Facebook scores MLS streaming deal Twitch to stream over 800 ‘Power Rangers’ episodes
LOS ANGELES, March 11, (RTRS): It’s Morphin time for Twitch: The Amazon-owned game broadcasting company will stream virtually every episode of Saban Brands’s “Power Rangers” TV series, spanning 23 seasons and 831 episodes, starting next week.
The 17-day marathon begins March 14 at 11 am PT and concludes March 30, live-streamed at Twitch.tv/TwitchPresents, the new home for the service’s programmatic TV marathons. It’s timed to coincide with the March 24 release of “Saban’s Power Rangers” live-action film from Lionsgate and Saban Brands.
Twitch’s “Power Rangers” marathon is not sponsored by either Lionsgate or Saban, and Twitch is paying Saban a content-licensing fee for the streaming rights. The lineup excludes “Power Rangers Ninja Steel,” which is currently airing on Nickelodeon.
The stunt is part of Twitch’s push to expand into non-gaming content — to bring visitors to the site and keep them there longer. Viewers of the “Power Rangers” episodes will have access to exclusive show-themed “emotes” for use in chats. Twitch streamers will be able to co-stream the marathon on their own pages, with the option of adding their own commentary over the video and engage in chats with their fans.
The service has previously live-streamed single promotional episodes from TV shows like HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” USA Network’s “Mr. Robot” and several Amazon Studios pilots, as well as marathons of classic shows, including Julia Child’s “The French Chef,” Bob Ross’ “The Joy of Painting” and the Pokemon animated series.
“Power Rangers” is a more direct hit for Twitch’s user demo, compared with the kitschy appeal of Julia Child or Bob Ross. “As an iconic sci-fi, superhero franchise that achieved legacy status over the past two decades, ‘Power Rangers’ fits right into our community’s wheelhouse,” said Annie Berrones, product marketing director at Twitch.
The “Power Rangers” franchise, the brainchild of mogul Haim Saban, launched in 1993 with “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” The property is now one of the longest-running kids’ action series in TV history. Each series follows a group of ordinary teenagers who morph into superheroes in color-coded suits and pilot space vehicles, called Zords, to traverse the galaxy and defeat alien foes.
Also Friday, Twitch announced that it will rebrand and enhance the Curse gamingcommunications tool as the Twitch Desktop App, after it acquired privately held Curse last summer. The Twitch Desktop App, which provides community servers, voice and video messaging, and game content distribution, will launch as a public beta on March 16.
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LOS ANGELES: Facebook is kicking at least 22 live Major League Soccer matches this season across its video platforms, under a pact with the league and Univision Communications’ Univision Deportes, which owns US broadcast rights to the games.
The deal reflects the social giant’s appetite for live sports — as well as other TV-style content, which is set to include original longform scripted and unscripted shows. Last month, Facebook inked a pact with Univision to carry 46 soccer matches from Mexico’s Liga MX for users in the US with Englishlanguage commentary.
Facebook also is in talks with Major League Baseball about streaming free games, and earlier this week announced a deal with the World Surf League to broadcast all of its World Championship Tour men’s and women’s events and Big Wave Tour events via Facebook Live this season.
As with the Liga MX deal, initially the MLS games on Facebook will not carry any advertising.
Meanwhile, Facebook on the product side has been expanding the ways for its massive user base to find, watch and share video. Facebook video apps for Apple TV and Samsung Smart TVs launched last week, well-suited for watching live sports and other long-form programming, and it’s emphasized the video tab on its mobile apps.
Under the pact, MLS regular-season matches that are being broadcast on Univision networks in Spanish will now be available in the US for live streaming in English via the Univision Deportes Facebook page.