• by Fern Siegel , April 6, 2020

Sinclair Broadcast's STIRR has launched the COVID-19 News channel, which offers live news feeds of daily press conferences and key updates on the pandemic. STIRR, an OTT streaming service that debuted January 2019, will provide the channel ad-free.

The free, ad-supported channel is a rebrand of STIRR Life.

Sinclair Broadcast Group reports that a week after its launch, COVID 19 News is the No. 2-watched channel on the streaming platform.

Sinclair President-CEO Chris Ripley stated: “In times of uncertainty, people rely on local news to stay updated on critical and potentially life-saving information. We hope that it will help viewers stay informed, healthy and safe.”

Since early March, STIRR has recorded a 70% daily increase in total users, a 56% increase in total daily sessions, and an 84% spike in total video plays, per the company.

The original idea behind STIRR was to leverage Sinclair’s ownership of 191 TV stations in 89 markets. The platform added 17 new channels, including Edge Sports, Newsy, BritCom and FilmRise Classic TV, last October, for more than 100 linear channels now.

STIRR City, the platform’s most popular channel, offers local news, sports and lifestyle shows, tailored to the particular metro market.

SBG also announced three of its OTT networks — Comet (sci-fi), Charge! (action-adventure) and TBD (digital series) — started carrying classic TV shows today. Comet adds “Battlestar Galactica,” “Quantum Leap,” “Sliders” and “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery,” while Charge! Adds “Magnum PI” and “Knight Rider.” TBD’s first original “The Link,” with parkour athlete host Lorena Abreu screening videos, airs April 11.

STIRR is accessible via Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, Android and the STIRR site.