Content everywhere? More like content nowhere
Will Big Media and Big Tech companies ever stop punishing their biggest fans?
Like many people, I woke up yesterday and reached for my iPad for my morning hit of news, entertainment and information, so I could start my day. (And like many, I’m embarrassed to admit it.) Padding to the front door to get a newspaper still sounds more respectable, but my iPad gives me a far more current, rich and satisfying media experience than a still-warm printed Times could ever produce.
Except, lately, it doesn’t. Yesterday morning, I saw the exciting news that Bill Simmons, ESPN’s most popular, profane and controversial writer, had secured an interview with President Obama. Simmons published his interview in podcast, text and video form on Grantland, a longform sports journalism website he founded last year under the ESPN umbrella. I clicked over to the story from my Twitter feed and saw three YouTube excerpts of Simmons with Obama. And that’s all I saw. When I hit play on the videos, I discovered ESPN had set them to be “unavailable” on mobile devices.
Moving on, I tried to read a New York Post headline that also found its way into my Twitter feed. But when I tapped in, the Post webpage that loaded was not the story I wanted to read. Instead it was a notice, which I took as an admonition, that to read New York Post content on an iPad, I would have to download the app, which retails for $1.99.
I want to make it clear that I’m not against paying for content. But what I’ve just described aren’t paywalls, where publications warn users that they won’t be able to consume content for free.
The situations I’m describing are blanket denials of content because of a choice I made about which device to use. With these tactics, media companies aren’t creating content paywalls, they’re creating content ghettos. Big Media, set my content free! Stop messing with the user experience to deny readers their content simply because you can detect what platform they’re on. And stop punishing users who are investing in the latest devices to consume your output. In other words, grant my hyper-advanced iOS device or my friend’s fancy new Android phone just as much access to the Web as my mother’s four-year-old Windows XP PC. Which one of us do you think wants to watch Simmons talk crossover dribbles with the Commander-in-Chief?
ESPN’s new Skipper comes out fighting
We had the pleasure of incoming ESPN President John Skipper’s company on Monday at the Reuters Media Summit in New York. Skipper, whose promotion was announced just ahead of Thanksgiving Day, had been the No.2 to George Bodenheimer, now promoted to executive chairman.
In the last few years ESPN has become the 800-pound gorilla in the pay-TV industry through its mix of exclusive sporting licenses with many of the top sporting leagues and events. But those deals cost money — like the eight-year NFL TV rights that cost $15.2 billion. Even Skipper, in his first interview since his appointment was announced, acknowledged the deal as “expensive” but added the caveat that ESPN generates great value from NFL rights.
The high cost of sports programming is one reason ESPN is the most expensive cable network in the US at around $4 per subscriber. Most cable networks charge a lot less than $1.
But Skipper is adamant that ESPN is worth every penny and pushed back strongly at any suggestion that cable companies could create new tiers to help customers pay less if their package don’t include ESPN.
“It’s demonstrably true that ESPN provides more value to our distributors than any other network — by far, there’s not a close second. If you survey cable, telco and satellite customers they believe ESPN provides the most value. The distributors themselves believe we provide the most value.
I reject the notion (that ESPN high cost should see it placed on higher priced tiers). I think the current package of pay-TV products that comes through on basic cable is a high value proposition to the consumer I don’t think breaking them up is going to provide the consumer better option. If they become broken up in an a la carte world the individual channels are going to more expensive. Consumers would get less channels and pay more money.
Every distributor will do deals with us because they believe the best protection I have against cord-cutting is having ESPN.”
Disney comes to YouTube and Google TV
When it comes to Hollywood movies and TV shows on the Web, all the focus is on Netflix, Hulu and even BlockBuster’s online ambitions. Yet YouTube, the daddy of the online video space with some 3.5 billion views a day, has been quietly bulking up its traditional studio content. All this while there’s been a lot written about its $100 million investment to create hundreds of new cable channels of the future.
Since May, YouTube has signed up Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros to offer their movies for rental through YouTube, and on Wednesday it confirmed it has inked a deal to offer initially a “handful” of Disney titles in the U.S. and Canada, with hundreds of titles to be added in the coming weeks.
The Disney movies include titles like the original Alice In Wonderland, the new version of Winnie the Pooh as well as Pixar hits like Cars and Cars 2. The shows will also be available on YouTube through Google TV.
YouTube has been tight-lipped on details of how the movie rental program is evolving. A company spokesman said the online video company was “really pleased” with how it’s going.
See YouTube manager’s blog below:
Welcoming your favorite Disney movies for rent on YouTube Today, the first of hundreds of The Walt Disney Studios movies from Disney, Disney·Pixar and DreamWorks Studios are coming to YouTube. These titles join thousands of full-length feature films from major Hollywood studios that already available to rent at YouTube.com/movies.
Fans of animated movies? We’ve got the beloved animated classic, Alice in Wonderland and the newly envisioned Winnie the Pooh. Love Disney·Pixar? We have hits like Cars and Cars 2 all in one place. Up for a little bit of adventure? We’ll take you from the darkest depths of the oceans with all four of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, including the most recent blockbuster in the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
So gather the family and friends to watch your favorite Disney movies at YouTube.com/movies. Check back in because even more of the great Disney classics and new releases will be added in weeks to come, including our YouTube Movie Extras with behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, and more.
Minjae Ormes, Movies & TV Marketing Manager, recently watched John Lasseter Talks About His Hawaiian Shirt Collection.
Tech wrap: New Nook Color on the way?
Barnes & Noble sent out invites on Monday to a Nook-related event coming up on November 7. Most tech watchers expect the company to use the occasion to unveil a new version of its Android-powered Nook Color tablet e-reader, which could sport a better screen and upgraded hardware.
As CNet points out, the most anticipated question will be how much Barnes & Noble decides to charge for the new device. “With the Kindle Fire on sale at $199 (it ships November 15), there’s some pressure on B&N to come close to matching that price, though Amazon is allegedly losing money on each Fire it sells (our sources suggest the Fire currently costs around $220 to build). With that being the case, Barnes & Noble is more likely to come out with a faster, more powerful Nook Color that costs $249, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see it at $299,” writes David Carnoy.
Netflix has added a slew of new TV show episodes to its streaming video catalogue through an expanded licensing deal with ABC Television Group, a division of Disney. In addition to extending licensing for popular ABC shows such as “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy” that it already offers, Netflix added ABC’s “Switched at Birth,” “Alias” and episodes from past season of Disney Channel’s animated series “Kick Buttowski” to its streaming selection. Amazon.com also unveiled a content agreement with Disney on Monday that will let Amazon Prime subscribers stream shows from ABC studios, Disney Channel, ABC Family and Marvel.
A single hacker based in China launched a coordinated cyber attack earlier this year that compromised computer systems belonging to at least 48 chemical and defense companies, according to a new report from security firm Symantec. Computers belonging to these companies were infected with malicious software known as “PoisonIvy,” which was used to steal information such as design documents, formulas and details on manufacturing processes, Symantec told Reuters on Monday. The companies were not identified, but Symantec said the bulk of the infected machines were found in the U.S., Bangladesh and the UK and included some chemical companies that develop advanced materials used in military vehicles.
It’s no secret that Steve Jobs used to enjoy taking the occasional potshot at Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates. But Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the Apple co-founder, which was released shortly after he died earlier this month, reveals just how harsh Jobs could be in his criticism of Gates. In addition to calling Gates “unimaginative”, “weirdly flawed as a human being” and “fundamentally odd”, Isaacson quotes Jobs as saying “He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.” When ABC’s Christiane Amanpour brought up the comments in an interview last week, Gates dismissed the criticisms, saying “none of that bothers me at all.” He went on to praise Jobs in the interview. At one point, he even went so far as to claim he helped Jobs invent the Mac.
Disney TV heads north to reach millennials
Millennials, the massive generation of teens and young adults aged 15 to 34, are luring Disney television north of the border.
The California-based global media and theme-park giant announced a new, 24-hour network in Canada called ABC Spark targeting that age group - like the successful ABC Family cable channel does in the United States.
A partnership between Disney/ABC Television Group and Canadian media company Corus Entertainment, the new network will broadcast ABC Family shows such as “Switched at Birth,” “The Lying Game,” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” Corus also will provide Canadian original programming, as regulations require 15 percent Canadian content. The network’s launch is set for spring 2012.Disney knows a growth opportunity when it sees one. There are more than 1.7 billion millennials on the planet, with 85 million of them in the United States and 10 million in Canada, according to a statement from the Mouse House, representing “the largest demographic bubble in both U.S. and Canadian history.” No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Cassese
Advertising weak? Quit worrying so much already
Viacom Inc’s not sweating it, Time Warner Inc. isn’t all that concerned. Why, CBS Corp and Discovery Communications Inc. are cool as cucumbers. Disney certainly sounds confident, as does Scripps Networks Interactive.
So why are investors and analysts — those Nervous Nellies of the financial world — so worried about the advertising market? Besides, you know, the fact that the stock market is getting smacked around, the job picture is just ridiculous, and the U.S. housing market is a wreck. Besides Europe’s debt crisis, which seems to have no resolution in sight. Besides the memories of 2009, when U.S. advertising spending dropped by 16 percent to $163 billion.
It may simply be that advertisers haven’t yet made the decision the cut budgets. But listening to all the top media executives at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference this week left one with the impression that they are feeling pretty upbeat about advertising — and don’t expect any cuts in the near future.
Today, the final day of the conference, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman described ad sales as “strong” and predicted they would be up by just under 10 percent this quarter. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was a bit more restrained, but still said ad sales are holding up and actually “pretty strong” at its cable networks.
And it wasn’t just them. Check it out.
- CBS CEO Les Moonves: “I know the world wants us to say, ‘Gee, the economy is down and our advertising is down.’ That’s just not the case. The advertising climate is very strong.”
- Walt Disney CFO Jay Rasulo: “The advertising space, I would say that what we’ve seen is consistent with what you heard in the conferences last week and what you’ve heard from people earlier this week. On the national level, still directionally pretty strong; locally, a little weaker.”
- Discovery CEO David Zaslav: “The advertising market remains very strong, and it’s been strong now for a year and a half. We haven’t seen any slowdown. We’ve seen it continue around the world. Now there clearly is a disconnect between what the economy is doing and what we are seeing on the advertising side, but we have not seen any slowdown. “
- Scripps Networks CFO Joe NeCastro: “If anything, people are looking around wondering why we’re really so nervous and that they get suspicious but nobody has changed their behavior in any meaningful way.”
Truth be told, New York Times CEO Janet Robinson was about the only wet blanket. Amid all the fun, Robinson had the nerve to warn that advertising revenue would drop by a larger-than-expected 8 percent this quarter, hurt by a pullback in real estate, help wanted and national auto ads. (To be fair Bewkes also warned of print ads being “a little softer”).
Brace yourselves: (former?) video titan takes aim at Netflix
By Lisa Richwine
It’s getting crowded in Netflix-land.
The field of players battling for customers in the fast-growing online video market may soon get another big-name entrant: Blockbuster, reinventing itself under new owners Dish after a disastrous run, looks ready to launch its long-awaited move into instant video streaming next week, another shot at grabbing customers frustrated with Netflix.
Blockbuster, a unit of Dish Networks, set a press conference for next Friday in San Francisco coyly named “A Stream Come True,” where it promises to unveil “the most comprehensive home entertainment package ever.”
CEO Joe Clayton and Blockbuster President Michael Kelly will appear at the event.
Blockbuster has already tried to lure Netflix customers — upset by a recent price increase — to its subscription rental service, which currently offers DVDs by mail and in stores.
Adding streaming could better position Blockbuster to pull customers away from Netflix, the popular movie and television show rental service that helped push Blockbuster from a dominant chain of video stores into bankruptcy.
another opinion piece with the same recycled info. Yawn. Netflix is still the only good streaming service and is by far the best value.
Disney’s channel chief latest Mouseketeer to hit the road
For the second time this month, a senior Disney executive is heading for the exits.
The head of Disney Channels Worldwide, Carolina Lightcap, resigned from the company on Thursday after less than two years in the job overseeing the Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior cable networks.
Disney didn’t give a reason. In a statement released by the company, Lightcap said “the timing is perfect to move on to my next challenge.”
Lightcap started with Disney in Latin America and relocated to Los Angeles from Argentina for her current job. She spent 11 years with the company.
Gary Marsh, chief creative officer for Disney Channels, will take over Lightcap’s running of day-to-day operations while keeping his current role. Marsh is the creative force behind Disney Channel hits such as “Hannah Montana,” “High School Musical” and “Phineas and Ferb,” Disney/ABC television chief Anne Sweeney said in a statement.
Lightcap’s sudden departure follows the resignation this month of Andrew Mooney, head of Disney’s consumer products division. Mooney, a well-regarded executive who ran the unit for 12 years, said he was leaving to pursue leadership opportunities at other companies. No word yet on where he will land. Studio distribution chief Robert Chapek will fill Mooney’s job.
Disney’s dodgy boyfriend problem
For the second time in just over a year another boyfriend of a Disney staffer has been accused of insider trading.
Yesterday, hedge fund manager Toby G Scammell (seriously, that’s his name, you couldn’t make this stuff up) was sued by Federal regulators who alleged he used secret information obtained from his girlfriend to make $192,000 off the Walt Disney Co’s $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment in 2009.
Scammell’s girlfriend of two years was an intern in Disney’s corporate strategy department and worked for six months on the deal.
Last year an executive assistant to Disney’s corporate communications head Zenia Mucha got caught up in a similar pile of insider mess. Bonnie Hoxie and her boyfriend Yonni Sebbag were sentenced earlier this year after sending emails and form letters to some 33 investment firms offering to sell inside information from Disney’s quarterly earnings and tips about plans to sell its ABC TV network to private equity firms.
Disney, known for its buttoned-down, loyalty-first corporate culture particularly under Bob Iger, might want to start researching staffers’ relationship status more deeply during the recruitment process.
Time Warner Cable’s unique ESPN Web deal
Many media business journalists let out a collective sigh of relief at the news that Time Warner Cable had finally inked its deal with Walt Disney to keep carrying its programming, including ABC, Disney channels and various ESPN networks. The programming fee negotiations had gone late into the night past their Wednesday midnight deadline and hacks, who had seen this movie before, were just starting to tire of waiting for another midnight watch.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the deal is that Time Warner Cable’s ESPN customers will now have access to ESPN3.com, a website ESPN uses to show more than 3,500 live events, including matches from the World Cup this summer.
This is unlike other ESPN3 deals which have typically been tied to the cable operator’s Internet service provider. In those cases, ESPN3 would only be accessible to ISP customers of the cable operator.
Time Warner Cable’s deal comes under the auspices of TV Everywhere, the project that Time Warner Inc and Comcast Corp have been trying to convince the cable industry to support.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will also be available online to authenticated Time Warner Cable customers as part of this deal.
“We wanted to make sure this was a product available to our video customers who get ESPN, and that they wouldn’t have to pay extra for it,” said Time Warner Cable spokesman Justin Venech.
(Photo: Reuters)
There’s one big issue with your article, and that is it doesnt’ touch on the advertising model of an iPad version vs a web version. Though it’s changing fast, advertisers were slower to adopt iPad platforms, and therefore, to the media company were perhaps less profitable. You can’t have an ad-supported or near-free model if there aren’t advertisers willing to buy on that platform.
So far, most of these digital platforms have not monetized as well as the traditional players, and that has everything to do with the decision making process.
Boycott an iPad advertiser? That’s silly. They’re the ones that are helping you out. You should be boycotting the advertiser that ONLY wants tos how up on their web site. There is also generally less real estate on the screen of an iPad app to unobtrusively show you ads as compared to your mother’s 4 year old XP system.
And $1.99 for a permanent application is hardly “through the nose” … How much does a single print edition to the NY Post cost? I can’t imagine that the app couldn’t pay for itself in a few days.
Maybe the real problem is the group of whiney consumers (and blog writers) not willing to spend $1.99 on an app that gives them full access, when in the old days it would’ve been 50cents/day?