Weekend Wrap Up: YouTube TV Adds NFL Network and More Top Stories From the Week


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This week, we took a look at YouTube TV’s addition of NFL Network, Mulan’s big premiere on Disney+, Netflix’s new free section, and more.

YouTube TV Adds NFL Network and a New Sports Add-On

Earlier in the week, we reported on rumors that YouTube TV would soon add the NFL Network alongside a new sports-focused add on package. Well, on Thursday, YouTube TV made it official and announced that the live TV streaming service would add the channel and what it’s calling a Sports Plus package.

So here are the details: NFL Network will be part of the base YouTube TV membership. Meanwhile, the new Sports Plus option includes NFL RedZone, Fox College Sports, GolTV, Fox Soccer Plus, MAVTV Motorsports Network, TVG, and Stadium. The new add-on runs for $10.99 per month on top of the $64.99 base price for YouTube TV.

Read more about YouTube’s TV big sports announcement here.

What’s Going on with ‘Mulan’ and Disney+?

In movie news, September 4th marked the premiere of Mulan on the Disney+ streaming service via Premier Access for $29.99. We’ve covered the film’s rather lengthy journey toward an actual release, including several delays due to COVID-19 and massive theater closures. But the movie is finally available to watch, both online and via theaters that have recently reopened. And if you’re wondering when the film we be added to the regular Disney+ lineup, you won’t have too much longer to wait.

Read more about Mulan’s premiere on Disney+ here.

Disney+ Announced ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Release Date

In other Disney+ news, the streaming service announced more details about season 2 of its smash hit The Mandalorian. Disney shared that the show will return with new episodes starting just before Halloween, on Friday, October 30th.

Just like with season 1, Disney is opting for a more traditional TV show release schedule, so you can expect episodes to drop on a weekly basis for several Fridays following the season premiere. Unsurprisingly, they haven’t shared a whole lot of details about stories and plot points, but we do we of some notable guest stars lining up for season 2. That includes Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett in the Star Wars prequel era.

Read more about season 2 of The Mandalorian here.

Netflix Launches a Free Section with No Subscription Required

Netflix launched a new free section that doesn’t require a login or account. The new section includes some of Netflix’s in-house content, like episodes of Stranger Things, original movies like Bird Box, and reality series like Love Island.

According to Netflix’s support page, you can get to the new free section via computer browser or on Android devices, but iOS isn’t supported yet. And the company says the selection of free shows and movies could change over time. Of course, the main motive here is most likely less about Netflix feeling charitable and more about attracting new subscribers that have perhaps been on the fence and want to sample what’s available. So it’ll be interesting to see how effective this new section will be moving forward.

Read more about Netflix’s new free section here.

These are the Top TV Shows of 2020, According to IMDb

Speaking of TV shows, IMDb released a list of the top TV shows of 2020, so far. They typically wait until the end of the year to release this kind of list, but apparently we’ve all done so much streaming while we’ve stayed at home during pandemic, that they felt it’s worth doing an early look.

The Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls documentary The Last Dance tops the list, followed by some familiar names like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Westworld, and Better Call Saul. As for shows the debuted in 2020, IMDb ranked those as well. And you can view those ranking in the link below.

Read more about IMDb’s rankings for the top TV shows here.

AT&T is Reportedly Trying to Sell DirecTV

Rumors continue to circulate about AT&T’s desire to sell off DIRECTV. We’ve reported about how subscriber numbers have fallen for the satellite TV provider, and it appears AT&T is looking to offload the brand to private-equity investors.

To recap, the company bought DIRECTV five years ago for a cool $49 billion, but analysts seem skeptical that AT&T could recoup its investment. In any case, AT&T has naturally not commented on a potential deal, but if an official announcement arrives, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Read more about AT&T’s rumored efforts to sell off DirecTV here.

Charge is Putting on the Hits with an Action Marathon on Labor Day

This is a sponsored post. All opinions remain our own.

For Labor Day, Charge is hosting a marathon it’s calling Putting on the Hits, and the running theme is that it’s a collection of movies featuring assassins, mercenaries, and hitmen. In all, the marathon features 5 movies, including films like Elephant White starring Djimon Honsou and Kevin Bacon, Survivor with Milla Jovovich, and War, Inc. with John Cusack.

The action starts at 1pm Eastern and Pacific and you can catch the marathon on Labor day, over on the Charge network.

Read more about Charge’s Putting on the Hits Marathon here.

Possible Retail Listings Suggest $50-$60 Range for Google’s ‘Sabrina’ Android TV Dongle

We keep getting more and more details about Google’s unannounced, but probably very real Android TV device. Over the past few months, we’ve seen rumored product renders, FCC listings, and other details. And this week brought a slate of possible retail listings for the HDMI dongle that could supplant the current Chromecast Ultra atop Google’s streaming device lineup.

Rumored listings from Home Depot, Walmart and Target generally point to a price range of around $50 to $60 and a possible release date of September 30th. And we’ve seen reports of the device being codenamed Sabrina, but some of these retail listings also mentions the name Abbey, which could be the codename for the included remote control.

Read more about pricing and release date rumors for Google’s Android TV dongle here.

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