Episode 142: News Recap from FOX, Disney, Fubo, Apple TV, BritBox, Netflix, and Upcoming Layoffs from Paramount

Episode 143: This week, I cover the viewership stats from YouTube’s exclusive NFL live global stream, breaking down what the numbers really mean, since many in the media misreported them. I discuss the challenges that the NFL, FOX and ESPN say they have in working with Nielsen, who once again, announced it is changing the way it measures viewership, which is absent of impartiality and transparency. I also detail the latest news and rumors involving WBD, the upcoming TNT Sports app, and the news that the HBO Max platform will lose live sports in the US next year. Also covered are the rumors that Paramount Skydance wants to make a bid for WBD, and I detail why, if a deal were to happen, it would be far more complex than most realize and would not quickly raise ARPU and reduce churn like some suggest.Amazon's quality stream for the season kickoff of Thursday Night Football is discussed, along with DISH price increases, DAZN's new multiview feature for select NFL Game Pass subscribers and news that Walmart+ members can choose between the ad-supported plans of Paramount+ and Peacock and switch every 90 days at no additional cost. Finally, I provide context around the news that Vimeo has agreed to be acquired by Bending Spoons in an all-cash transaction that values Vimeo at approximately $1.38 billion and detail the numbers from Vimeo's balance sheet that most are not looking at, but should be.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

The OpenMOQ Software Consortium has launched as a new effort among vendors and content owners, focused on advancing MOQ-based technology through open-source software. The consortium is tasked with developing high-performance software that will enable the next generation of media contribution, distribution, and playback. OpenMOQ is a collaborative effort to accelerate development, enhance interoperability and share cost between vendors, distributors and in some cases, even competitors. In this interview, Will Law from Akamai and Tomas Kvasnicka from CDN77 discuss the formation of OpenMOQ and its goals. https://openmoq.orgPodcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, I cover the launch of Fox One and ESPN Unlimited, which appeared to go smoothly, with few user issues reported. I detailed the news of the week, including price increases for Apple TV+ and BritBox, the launch of a new $20 bundle from Sling TV, and news from Netflix, YouTube, MLB, Fubo and NBC Sports. Finally, I discuss the expected upcoming layoffs at Paramount and their implications for the industry.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

Marty Kagan, co-founder and CEO of Hydrolix, joined me for a detailed conversation on the importance of delivering better end-user QoE with real-time telemetry and the challenges that come with CDN observability. Marty highlights why more hot data is crucial for AIOps and challenges that M&E customers face today, including the need to discard data due to storage costs. Marty presents a compelling argument against the notion that most data is irrelevant and that content owners only need to retain a small percentage as a sample. We also discuss why Hydrolix isn’t an AI company and Marty's plans to continue growing its streaming data lake platform in verticals outside of video.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we detail Paramount Global's seven-year deal with TKO for the rights to stream UFC fights, the impact on ESPN+ and UFC's approach to move away from PPV to expand its audience. We also discussed the new Disney and Fox bundle launching on October 2nd, which combines ESPN+ and Fox One for a discounted rate. Additionally, we list out why not all pay TV customers will have access to ESPN's new DTC service for free when it launches on August 21st. We covered Netflix's pricing increase in Australia, Sling TV's new daily, weekend, and weekly pricing models, as well as the changes to Sky Sports' coverage of the 2025/2026 Premier League season. Finally, we detail what it takes to produce quality content on LinkedIn, how to build a brand, and why to ignore many of the so-called content and SEO experts on LinkedIn.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we detail all the news from Disney's earnings, its proposed deal between ESPN and the NFL and the launch of ESPN's new DTC service this month. We also discuss the impact of Disney's decision to no longer report paid subscribers or ARPU numbers for Disney+ and Hulu, and will cease reporting ESPN+ numbers as of next month. We also discuss all the essential numbers from Q2 earnings for WBD, Paramount Global, Fubo, Altice, Akamai, Fastly, Vimeo, and highlight the upcoming launch of FOX One on August 21st, as well as recent news from Roku and MLS.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, I outline the key numbers you should know regarding subscriber gains and losses, as well as the profitability of D2C businesses for Peacock, Roku, Paramount, Sling TV, and Fubo. I also cover the revenue growth from cloud providers Amazon and Microsoft, and break out the capex spend of Meta and the hyper-scalers, totaling more than $250 billion this year, driven by AI-related infrastructure. Finally, I highlight some news relating to Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Instagram and DAZN's deal with the NHL.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we highlight the details surrounding the MLS commissioner's disclosure that MLS Season Pass is averaging 120,000 unique viewers per match on Apple TV, representing a nearly 50% increase from 2024. For earnings, we cover Q2 ad revenue on YouTube, up 13% YoY and Alphabet's plan to increase capex investment in 2025 to approximately $85 billion, in addition to the cord-cutting numbers from Charter and Verizon. We cover the latest rumors of the NFL’s interest in acquiring an equity stake in ESPN, HBO Max's expansion to more than 90 markets, and Paramount and Skydance's merger receiving FCC approval. We detail viewership figures from Netflix's latest boxing event, along with TV and streaming viewership numbers across baseball, golf, tennis, car racing, hockey and DAZN's video workflow for its successful stream coverage of the FIFA Club World Cup. Finally, we discuss why companies conduct layoffs even amid record profits, the impact of AI investments, and why, despite many talking about strategy, a company's culture eats the best strategy all day.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we highlight the key numbers and comments from Netflix's Q2 earnings, covering finances, ad growth, live event strategy, competition, AI, and content strategy. We detail the financial metrics tied to revenue, free cash flow, debt, and estimated full-year 2025 revenue guidance. We discuss all the comments from Netflix's management team regarding measuring household engagement, its upcoming interactive ad launch, the impact of the recent price hike, its deal with TF1, and the acquisition of content assets. We also detail NBCU's decision to raise Peacock’s monthly subscription by $3, as well as the new US-based SVOD service from the BBC. Finally, we discuss Deltatre's plans to acquire Endeavor Streaming, which raises questions about the state of Deltatre's business, as no metrics have been provided since its acquisition in 2022.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we highlight Disney's new content bundling deals with Charter and ITV, as well as Paramount's new agreement with DIRECTV. We discuss Amazon's investment in AI to help remaster SD content into HD, and what we think the impact of AI can be in the video streaming workflow. We also discuss why the media is getting it wrong when they suggest that Google has won the living room, as YouTube tightens its enforcement of its monetization guidelines. We break down the latest rumors that Apple will acquire Formula 1 content and why Apple's F1 movie was about more than just content, since it ties into the hardware of the iPhone. Finally, we discuss some recent online comments about ultra-low-latency deployments for media use cases, which overlook any tangible or measurable business benefits.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media