch YouTube.

It’s called Channel Surfer, and it presents YouTube as an old-school grid of TV channels, which you can flip though to see what’s on. All the simplicity of watching cable in a hotel room; all the videos you actually want to watch. It’s fun on its own, but it feels like magic as soon as you import your own subscriptions to create personalized channels.

David Pierce
David Pierce
“You’re sitting at home and just taking pictures of yourself, pulling various faces.”

One of my favorite things to do on social media is to just imagine the people setting up the camera right before the video starts — because as soon as you remember they set up a camera, the whole viewing experience changes. This fun Ringer story about the rise of YouTube Face (trust me, you know the face) pulls back a lot of that artifice and dives into some of the strange workings of the internet’s biggest video platform.