Bundling and Unbundling
-
Winners and losers from the Disney-Charter stand-off, as The Great Re-bundling begins
-
Charting ESPN’s rise, including how it build leverage over the cable TV providers, and its ongoing decline, caused by the Internet.
-
Cable companies survived the great unbundling thanks to selling Internet service; they may be best place to make the bundle of the future.
-
The state of bundles in 2020: Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. Plus, Microsoft’s purchase of ZeniMax.
-
TV is moving from a world where distribution dictates business models to one where business models need to fit the jobs consumers want done. That is the best way to understand Disney’s latest announcement.
-
It’s trivial to say that the Internet changed media; what is more interesting is unpacking how different types of media were affected, and why — and what might happen to TV.
-
Substack Launches App, Substack and the Four Bens, In-App Purchase and the Substack Bundle
Substack launched an app, which isn’t a surprise given their VC model, but which portends change all the same.
-
Take-Two Acquires Zynga, The New York Times Buys The Athletic
Take-Two buys its way into mobile, and the New York Times re-bundles.
-
The Creator Opportunity, The Value of Abundance, TV and Sports Follow-up
It is fine to be excited about web3, but it doesn’t seem right to deny the real opportunities already afforded by the Internet. Plus, tying up loose ends on TV and sports.
-
Formula 1 and Netflix, Netflix and Sports, YouTube TV vs. ESPN
The increased popularity of F1 shows how sports can be valuable to Netflix, and why sports remain valuable to Disney.
-
MLB Versus Sinclair, What Happened to Sinclair, The Problem for Sports Leagues
The Internet has uniquely impacted regional sports networks, thanks to the reality of free distribution. Sports leagues will need to adapt.
-
Disney Earnings, ESPN and Disney’s Streaming Strategy, Flexibility and Residuals
Disney’s results suggest the company should stay the course with its current streaming strategy; however, the way it funds movies may have to change.
-
Amazon Buys MGM, The Streaming Opportunity, Anti-Monopoly vs. Antitrust
Amazon’s purchase of MGM makes sense strategically, but also points to bigger ambitions; it also highlights how a lot of antitrust talk is actually anti-monopoly.
-
Stripe’s Role, Competition and Differentiation, The Local News Opportunity
Differentiation can flow from the writer, but also from the subject. That is why the Substack model could help deliver the local news business model.
-
Sovereign Writers and Substack
Substack is at the center of media controversy, most of which misses the point that sovereign writers — not Substack — are in control.