Stirr

Stirr is an American ad-supported video streaming service owned by the CBS Entertainment Group division of VIacomCBS.

Stirr was originally launched on January 16th, 2019, and was formally owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group until July 5th, 2021, when ViacomCBS acquired the service.

The streaming service is available on the web and via apps for iOS, Android devices and various streaming TV devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.

History
Sinclair Broadcast Group began developing its technological infrastructure for the service in July 2017. The Stirr service was announced by Sinclair in October 2018.

Sinclair hired Scott Ehrlich, who became the Vice President of Emerging Platform Content at the group, to head up the service and hired staff in Los Angeles and Seattle. Stirr was initially launched on January 16, 2019 with a website and apps for iOS, Android devices and various streaming TV devices.

In the early hours of July 5th, 2021, ViacomCBS announced it would purchase Stirr from Sinclair for an undisclosed amount. Following the purchase, ViacomCBS stated that it would reposition Stirr to be a "smaller, more locally focused service", drawing content mainly from CBS, TNN, its various multicast networks, and Paramount Pictures, and acting as a portal of content from CBS's group of owned stations, regional news, and sports networks. The company also indicated that they would work to create synergies between Stirr, ViacomCBS's brands, and the various CBS networks.

Channels
Stirr formerly sourced it's programming from Sinclair's own TV stations and other owned networks. Following the CBS purchase, it now draws on programming from the CBS owned television stations, and other streaming live channels either operated by CBS or sister ViacomCBS properties, with some programming made available on demand. Although there are several US cities to choose from when navigating the service, users currently do not have any geographic restrictions on what they can view. There were 20 national channels at launch on January 16, 2019 with expectations of having 50 by the end of the year.

Stirr City is the primary streaming channel which pulls content based on the location/station selected. When network programming runs on the local OTA channel, Stirr City carries an alternate schedule drawing from the other Stirr channels. WCBS-TV and KCBS-TV, respectively the East and West Coast flagship stations of CBS. are set as the default if no CBS owned news-carrying station is nearby.

Additionally, Stirr has a number of private label channels, which at launch consisted of Stirr Movies, Stirr Sports and Stirr Life. In addition, the service carries TV networks that ViacomCBS either owns or holds a stake in, such as Comet, Stadium and The T.