Build it, and they will come! And no, I don’t mean the fabulous baseball movie but high-speed broadband networks. And not only will they come, but they will also know how to use the speeds. This is just the start for a generation of consumers who are growing up on gigabit connections and are reliant on the “network” for everything.
Continue reading “The Gigabit Generation”It is no secret that I am a big fan of BBC/National Geographic’s reality TV show, Life Below Zero. It is now in its twentieth season. As someone who didn’t have a cable television account, I used to buy the season from Apple’s iTunes store. I paid for the first fourteen seasons. I didn’t mind because it is a guilty pleasure and allows me to get my “Alaska fix.”
However, things have become harder since it is no longer feasible to buy the “season passes” or watch the most recent episodes. You can buy one season at a time, and even then, you can’t watch the 19th or the 20th season. Frustrated, I decided to sign-up for Disney+ with Hulu (without Ads) and ESPN+. I canceled my ESPN+ account and signed up for the whole enchilada. Given that one of the perks of my American Express credit card is a $ 20-a-month credit for digital streaming, it felt like a win-win proposition.
Let’s say that signing up was the easiest part — it was so challenging to get everything to work seamlessly. Disney Plus had a pretty clean sign-up flow, and so did ESPN. On the other hand, the Hulu sign-up was a mess and needed a different sign-up flow. And after some hits-and-misses, I was able to sign in to the Hulu service.
I was super excited to catch up on Life Below Zero (Seasons 19 and 20.) It was a rainy, dreary weekend in San Francisco, so this was a great way to spend quality time at home. I was in for major disappointment — Hulu apparently won’t allow me to watch the shows because I don’t have the right “TV rights.” In other words, since I am not an idiot who pays cable companies’ monthly fees, I can’t watch the only show I want to watch on Hulu.
The whole experience had left me so frustrated that I couldn’t help but think of that time in 2007 when I called Hulu a ClownCo. My skepticism came from the fact that the company had many masters, which in turn, limited their opportunities and potential.
The subsequent rise of Netflix, which banked on simplicity, ease of use, and a streaming-first experience, only proved my original skepticism about Hulu, which hasn’t be able to find its place under the sun. At present, Hulu, is owned by Disney and Comcast, which owns a third of the company. Its future is up in the air, much like it has been through much of its existence.
This my weekend misadventure only reinforced the problems with Hulu and, by extension, all other streaming services that still are knee-deep in shit called cable. They are so addicted to cable revenues that they don’t create a great user experience.
They need the handouts from the cable companies. Paul Kedrosky shared a chart today that showed that every media company but Netflix posted higher losses in the first nine months of 2022 compared to 2021. Disney lost $3.42 billion vs. $1.21 billion in 2021. The losses for the entire 2022 would be even higher.
As for me, since I couldn’t watch Life Below Zero, I decided to cancel the whole shebang. I don’t much care for what Disney has to offer — I am not into Star Wars or whatever else they are peddling. I will sign-up for ESPN when the Indian Premier League kicks off and sign off when it is over. As for Hulu, if I can’t see the one show, I want to see, then what’s the point of subscribing?
Stepping back and looking at the current state of streaming, it feels like we have retreated to the past. Instead of making things simpler and easier for consumers, media giants are making this complicated because they can’t give up on the past and don’t know how to embrace the future.
Netflix is keeping things simple, and so does Prime Video. Apple’s approach of less is more works at $ 5 a month. These companies serve only one master — themselves. I am back to using Prime Video (part of my Amazon Prime subscription) and ad-free YouTube Premium. Whenever Netflix has a decent show or two, I sign-up for a month and cancel my subscription once I have watched the series. Instead of Life Below Zero, I binged on British Bakeoff and Chef’s Table (Pizza). They were worth the money. As for Disney Plus, it was Disney Minus, and I wouldn’t even spend my freebie Amex dollars on them.
December 5, 2022. San Francisco
I was watching Moneyball this weekend. It reminded me how much I like this movie, even though it is an exaggerated adaption of a book that, in the first place, bent facts to fit the narrative. It didn’t make the book less interesting— but Michael Lewis knows how to spin a yarn. It also didn’t … Continue reading Change is a threat
So much confusion When autumn comes around What to do about October How to smile behind a frown? It’s hard to settle down It’s so bemusing Will they cancel the parade? We marched each October Now they say we were never even saved We must be very brave. The October Symphony, Pet Shop Boys After … Continue reading Our October Symphony
We are all living with too many subscriptions. And often we can forget when services we are using or have forgotten to cancel. So it is nice to see a company do the right thing and stop charging people after a non-usage of 24 months. A very small percentage of our members have not watched … Continue reading Netflix is (almost) doing the right thing
Barry Ritholtz postulates that the reason why big tech stocks are heading to the moon is because of the “overseas markets.” Apple generated more than 55% of its revenue outside the U.S. in the year ended in September; in some quarters, overseas accounted for as much as 60% of revenue. International accounted for 54.5% and … Continue reading Big Tech is big in Japan (& everywhere except China)
“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson Tennyson perfectly captured my state of mind last night. … Continue reading Algorithmic discovery of music lacks emotional appeal
By now you are likely sick and tired of all the news around Joe Rogan signing a megadeal with Spotify. Me too! I mean, I liked Spotify for what it was: a great music streaming service. But now, I am not too sure. Recently, whenever I experience Spotify, I come away thinking, “Man, it has … Continue reading Spotify and the fight for attention
The 2010s are coming to an end, and looking back, a lot has changed, especially when it comes to retail landscapes. Vox looks back at the brands we have lost. Blockbuster and Borders failed to adapt and thus became victims of broadband and the Internet, only to be replaced by Netflix and Amazon. Internet and the companies it has spawned saw the death of compact discs, and with that, we lost the brands such as Columbia Record House. Payless, American Apparel, and Bon-Ton are some other names. Only recently we lost Dean and Deluca and Barneys. Good News is that we still have many American brands thriving in Japan. When I look back at the decade and see all these brands dying, I can only see the regeneration and creation of new brands and enterprises — bigger and different. I can’t imagine life without Spotify. Or Amazon, for that matter.
Photo by Andrea Davis on Unsplash
It has been so long since I wrote a formal piece for a magazine, that I forgot how much energy it takes to bounce back from such an effort. I am usually good for about 1,000 to 1,200 words a day — but this week, my mind has been dragging its proverbial feet. So instead … Continue reading WeWork drama, Streaming wars, & What (else) to read
