Hulu and AT&T have announced a joint effort to bring Hulu to the masses. According to a press release by AT&T this week, the communications giant will offer Hulu subscription streaming service to AT&T customers through a variety of platforms such as mobile apps and AT&T websites, slated to become available later this year.
“We know that our customers want to be able to access video on multiple devices,” said Andrew Goodman, associate vice president, AT&T content acquisition. “So we’re excited to be able to expand our relationship with Hulu and make its innovative and vast video selections available to AT&T customers on multiple screens.”
The goal for the partnership is to bring Hulu to more screens, as AT&T customers will be able to select from Hulu material through an AT&T app and from the website. Additionally, there are talks of eventually rolling out a Hulu app for TV. Just what the collaborative app would look like is unclear at this point.
Related: Verizon acquires AOL for $4.4 billion
Tim Connolly, Hulu’s senior vice president of partnerships and distribution said, “At Hulu, we strive to create the best possible video experience for customers – offering them the ability to view their favorite content, when, where and how they want. We are excited to be working with AT&T to connect its customers with our premium content on every screen.”
Hulu is taking a closer look at its business model as of late with rival Netflix continuing to dominate when it comes to both subscribers, and bandwidth used. In an attemp to keep up, Hulu made headlines for spending a whopping $180 million for the complete Seinfeld series, which will be available to its paying users this summer.
The AT&T deal will likely be a huge benefit to Hulu, as it will drive premium subscribers to the site. Previously AT&T hosted a decent library of Hulu’s free material embedded across a number of sites. Now, however the focus will shift to paid content. The new offers will become available later this year.
Amazon has unveiled a new Alexa lineup featuring the Echo Show 16, Echo Time smart clock, and Alexa Photo Frame. Two speakers join them: an upgraded Echo Dot with a built-in smart home hub and the Echo Studio with Home Camera, which lets Alexa+ see its surroundings. Both are available now for $99.99 and $249.99, respectively.
The Echo Dot does more than play music
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.