About That Hacking In Las Vegas…
The word is well out, more in social media than on mainstream media like usual, but there are even a few shills in the mainstream media like usual attempting to report that all is being taken care of and normal.
So it’s not shocking that Las Vegas is a magnet for all sorts of fraud and in particular financial fraud. In many ways it’s like Florida and a magnet for all sorts of people running from something in life.
Now the fraud is more international via cybercrime much like everywhere else.
The local word is that hacking has taken place on many occasions over the years, and the casinos just pay the ransom, which is rumoured Caesar’s did with this recent hack but MGM did not.
Word is also via the MGM properties that even payroll is being disrupted as the situation is ALL HANDS ON DECK now.
Which brings to mind how did we get here?
On some fronts, the corporate gambling and hotel firms are notoriously cheap such as on this front of business management systems that are paradoxically out-of-date compared to all that is state-of-the art that is introduced onto the gaming floor, player-tracking and business intelligence, and surveillance technology.
Akin to Target’s massive credit card scandal a decade ago that encumbered the firm for years, only because they chose to remain on an old credit card processing system because they were being cheap, here we are on the Las Vegas Strip.
This is not the greatest live video by this local vlogger with a great track record Jacob Orth, but it does capture the reality as of Thursday after the initial signs of the hack emerged on Sunday evening. Notice it took FOUR days for the mainstream media to say anything as if somebody had to wave a wand to approve any reporting on the matter as if it’s still 2005 and social media are far less common.
Key figure
In June, PwC predicted the linear television industry will lose $30 billion in subscription and advertising revenue by 2027, as more viewers cut cable and switch to streaming.
Disney ALONE has lost over $11B in streaming. This $30B is for the projected losses in advertising revenue for the ENTIRE linear television industry to include over-the-air, cable, and satellite.
Bargain bin pricing looks to me like an understatement for any firms seeking to make purchases from such businesses that are set to lose billions more even faster than before.
How crazy is it that the NFL is basically keeping over the air broadcast industry afloat? I think that it said 94 of the top 100 programs on linear TV were NFL games. I wonder if Disney is going to use the ABC cash to pay off the Hulu Comcast debt?
Consumers Summer 2005:
How much is your standard cable package with ESPN and ESPN2? I want the NFL and college football. Oh it all comes with other sports too? Great!
Consumers Summer 2022:
I watch the NFL. College football? Eh, not so much, but when it’s over-the-air okay. I like other sports too, but nope I’m not going to pay for those any more plus they raised the price too high anyway.
The real tell is that the cable industry could easily see the latter scenario coming in 2019 and 2020, before or during the pandemic, but the industry made no adjustments.
Then it was only during the pandemic that the cable firms and even Big Tech Google invested heavily in streaming capabilities.
Even since the lessons of the Great Recession that hit the cable and satellite industry with subscription declines for the first time ever in 2010, that cable bundle simply had them by their greed glands even in 2019 even as they had already been pitching various streaming apps in constant ads during regular cable TV.
Remember that fantastic board room theory that “well for only $5/month more, subscribers will sign up in droves you know!?” /heavy golf clap - I
It was NOT a shocker to many, including me, that CNN+ lasted all of 3 weeks in April 2022, after a lavish Manhattan launch party in late March, and now is being relaunched on the sly as a free add-on to Max.
Even mighty Google had video calling, once under “Hangouts,” then “Duo” in its OpenOffice suite for years before only figuring out to rebrand as, wait for it, “Meet” during the pandemic!
When the innovative become the stodgy establishment a la IBM, Microsoft, GM, Ford, and Chrysler of decades ago, eh?
The Majority In The US Are Going From Cutting The Cord To Free Antennas In Less Than 15 Months
Change comes at you fast.
Amazon On The Assault For More Live Sports
The NFL games will feature an array of new enhancements for viewers — some powered by artificial intelligence — that represent merely the latest move in the company’s fast-growing sports streaming ambitions.
Just in the last four months, the company has entered discussions about a potential ESPN equity partnership, signaled an intention to compete for NASCAR rights, acquired a set of pickleball rights, still shows the Premier League domestically, and could even be a significant player in the next round of NBA rights.
Folks, streaming or not is irrelevant in this regard of production quality.
Last night’s production quality for the game via Amazon Prime via Pirate Sports Network was THE BEST I have seen. You can bet the others are going to have meetings on the matter come Monday or Tuesday.
CBS is a close second and might step it up now. Fox is a close third.
Then there is NBC, which manages to have the #1 show in all of US television yet in my view is now #4 on their production and not close to the top three. NBC’s production quality is much closer in image here in 2023 to the launch of their Sunday night production in 2006 with still their “overloaded set” approach.
To NBC’s credit, they did finally add that big screen for the studio discussion set as they did for other sports coverage, but they are years beyond the global media industry coverage of live sports in such regards. How long ago was the “studio sports desk” or “studio library” image outdated now?
Dead last, having to rely on the Manningcast to help out again, is of course rotten and awful ESPN that the NFL should just do away with for good.
ESPN has only been in the mix after paying a multiple to have the rights to one game per week as compared to the over-the-air networks. Let’s remember that had a crappy Sunday Night Football production through 2005, which in turn they managed to transfer to making Monday Night Football a steadily crappier production with every year. But hey they are all about sports TALK aren’t they!? And it’s LOUD too!
Live Surveillance Captured At A Cable Channel or YouTube Channel or Podcast With Current or Former Cable Channel Employees
I posted this elsewhere in jest, but I think it turned out alright for sake of reality.
Now I would hope more sports fans save themselves the trouble than already those cutting the cord.
Rejoice and be glad though, for Peak Bojack, a time of year with insanely hot takes about sports including plenty from testosterone-fueled brotastic dudes who have not yet lost enough on betting both college and pro football, ends in a few days.
We go live now to our hidden surveillance in the break room at a sports cable channel, or off-air on a podcast, by a current or former cable TV employee:
“Look, I know I’m sitting here in this seat at my job less relevant by the week on cable. And my podcast is well, not quite cutting it yet. But I gotta do my job! And say something loud! NFL! Aaron Rodgers! Lebron James! Coach Prime! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I’m relevant now too! Watch me ride the wave, bro!”
I get it I get it, it’s a living for now like any job, but it’s clear as the volume is going up, the level of desperation is showing.
One week later, based on the egregious amount of advertising during NFL games of the NFL Sunday Ticket even amongst all the other usual ads during games, I’ll be curious in hearing the numbers once September is over. YouTube TV is running a promotion through Tuesday apparently.
Beyond the regular price, the competition from NFL streaming products like RedZone via NFL+ and given the buried reality of the heavy lag, or high latency, of the service of 30 to 50 seconds from the field of play, I’m thinking that indeed that YouTube is having issues with subscriber growth in line with its lofty expectations.
Right on track here with predictions we made here two weeks ago - the vast majority of games will now be simulcast on ABC. Screw you ESPN once again. That’s what the NFL essentially said though nobody wants to report it.
@Paolo_X - “In business, nothing happens on accident; every move is a piece of the puzzle waiting to be revealed.”
I agree with you on the NFL thing with ESPN/ABC, but I am wondering if there is something else there that has to do with ABC getting spun off into its own company or something like that. I don’t know what the play is but I am with you that there is something more to this than just ABC getting some MNF due to the writers strike. That seems awfully convenient.
Don’t sleep on IBM.
Something is going to happen shortly with either ESPN ABC or both of them. We have the NFL strong arming ABC to carry more NFL games. And now we have something happening on the edges of the NFL Fox USFL XFL universe with possible merger talks. Something big is going down - don’t know what but by Halloween my bet is something big happens.
Right on. I worked for IBM in the late 1990s years after their first major wave of layoffs in the early 1990s during that recession.
No doubt they have more than come around.
Otherwise as you probably know, the historical reference was for when IBM had squandered their virtual monopoly to lose the upcoming battle at the desktop with several mistakes in the '70s and '80s, which included not taking Bill Gates and Microsoft seriously.
You know, I’d sort of forgotten about it, but I am old enough to remember the term “IBM-compatible PC” which indicates their dominance. I believe IBM is currently at the cutting-edge of quantum computing research.
When The Sports Book Gets It Really Wrong (To The Bettors’ Extreme Delight)
This update from early August describes an interesting strategy for WBD for their new streaming service on Max.
For almost 5 months, they will offer the sports package for free.
They are betting that subscribers will stay on for also the end of the NBA and the NHL seasons.
At least the baseball post-season will be free.
I will take the under on their subscriber numbers for 2Q2024, but we won’t know those figures until perhaps August 2024.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s new push to house its entire live sports portfolio on Max is designed to provide simplicity for consumers and linear distributors amid a period of increasing media complexity.
The Turner Sports parent has finalized its heavily anticipated plans to create a sports tier on its general-interest, direct-to-consumer streaming service, introducing the newly named Bleacher Report Sports Add-On tier beginning Oct. 5.
Timed to begin with MLB playoffs, it will offer WBD’s full slate of live sports programming, also including NHL, NBA, college basketball, and U.S. Soccer, along with popular studio programs such as “Inside The NBA.” The service will be offered as an extended free preview for Max subscribers in the U.S. from its initial debut until Feb. 29, 2024, followed by a $9.99-per-month fee.
Maybe this is some light at the end of the tunnel for DSG?
More Streaming Price Wars And What To Do With Live Sports Without The Especially Rotten Ripoff ESPN+?
There is a bigger picture here as noted as in the above post as one example, with Disney paradoxically having to lower streaming prices only a month later along with Paramount+ running a big promotion as well.
The push is on now for the sale prices by all the firms losing billions on streaming but for Amazon (not a standalone business for them) and Netflix.
Basically I see this clearance sale now as the push by all the media firms to shore up numbers of subscribers for the holiday season and their books for 2023 and all the associated performance bonuses paid in some part based on those results.
With more numbers, they will figure out what they have or don’t have and what especially to cut deeply in early 2024. Prepare for serious carnage. Most won’t care, for they will dump streaming after the NFL season and the depth of winter anyway except for Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Now as one example of a league that could benefit greatly from streaming access due to skewing to a younger demographic, well there is a great mystery at hand.
Fox won’t stream games to Tubi. Disney has to decide if ESPN+ will be its engine for all sports on ABC or not. It has NOT gone well, and I do not see people excited about subscribing to any relaunch of ESPN+ unless free. Of course when they know they will be charged after any associated games are over, the losing money cycle would just repeat itself. Disney has to come up with something NEW for sports, and perhaps the solution is not ESPN but simply, wait for it, ABC Sports on streaming.
Wow, how profound and innovative eh? But it would work via simulcast of games especially for the younger audiences who dumped ESPN a very long time ago! That’s something that it seems the dominant media executives have not accepted a decade after the decline of that “bundle.” Hey, just hang it up and retire already.
NBC Charts New Course With WWE Smackdown Starting In October 2024
This news via a major investment may or may not be a tell with regards to NBC’s other sports rights beyond the NFL, Premier League, the Olympics, and a whole lot of golf Golf on NBC - Wikipedia .
I make that statement because I am not so sure Comcast has terribly much more money, time, and resources to go around in the current declining media climate than say if we were still in the year 2018.
I am going to take the under, which won’t have a high payoff now, on any remnant interest in any merged XFL-USFL.
In contrast to in 2020, in 2023 there is no longer any significant interest in payment for rights to stream such live sports on the likes of Peacock in lieu of traditional TV rights. Peacock sucks anyway, as some of you know.