Stirr
Stirr is an American ad-supported video streaming service owned by Thinking Media. The streaming service is available on the web and via apps for iOS, Android devices and various streaming TV devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Android TV. Stirr's slogan is, "the new free TV."
History[edit]
Sinclair Broadcast Group began developing its technological infrastructure for the service before July 2017. The Stirr streaming service was announced by Sinclair in October 2018. Sinclair hired Scott Ehrlich to head up the service and hired staff in Los Angeles and Seattle.[2] Ehrlich is the Vice President of Emerging Platform Content at Sinclair.[3] Stirr was launched on January 16, 2019[4] via a website and apps for iPhones, Android devices and various streaming TV devices,[4] Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.[5] With the pending acquisition of the Fox Sports Networks, Sinclair indicated that they were looking at synergies between Stirr and those RSNs.[6]
Stirr was sold to Thinking Media on January 24, 2024.[1]
Channels[edit]
Original Format under Sinclair's Ownership[edit]
Stirr originally drew on programming from the Sinclair TV stations and other streaming live channels with some programming available on demand.[4] Although there are several US city regions to choose from when navigating the service, users do not have any geographic restrictions on what they can view.[7] There were 20 national channels at launch on January 16, 2019[5] with expectations of having 50 by the end of the year.[7] Ultimately, this number peaked to 100 channels.[8]
Stirr City was the primary streaming channel which pulls content based on the location/station selected. When network programming ran on the local OTA channel, Stirr City carried an alternate schedule drawing from the other Stirr channels. WJLA-TV of Washington, D.C. is set as the default if no Sinclair news-carrying station is nearby.[4] Second feeds can also be added to a local station's 'channel' during breaking news or severe weather events, as is done for WBMA-LD's Stirr channel, where meteorologist James Spann's live coverage of tornadic events in the Birmingham, Alabama market and Alabama in general is popular nationwide.
Additionally, Stirr had a number of private label channels, which at launch consisted of Stirr Movies, Stirr Sports and Stirr Life.[5] In addition, the service carried TV networks that Sinclair owns or hold a stake in like Comet, Stadium and The T.[9] Also, Stirr has TV series based channels.[10][11] Some outside-produced channels are present on the platform, including Buzzr and Circle (the latter owned by a rival of Sinclair, Gray Television), which Stirr stated was the most popular channel on the platform as of July 2019.[12]
Current Format[edit]
The service no longer carries Sinclair's networks or the Stirr City channels, but a variety of other FAST channels.
Business[edit]
Stirr general manager is Adam Ware.[9] Sinclair vice president of emerging platform content is Scott Ehrlich,[7] under whom the streaming service was built.[2] While free, Sinclair's leaders plan on adding a premium pay tier of programming.[2] Sinclair Digital, Compulse and Sinclair’s local stations would coordinated between them with ad revenue shared with content partners.[5] Sinclair promotes Compulse, Sinclair's digital advertising unit, through its local stations. Although Stirr is composed of Sinclair owned streams and stations, Sinclair has its own streaming platform, Hummingbird, as well.[9] The last official press release referring to the service as an operating concern was on June 2022.[13]
2024 sale[edit]
Stirr was sold by Sinclair Broadcast Group to Thinking Media in January 2024. Due to the sale, all remaining live streaming content—by that point only the four remaining Sinclair-owned subchannel networks, as Sinclair had shut down Stirr City and cancelled its agreements with all other outside channels— was removed from the service.[1]
