Very true. I know i harp on it almost every time I post on this thread but as soon as they have the tech down to properly monetize, i think we're full circle. I did notice watching peacock the other night there's ads on the pause menu, so in that respect it's basically cable TV but the future tech stuff went full Idiocracy. We're about to have a frame of highly target ads surrounding the screen as you binge watch "Ow My Balls"

Agreed. I think the future is bright, they're going to figure all of this out, and with targeted ads, more bundles, better app "surfing"/integration, they'll be back to making more money than ever. We've just had to go through this massive growing pains era to get there.

The big question for me is sports. I don't mean big nationally covered games. I mean your local team's games when they aren't the national game of the week on ESPN, ABC, etc.

Regional sports networks seem to be going the way of the dodo bird. I miss most of the Tampa Bay lightnings games the past couple of years because most games are on a regional sports network only available via one cable company in this area, (Bally Dports which is apparently going under).

I did read an article recently where the Seattle Kraken signed a deal with Amazon, where regionally broadcast games would be on Amazon as an add-on package available if you live in select states like Washington and Oregon, etc.

I like that idea. And I think I'd like to see it taken out of individual team's hands to make those deals. Make it a league-wide thing. For example, the NHL or NFL signs a deal with a streaming provider who then broadcasts every team's "regional" games that haven't been allocated to be nationally broadcast.

scoop w/@LaurenSHirsch: Sony and Apollo plan to break up Paramount if their $26 billion bid prevails, selling off CBS and merging Paramount+ with a rival servicehttps://t.co/e4CJoi4WMT

— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) May 8, 2024

New heist show with Sophie Turner.

https://deadline.com/2024/05/haven-sophie-turner-archie-madekwe-amazon-prime-video-show-1235911200/

NFL on Netflix

You can’t spell Netflix without “NFL” 

Netflix will be the home to watch the NFL’s 2024 Christmas Day games LIVE! https://t.co/uzZVLUhNjt pic.twitter.com/BIy8FUV5NW

— Netflix (@netflix) May 15, 2024

Disney-Fox-WBD Streaming Joint Venture Gets A Name: Venu Sports https://t.co/xuoIHYz8Lz

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 16, 2024

Didn't know where to post this. This is sad to see.
Thankfully Deadpool should make great numbers.

Sooooo the industry has been eating itself alive trying to get OTT money closer in line with OTA/cable and advertisers are thinking....nah. How about you give us a rate cut because we have plenty of online to buy at dirt cheap now?

TV's annual 'upfront' talks are starting to heat up, with ad buyers pushing for pricing 'rollbacks' due to a glut of new streaming ad inventory from Amazon and others....https://t.co/XWYE1EQGJ9 via @variety

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) June 3, 2024

TNT has announced that they will match Amazon’s $1.8 billion NBA media package bid.

The NBA will now decide which network to move forward with, but @DavidPSamson and former ESPN president John Skipper explain why 'matching' is a far more complicated process than you might think.… pic.twitter.com/clB9Iia6jz

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) July 22, 2024

So the price on Venu is $42.99/month.

That's actually really good if you are ESPN/FOX focused.

Compared to YouTube/Hulu/Sling.

From a college football perspective, basically gives you everything but the B1G CBS game of the week that used to be the SEC.

20ag07 said:

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So the price on Venu is $42.99/month.

That's actually really good if you are ESPN/FOX focused.

Compared to YouTube/Hulu/Sling.

From a college football perspective, basically gives you everything but the B1G CBS game of the week that used to be the SEC.

---

Do you know if that also get you Max?

Venu Sports, the new streaming service for Fox, ESPN, and WBD, will start at $42.99/month.

Those who sign up at launch this fall will be guaranteed that subscription price for at least 12 months. pic.twitter.com/U44fwKH3W5

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 1, 2024

I've been seeing a lot of these type of bundle ads (not the tweet). The tweet makes me wonder what the price will be next fall.

I'm a little surprised that none of them that I know of, do one with Spotify or Pandora music.

No Max, but they will have a bundle offer. Max is already charging an upgrade for the pieces they bring to the table (TNT/TBS) on top of their normal package anyway.

Iowaggie said:

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20ag07 said:

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So the price on Venu is $42.99/month.

That's actually really good if you are ESPN/FOX focused.

Compared to YouTube/Hulu/Sling.

From a college football perspective, basically gives you everything but the B1G CBS game of the week that used to be the SEC.

---

Do you know if that also get you Max?

Venu Sports, the new streaming service for Fox, ESPN, and WBD, will start at $42.99/month.

Those who sign up at launch this fall will be guaranteed that subscription price for at least 12 months. pic.twitter.com/U44fwKH3W5

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 1, 2024

I've been seeing a lot of these type of bundle ads (not the tweet). The tweet makes me wonder what the price will be next fall.

I'm a little surprised that none of them that I know of, do one with Spotify or Pandora music.

---

I suppose they could do a Max and/or Hulu bundle, but it wont be at $42.99 per month.

Spotify and Hulu did bundling together for quite awhile.

20ag07 said:

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So the price on Venu is $42.99/month.

That's actually really good if you are ESPN/FOX focused.

Compared to YouTube/Hulu/Sling.

From a college football perspective, basically gives you everything but the B1G CBS game of the week that used to be the SEC.

---

And the Big Ten NBC night game. At least those CBS and NBC games can be picked up with an antenna but I think some of the Big Ten games involve Peacock exclusive games so if you're a Big Ten fan you're stuck signing up for multiple plans to watch your full season. At least with the SEC we only have to worry about that pesky random non-conf game shoved on ESPN+.

Quote:

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At least with the SEC we only have to worry about that pesky random non-conf game shoved on ESPN+.

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ESPN+ is included in Venu.

20ag07 said:

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Spotify and Hulu did bundling together for quite awhile.

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They still do it for student accounts.

Just nothing (I can find) now for non-students

Iowaggie said:

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20ag07 said:

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Spotify and Hulu did bundling together for quite awhile.

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They still do it for student accounts.

Just nothing (I can find) now for non-students

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I still have it from years and years ago, and I didn't get spotify until long after I was a student. I assume its grandfathered in, but my spotify account is my Hulu login. Ive never paid for Hulu.

Channels. They are introducing channels. https://t.co/zI1oHo1NEz

— Ben Daves (@BenDaves3) August 6, 2024

TCTTS said:

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Channels. They are introducing channels. https://t.co/zI1oHo1NEz

— Ben Daves (@BenDaves3) August 6, 2024

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Honest question, how is that any different than how they currently group their offerings? Unless they're going to legit only broadcast one show at a time on each "channel" so that show A is on from 4:00-4:30 then show B is on from 4:30-5:00. And if that's the case then that sucks. That'd be going backwards technologically.

FL_Ag1998 said:

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TCTTS said:

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Channels. They are introducing channels. https://t.co/zI1oHo1NEz

— Ben Daves (@BenDaves3) August 6, 2024

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Honest question, how is that any different than how they currently group their offerings? Unless they're going to legit only broadcast one show at a time on each "channel" so that show A is on from 4:00-4:30 then show B is on from 4:30-5:00. And if that's the case then that sucks. That'd be going backwards technologically.

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Thats the way I interpret "continuous playlists." Maybe you can ffwd to the next show or something, but otherwise it seems to indicate a continuous stream of programming on each "channel." Assuming there will be a coordinated schedule of programming to go with it, if so.

ESPN+ is making money for Disney.
Hulu and Disney + are not.

ESPN+ is responsible for $66 million of a $23.2 billion profit for Disney in Q3.

The success of the platform contributed to Disney’s direct-to-consumer unit turning a profit for the first time.

It also offsets a $19 million loss from Disney+ and Hulu.

More ⬇️

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 7, 2024

Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu turning a profit for the first time. Those streaming services combined to post a surplus of $47 million. But it was a $66 million profit from ESPN+ that helped offset a $19 million loss from Disney+ and Hulu.

WoMD said:

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FL_Ag1998 said:

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TCTTS said:

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Channels. They are introducing channels. https://t.co/zI1oHo1NEz

— Ben Daves (@BenDaves3) August 6, 2024

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Honest question, how is that any different than how they currently group their offerings? Unless they're going to legit only broadcast one show at a time on each "channel" so that show A is on from 4:00-4:30 then show B is on from 4:30-5:00. And if that's the case then that sucks. That'd be going backwards technologically.

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Thats the way I interpret "continuous playlists." Maybe you can ffwd to the next show or something, but otherwise it seems to indicate a continuous stream of programming on each "channel." Assuming there will be a coordinated schedule of programming to go with it, if so.

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Exactly. One show at a time on each "playlist," with each show starting at specific/assigned times, almost assuredly with a programming guide to navigate it all, and probably even ads as well (my guess is the latter is the whole point, but who knows). In other words... channels.

Also, to be clear, these playlists/channels won't be replacing anything. Everything will still be a la carte, just as it is now, it'll all look the same, be under the same umbrellas, etc. This is just an extra feature. If you want to plop your kids down in front of whatever kids playlist/channel for two hours, for four back-to-back shows that are coming on that they like, you can, in the same way you'll be able to turn on a news playlist/channel, eventually sports playlists/channels, etc.

This is how it should be, btw, and where I hope things are heading. In addition to their a la carte content libraries, every streamer should also offer, say, ten live "channels" across various subjects/genres (news, sports, movies, series, kids, etc). And then through Apple, Roku, YouTubeTV, etc, I should be able to subscribe to whatever streamers I want (just as a can now), but then ALSO be able to build my own "cable guide" with whatever live channels from all the various streamers I want.

So basically a, a more curated version of the Netflix "Surprise Me" shuffle feature, that was short lived.

TCTTS said:

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This is how it should be, btw, and where I hope things are heading. In addition to their a la carte content libraries, every streamer should also offer, say, ten live "channels" across various subjects/genres (news, sports, movies, series, kids, etc). And then through Apple, Roku, YouTubeTV, etc, I should be able to subscribe to whatever streamers I want (just as a can now), but then ALSO be able to build my own "cable guide" with whatever live channels from all the various streamers I want.

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Eh, I guess. I could see that being good for young kids, and some people may be nostalgic for some reason for the old days when you were forced to watch whatever show happened to be broadcasting at that certain time, but not me.

I don't envision myself watching any of those "channels". I've divested myself too much from the "gotta tune in at 8:00 pm eastern to catch the latest Seinfeld episode!" routine.

A problem I hear about streamers a lot is that people are overwhelmed by choice. There are too movies to scroll through, so it is hard to find the one I want. Channels could be a way to help that. Especially if they had some curated ones by "Disney Experts"

Maybe they will also try to grab the TikTok generation by having a feed of shorts from movies that allows you skip from short to short, but also to watch the whole movie from the beginning if you like the short.

Quad Dog said:

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Maybe they will also try to grab the TikTok generation by having a feed of shorts from movies that allows you skip from short to short, but also to watch the whole movie from the beginning if you like the short.

---

Quibi tried to get the tiktok crowd and failed miserably. But that was extremely out of touch executives acquiring and chopping up content absolutely nobody wanted. Tiktok kids want to see tiktok videos. Different people doing the same thing over and over until the next new thing everyone starts doing takes over.

I am starting to get into the FAST channel space. We have a Lampoon FAST channel and are working on one for Highlights. I am not a huge fan of producing it but I do watch Pluto quite a bit at home. Probably more than I watch subscription services.

Quad Dog said:

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A problem I hear about streamers a lot is that people are overwhelmed by choice. There are too movies to scroll through, so it is hard to find the one I want. Channels could be a way to help that. Especially if they had some curated ones by "Disney Experts"

Maybe they will also try to grab the TikTok generation by having a feed of shorts from movies that allows you skip from short to short, but also to watch the whole movie from the beginning if you like the short.

---

Thats exactly my problem. I find that my list of movies and shows I'm intending to watch only gets longer, and I can't decide on what I actually want to watch, so I just turn on directv stream and put it on in the background on baseball or something instead.

It's akin to YouTube "auto-play" if you want another video to begin after the one you actually selected. I can definitely see the appeal for those with kids or those that just want background noise without having to choose their next option.

WoMD said:

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Iowaggie said:

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20ag07 said:

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Spotify and Hulu did bundling together for quite awhile.

---

They still do it for student accounts.

Just nothing (I can find) now for non-students

---

I still have it from years and years ago, and I didn't get spotify until long after I was a student. I assume its grandfathered in, but my spotify account is my Hulu login. Ive never paid for Hulu.

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Same for me. I want to switch to the duo account since it's only a couple bucks more a month, but I don't want to lose Hulu. So for now, my daughters continue to use my Spotify account and pollute the algorithm with Taylor Swift or songs about toots.