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Vimeo to shut down all of its TV streaming apps later this month by Aditya Tiwari The video hosting service Vimeo announced that its TV apps will be discontinued later this month on June 27. Vimeo said it will shut down its streaming apps across all supported platforms, including Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. These apps will be removed from the respective app stores and Vimeo will no longer push any security updates or provide technical support for its TV apps. According to a support document spotted by Engadget, the latest change doesn't apply to "branded apps available to Vimeo OTT enterprise sellers." Vimeo is displaying on-screen notifications on users' TV screens informing them about the upcoming shutdown. Vimeo's streaming apps for TV were launched back in 2016, around the time when the company positioned itself as a rival to YouTube. But over the years, Vimeo transformed itself into a business-focused streaming platform. "Today, Vimeo is much more than a viewing destination. It's an all-in-one video experience platform giving creative professionals, businesses, and organizations everything they need to make and market amazing, impactful videos," Vimeo said explaining why it's pulling the plug on its TV apps. Nevertheless, the shutdown of the Vimeo TV apps isn't the end of the road. Users can still cast their Vimeo content on the big screen with the help of its Android and iPhone apps. Vimeo said it retires legacy products that are no longer in line with its standards, adding that casting via its mobile apps can provide a "better ongoing experience" to the viewers. To cast their favorite videos on compatible TVs, users can simply look for the Chromecast or AirPlay icon in the Vimeo apps for Android and iOS. As of now, Vimeo doesn't support casting videos from a Chrome web browser but users can AirPlay Vimeo content from the Safari browser on Apple devices. Via Engadget

Amazon might buy Indian video streaming giant MX Player, says report by Aditya Tiwari One of India's biggest streaming service MX Player might become an Amazon subsidiary. TechCrunch reports, citing sources, that the e-commerce giant is in talks with Times Internet, which currently owns a majority stake in MX Player, in an attempt to explore the possibilities of a takeover. However, the report adds that the chances of the purported acquisition actually happening any time soon are thin. But if it goes through, it will help Amazon tighten its grip in the video streaming space. The company also has a huge market presence with Prime Video and mini TV. MX Player started as a video player app for smartphones and a major stake in its parent company was acquired by Times Internet back in 2018 for a sum of $140 million. But after the online streaming boom started, the app pivoted and turned itself into an OTT streaming platform in 2019. In the same year, MX Player also received a big investment from Tencent Holdings. Since then, the app has expanded its presence overseas and developed original web series in various Indian languages. Investing its resources in local-language content has allowed MX Player to reach a user base of around 300 million globally. The sources also said that two other buyers have shown interest in taking home MX Player. Let's see where the streaming app lands in the future. Source: TechCrunch

Netflix increases prices for standard and premium subscriptions in the U.S. by Namerah Saud Fatmi It has been about two years since Los Gatos-based streaming company Netflix last increased the prices of its monthly subscriptions in the U.S. In January 2019, the cost of the basic plan rose from $7.99 to $8.99, the HD standard plan hiked up to $12.99 from $10.99, and the 4K premium plan went up to $15.99 from $13.99. Seeing as how the last-to-last price hike also took place roughly two years before 2019, it doesn't come as a surprise to know that Netflix has increased its U.S. prices yet again. Today the streaming service changed the costs of its standard and premium tiers. The base plan which costs $8.99 per month remains unchanged. As of today, new members will have to pay $13.99 in place of $12.99 per month for the standard HD subscription. Meanwhile, the premium membership which allows users to stream in 4K now costs two dollars more, rising from $15.99 to $17.99 monthly. The U.S. market isn't the only one to face a hike in prices recently. At the beginning of this month, Netflix raised the prices of some of its subscription plans in Canada as well. Canadians had to start paying CA$14.99 instead of CA$13.99 for the standard plan and CA$18.99 instead of CA$16.99 for the premium one.

Samsung partners with over-the-top service providers to deliver 8K HDR10+ content by Paul Hill Samsung has announced that it is partnering with CHILI, The Explorers, and MEGOGO, three over-the-top (OTT) services providers in Europe to deliver "world's first" 8K HDR10+ content. By partnering with streaming providers, it’ll mean customers with the appropriate download speeds will quickly and easily be able to start watching high-quality content. HDR10+ is available on all UHD TV and 2019 8K TV models, including Samsung’s QLED TV lineup. With HDR10+, content creators can produce content that has better brightness and contrast settings with bright colours appearing brighter, while dark areas can be made darker. Commenting on the partnerships, Hyogun Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, said: “With HDR emerging as one of the most important technologies for ultra-high picture quality, our HDR10+ format enables every image to be accurately displayed on screen just as the creator intended. We will continue to strengthen our industry leadership through establishing partnerships with top streaming service providers and equipping our televisions with the technology needed to support the world’s first 8K HDR10+.” Several other content providers, including Rakuten TV, are partnering with Samsung to deliver HDR10+ content. Rakuten TV, Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV, and Videociety are all expected to roll out support on their VOD services between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020. Samsung, along with Panasonic, and 20th Century Fox began the HDR10+ logo certification program last year to encourage its use. In that period, 81 companies have joined the program. To find out more about HDR10+, adopters of the technology, and products which support HDR10+, head over to the dedicated website.