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Media Companies Are Ready to Sell. Does Anyone Want to Buy?

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My father always wanted the latest and greatest workstation, tablet, laptop, and version of Windows. Problem was; he'd be poking around online all day, eventually clicking on the wrong link, or opening an E-mail attachment that he didn't recognize. It got to the point where I installed all sorts of net nannies, anti-you-name-it-ware, and RDP so I could remote in and un-do whatever he had done earlier that day. Before I did all that, I could count on the phone call from Mom every evening after work that my father was upset because 'his computer was broken again', and whether I could stop by and have a look. Being able to remote-in saved my sanity.
My mother is so inept where computers are concerned that the day her computer crashed I brought it home to take a deep dive. When I got into the bios I found a suicide note that said the OS couldn't take it anymore and pulled it's own plug.
 
My mother is so inept where computers are concerned that the day her computer crashed I brought it home to take a deep dive. When I got into the bios I found a suicide note that said the OS couldn't take it anymore and pulled it's own plug.

Oh, hell, if we're gonna do that.....


My mother-in-law complains all the time about everything. We got her an Amazon Alexa smart speaker and it just sits there going "I know, I know....." all day.

(rimshot)

(Full disclosure---a made-up story. Neither of my mothers-in-law is alive, nor would have fit the description)
 
My father always wanted the latest and greatest workstation, tablet, laptop, and version of Windows. Problem was; he'd be poking around online all day, eventually clicking on the wrong link, or opening an E-mail attachment that he didn't recognize. It got to the point where I installed all sorts of net nannies, anti-you-name-it-ware, and RDP so I could remote in and un-do whatever he had done earlier that day. Before I did all that, I could count on the phone call from Mom every evening after work that my father was upset because 'his computer was broken again', and whether I could stop by and have a look. Being able to remote-in saved my sanity.
Good idea. That is exactly what my 90 year old aunt used to do. She used to call me every night, complaining that the computer was broken. I used to spend an hour with her doing Geek-squad style toubleshooting. I should have installed the RDP. God bless her, she tried so very hard. I was glad to spend the time with her; but if I had installed the RDP, she and I could have had fun chats instead of troubleshooting. She was always very fearful that she had ruined the computer. -- D.
 
My mother-in-law complains all the time about everything. We got her an Amazon Alexa smart speaker and it just sits there going "I know, I know....." all day.
(Full disclosure---a made-up story. Neither of my mothers-in-law is alive, nor would have fit the description)
 
Not to mention "regional sports fees" on cable. I wonder if ours ($17.25/month) are jacked up because of the number of major-league sports teams here and whether they would be less in a place like Albuquerque that has no major-league sports teams. I suspect not.
Albuquerque will just get a nearby market's teams and associated fees (probably mostly Phoenix).
 
Albuquerque will just get a nearby market's teams and associated fees (probably mostly Phoenix).
Looking at Journal TV listings from last month, it appears there's actually a channel called Fox Sports New Mexico. Or maybe was, because the Journal shows no actual listings for it. Instead, there's something for "BSAZ-NM" which has Diamondback games.
 
Looking at Journal TV listings from last month, it appears there's actually a channel called Fox Sports New Mexico. Or maybe was, because the Journal shows no actual listings for it. Instead, there's something for "BSAZ-NM" which has Diamondback games.
Not anymore. MLB took over the D'backs' broadcasts last month. Like in AZ, NM can get the games via MLB.TV, but for a separate fee of $20/month or $54 for the remainder of the season (might be lower now, since there's only another 5 weeks left in the season), apart from the out-of-market games.
 
My father always wanted the latest and greatest workstation, tablet, laptop, and version of Windows. Problem was; he'd be poking around online all day, eventually clicking on the wrong link, or opening an E-mail attachment that he didn't recognize. It got to the point where I installed all sorts of net nannies, anti-you-name-it-ware, and RDP so I could remote in and un-do whatever he had done earlier that day. Before I did all that, I could count on the phone call from Mom every evening after work that my father was upset because 'his computer was broken again', and whether I could stop by and have a look. Being able to remote-in saved my sanity.
My father often did the same to my brother and I, and then started in on a few other family members when he needed "tech support" including when he'd simply forget his password(s). He'd tell us one moment that he would never knowingly open anything from anyone he wasn't absolutely sure about, and then a few moments later he'd say "Oh, by the way, what was this e-mail you sent me with an attachment about Oprah's weight loss secrets? McAfee tried to stop me from opening that attachment and it took me some time, but I finally worked around it and got it open". Upon further checking, someone had hacked his address book - the e-mail wasn't actually from me and he'd installed a virus or malware. On another occasion it was "FedEx sent an e-mail that they were trying to deliver to our house and no one was here, they asked me to fill out an attached form - took me a hell of a lot of trouble to get it open but I've not got it downloaded, I just need to fill it out and send it to them with all my information". Of course, when I'd ask him to expand the details on the e-mail he'd received, the actual address it came from had nothing to do with FedEx.

When he was in the market for his last laptop we steered him to Best Buy where he'd get complimentary Geek Squad for a year, they'd copy all his files and programs from his existing laptop to the new one he bought, etc. BEST THING WE EVER DID! Our phones stopped ringing and every few weeks we'd hear about how he went to Best Buy and chewed out the guys there for being incompetent, how he'd go to them one day and demand that they disable something, then realize he'd made a mistake and he'd drive back the following day, demanding they put switch it on again. We were free and clear at that point, but heaven bless the guys and gals at his local Geek Squad!
 
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In my active adult community, the ages of residents range from 55-103. When surveyed last year, about 30% of this population do not own computers, tablets, or smart phones. Even though the Computer Club here started an "each one teach one" volunteer program where residents give in-home computer instruction to other residents, there are many ( including a lot of my neighbors) who really struggle with technology.

This community has its own weekly newspaper, which is very popular, because it lists all the upcoming special events, like concerts, travel tours around the world, bus trips to local shows and museums, art classes, and cultural lectures. The Board of Directors wanted to cancel the print version of the newspaper in order to save time, paper, and delivery costs. They wanted to publish an online version only, which required a user name and password to access. That discussion led to a huge push-back by residents who were worried that they did not have the tech skills, nor the computers to access the newspaper online.

When I was a young schoolteacher, the earliest microcomputers I remember receiving for my classroom were Apple in approximately the years 1982-1984. I was on a grant-writing team which had to apply for funds not only for the computer, but also for staff development funding to train the faculty. The graduating class of seniors was born in about 1964-66. That is the first of Generation X and the last of the boomers -- approximately. ( although there were some home computers available for retail sale in the 70's)
In general, for most baby boomers (defined as being born between 1946 and 1964), there was very little high school training available in micro computer technology in my area of southern California. The last of that generation, who graduated in the early 80's, had some rudimentary high school training. ( I'm speaking of training at the average public high school in southern California). This is my experience only. Disclaimer: YMMV. JMO.
That cartoon you posted is spot on.
 
Got some proof of that?
It's been happening. The extent of it that cuts into Amazon and other large online retailers is a good guess, but according to this article large brick and mortar retailers have complained about large scale cargo theft.

 
It's not just shipping costs. The point is cable was notorious for bundling channels not everyone wanted to watch into high priced packages with sports being the most expensive part of them.

It really sucked for someone who doesn't care about sports to have to pay for ESPN (and regional sports fees) in their cable subscription, and Amazon is already headed down the same road. Maybe Apple too. Probably all of them.

There is no way to opt out of Amazon's Thursday Night Football. I wouldn't doubt that it instantly became the most expensive thing for Amazon to put on Prime Video and they are charging all Prime subscribers for it whether they want sports or not.
I can understand your frustration -- to a certain extent. I don't do cable, as I don't watch TV (aside from news reports on YT), and I don't subscribe to any streaming service. That said, I have friends who both do cable, and do internet streaming subscriptions, and although they used to go to movies, they simply don't anymore. The bother, the cost, it's just not worth it to them. I personally haven't gone to a movie since a couple years before the pandemic.

The internet has changed the way all media is delivered to the consumer. Of course, you and I and everyone here at RD knows that.

But these streaming sites also see potential pitfalls in their future ROI.

TV networks are slowly aging out (average age of network TV viewer: 54) and losing share to internet streaming (prime demos decreased their TV watching time by around 20% between 2014-2018, acc. to the last stats I could find on the subject), and internet streaming pays less per view of a movie than the traditional methods of movie watching.

At the same time, advertising doesn't rake in the big bucks it used to when there were 4 or 5 main TV or Cable networks -- back when there was no internet to speak of. So the streaming sites have to figure out a way to make money beyond just advertising. Right now sports is a way for them to make money. At least for the time being.

Sports like NFL football (average age of fan: 47) and baseball (average age of fan: 53) and hockey (average age of fan: 50) are aging out, and the media folks know this. The big sports we all love are maybe a decade or two behind AM radio in their aging out. They won't completely disappear, of course, but they will lose importance. So, if these video networks can make money off the sports now, they will.

And the same bundling metrics that worked so well with the cable industry are just being transferred to the streaming industry. it worked before. It will work now. It will work because they can make it work, and because they can get away with it. It's their ball game. They can control your access to their content, just as the cable company had the ability to control your access to content.
 
Very odd way of 'making money'... to cut your video inventory to pay less in taxes.

From the Guardian article:

"In May, Disney+ announced a content removal plan designed to cut US$1.5bn worth of content, meaning it substantially reduces the company’s value, giving it a lot less tax to pay."

And you cut the show right after you spent all this money producing it -- and right before it's destined to be aired on the platform?

Isn't that a streaming service's reason for existence -- to air shows on your platform, and draw an audience by having interesting new content? It seems the costs were already sunk in the new show they jettisoned before playing it. Seems like a stupid way to compete with other content providers. Oh well.
 
Very odd way of 'making money'... to cut your video inventory to pay less in taxes.
They devalue them and then get a tax credit for the loss.
 
It's been happening. The extent of it that cuts into Amazon and other large online retailers is a good guess, but according to this article large brick and mortar retailers have complained about large scale cargo theft.
Becky on CNBC Squawk Box mentioned this the other day. Apparently, certain exclusive store brands unique to Home Depot are being sold on Amazon. So if you see Behr, Rigid, or Ryobi being sold on Amazon, chances are it was stolen merchandise either from a HD, warehouse, or freight carrier.
 
I'm not sure broadband should be 'given away', but internet access is a requirement anymore for a lot of things, even things relating to government or government services.
COVID made it a necessity for continuing to get an education. "Snow days" have essentially been replaced with e-learning. Some rural areas are making wi-fi available in specific locations. Sort of like school bus stops that serve a lot of students.
 
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