Viewing data for the season 8 premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones illustrates "the age of live linear television for non-sports programming is forever in the past," and the premium channel is facing a tough post-GoT future, The Diffusion Group's Rob Silvershein blogged Tuesday. He said the 54 million times the premiere was pirated in its first 24 hours was more than three times more than the legal number of viewers, with the 4 million U.S. illegal views "significantly disturbing." Silvershein said GoT's premiere attracted big numbers, but only 10 percent of the most-viewed live episodes of any TV show last year weren't sports, and non-sports content isn't likely to re-emerge as "must-see TV." The analyst said HBO has no other program likely to fill GoT's role once it wraps up. HBO parent WarnerMedia, part of AT&T, didn't comment Wednesday.

Spotify’s U.S. membership grew by 3 million in Q1, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reported Tuesday. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. members have a premium subscription, a dip from the previous quarter, said analyst Josh Lowitz, saying continued overall growth, including in advertising-supported members, caused the slight decline. Among ad-supported listeners, 27 percent trialed a paid subscription in the quarter, up from 18 percent in Q4, and 81 percent of trial Premium subscribers converted to a paid subscription in Q1 vs. 72 percent. Fourteen percent of paid Premium subscribers ended a subscription, either reverting to an ad-supported account or quitting the service altogether, up from 13 percent in Q4. Findings are based on surveys of 500 U.S. Spotify users January-March.

Verizon and Google are bringing YouTube TV to Verizon customers nationwide this year, said the companies Tuesday. Verizon Wireless, Fios and 5G Home customers will be able to subscribe to YouTube TV through Verizon on “whatever platform they choose.” Pricing and availability will be announced later this year, a Verizon spokesperson emailed. The companies have another promotion that's currently running: Free YouTube TV for three months to customers who order 5G Home, available in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Houston and Indianapolis. Under that plan, after the first three months, YouTube TV goes up to $49 per month, said the Verizon website. YouTube TV offers live TV that can be watched on a phone, tablet, TV and computer. The over-the-top video service offers on-demand programs and its more than 70 networks include broadcasters ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC and cable networks HGTV, Food Network, TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN and FX, it said. A YouTube TV membership includes six accounts per household and personal DVR with no storage space limits. In January, Verizon Wireless announced (see 1901160010) it was offering free Apple Music to subscribers of its top two monthly plans.

“SiriusXM. No Car Required” is the promotional tagline for the rollout of the $8 monthly Essential 300-channel streaming subscription plan, available now through a 90-day trial for $1, it said Monday. Essential’s $8 fee is about half that of SiriusXM’s step-up Premier package, which includes Howard Stern's two full-time audio channels, plus Howard Video and NBA, NHL and NCAA programming, it said. Essential’s launch is in keeping with SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer's long-running strategy to build a broader subscription base outside the car. In addition to smartphones for people on the go, he sees smart speakers “as a great way to distribute our service in home” (see 1901300019). “Stay tuned for more content and more functionality” on smart speakers, he said in January. Its debut earlier this month of Pandora Now as a SiriusXM channel and Pandora interactive station and playlist was the first cross-platform initiative since SiriusXM completed its $3.5 billion all-stock Pandora buyout Feb. 1 (see 1904040024). SiriusXM reports Q2 earnings Wednesday.

Netflix recorded 9.6 million net paid subscriber additions globally in Q1, 8 percent better than its January forecast, said a quarterly shareholder letter Tuesday. With Apple and Disney both recently unveiling details of their direct-to-consumer subscription video service offerings, “the clear beneficiaries will be content creators and consumers who will reap the rewards of many companies vying to provide a great video experience for audiences,” said Netflix. “We don’t anticipate that these new entrants will materially affect our growth because the transition from linear to on demand entertainment is so massive and because of the differing nature of our content offerings.” All three services will “continue to grow as we each invest more in content and improve our service and as consumers continue to migrate away from linear viewing (similar to how US cable networks collectively grew for years as viewing shifted from broadcast networks during the 1980s and 1990s).”

Cinedigm launched a network, ConTV, as a digital-first linear channel on Viacom's Pluto TV streaming service, it said Tuesday. It said ConTV's content focus is on genre movies such as horror and science fiction, plus cult films and TV shows.

BTIG Research upgraded its “sell rating” on Disney to “neutral” in a Monday note following the company’s Thursday investor day announcement of its Disney Plus streaming VOD service. Stopping short of rating it a “buy,” BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield said while Wall Street gave Disney a thumbs up Friday with a 12 percent share bump (see 1904120030), he remained “skeptical”: The wider array of popular library content at a lower price than expected "excited investors and shifted the Disney narrative (for now) away from its secularly challenged media network portfolio.” Greenfield referenced Disney management’s “ambitious” 60 million-90 million five-year subscriber target for the SVOD service, set to launch Nov. 12. Conceding the difficulty of disproving a five-year projection for a service that’s yet to launch, Greenfield called subscriber targets “overly aggressive” vs. the planned $2.4 billion original programming investment. Greenfield cited issues he believes Disney needs to address: a higher spend on original programming; the threat of Disney Plus cannibalizing home entertainment profits; the company’s streaming push possibly hurting its media network business; tech and marketing costs increasing; a challenging overseas launch; and a “confusing” multiple services model arising from separating Disney Plus from Hulu. He also called the "discount" $69 annual subscription “a mistake” and cited the challenge for ESPN Plus and Hulu to reach profitability. Disney didn't comment Monday. Moody’s called Disney’s SVOD strategies “credit positive” Monday but said they weren't expected to change its A2 credit ratings. Moody’s believes Disney is “on the correct path” for how viewers will use TV in the future “as the traditional ecosystem will continue to confront secular pressures,” particularly in North America and Australia where traditional pay TV is “most costly for the consumer" and "facing erosion.” In Moody’s view, the power over what and when people watch, on what device and how much they pay has been traditionally in the hands of production studios, network aggregators and pay-TV distributors, which have had "complete control." That power is "ceding to consumers as they now have many more information and entertainment options, can compare the value propositions of different platforms and content offerings, and are dictating their preferences with their wallets.”

AT&T has sold its 9.5 percent stake in Hulu back to the streaming service joint venture for $1.43 billion, they said Monday. Hulu said it anticipates that AT&T's WarnerMedia "will remain a valued partner ... for years." AT&T said it will use the money to pay down debt.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman recommended U.S. District Court in Miami grant Amazon summary judgment in porn streaming service Wreal's trademark violation complaint. In a docket 14-cv-21385 report and recommendation Tuesday (in Pacer), Goodman said Wreal hadn't made a sufficient case that average consumers will confuse Wreal's pornographic FyreTV service with Amazon's Fire TV. He wrote there's no evidence of actual confusion and no proof Amazon markets Fire TV to customers interested in streaming pornography.

VMVPD YouTube TV is adding several Discovery channels and hiking the monthly subscription price from $40 to $49.99, it said Wednesday. The new channels are Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel and MotorTrend, while OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, will launch by year-end. Discovery said the price hike is effective Wednesday for new members and reflected in bills after May 13 for existing subscribers. Also Wednesday, the programmer and TV hosts said they're launching a DIY network (see 1904100035).