WSJ Story On How The Watch ESPN App Will Determine The Future Of Cable/Sat TV

[brandx]

Except in the case of ACA the bid went to a college roommaye

At least it keeps getting better. First they went to the same college during the same time period, then they were best friends, and now they were roommates.

Give it another year and they will have been lesbian lovers.

But you don't need me to tell you what to make up next 

[brandx]

I'm not surprised with the website we got and the problem is the bidding process.  If anyone has had to bid on government work the process is open and fairly straightforward, but you pretty much know up front they're going with the lowest bidder (unless your a sole source supplier and then they want to audit you to make sure you're not charging more than 10-15% "fee" which is your profit.)  It's an online process and you get the see the winning bid and who won and often the low bidder is someone who doesn't entirely know what they're doing and the "accidently" underbid and they government get stuck with low bid quality.

My company has lost bids before and the government came begging back to us despite a much higher price since no one else made parts that functioned properly. 

I think it is just incompetence.
My son works for a company that does a lot of work for Harley, so they needed to interface the databases at the 2 companies. There was a 6-month deadline so my son worked on it almost non-stop (his was a smaller company without Harley's resources) and at the deadline was ready to go. Harley, with all their IT people asked for a 3-month extension and then another 6-month extension.

This stuff happens all the time in business. And in the case of the ACA, they were interfacing hundreds of databases and had to deal with other departments and with states. And half of these states were trying to sabotage the whole deal. But then I'm sure rush and Hannity were upfront and honest about this.

[ChicosBailBonds]

unwind a little more bro, and get the joke from the picture.  I don't want to give you the gripper.

Actually Ziggy, I did chuckle.  It's one of my favorite movies.  However, it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.  People do all kinds of things for a living...I see some guys at work go in their cube at 9:00am and leave at 5:00pm like clockwork every day. Working like crazy inputting spreadsheets, etc.  Busy dudes.  Make a decent buck, etc.  Now, they aren't making what others are making and don't have the flexibility say of the dealmakers or the sales guys or some other areas, then again these guys will be employed forever while the guys with more flexibility are churned and burned daily.

So it's a tradeoff I have always found.  The guy that people complain about because he is playing golf with clients or whatever, still manages to bring in millions or whatever for his efforts.  He's going to get the leeway, just the way it is.  He's also going to be out when things go south.  It's like a coach, lots of opportunity to make some money in a short window of time, but if performance isn't there, very few chances to repeat another chance at that level.

To each their own, I just don't care what other people do with their time or even on the company time if they perform.  If they don't perform, well then we have a SERIOUS issue and they will be gone.  Not all functions or jobs have that flexibility, even within the same organization.  Depends on the situation.

Just my two cents.

[brandx]

Actually Ziggy, I did chuckle.  It's one of my favorite movies.  However, it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.  People do all kinds of things for a living...I see some guys at work go in their cube at 9:00am and leave at 5:00pm like clockwork every day. Working like crazy inputting spreadsheets, etc.  Busy dudes.  Make a decent buck, etc.  Now, they aren't making what others are making and don't have the flexibility say of the dealmakers or the sales guys or some other areas, then again these guys will be employed forever while the guys with more flexibility are churned and burned daily.

So it's a tradeoff I have always found.  The guy that people complain about because he is playing golf with clients or whatever, still manages to bring in millions or whatever for his efforts.  He's going to get the leeway, just the way it is.  He's also going to be out when things go south.  It's like a coach, lots of opportunity to make some money in a short window of time, but if performance isn't there, very few chances to repeat another chance at that level.

To each their own, I just don't care what other people do with their time or even on the company time if they perform.  If they don't perform, well then we have a SERIOUS issue and they will be gone.  Not all functions or jobs have that flexibility, even within the same organization.  Depends on the situation.

Just my two cents.

The hours are a lot more tolerable if you like what you do.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm not surprised with the website we got and the problem is the bidding process.  If anyone has had to bid on government work the process is open and fairly straightforward, but you pretty much know up front they're going with the lowest bidder (unless your a sole source supplier and then they want to audit you to make sure you're not charging more than 10-15% "fee" which is your profit.)  It's an online process and you get the see the winning bid and who won and often the low bidder is someone who doesn't entirely know what they're doing and the "accidently" underbid and they government get stuck with low bid quality.

My company has lost bids before and the government came begging back to us despite a much higher price since no one else made parts that functioned properly.  

Cronyism, who it was "bid" out to....friends in the administration (happens to both sides), but yes there is the issue of lowest cost bidder (when it truly is an open bid) and you get what you pay for.  Then the gov't ends up paying even more to fix the screwup in the first place.

But let's be clear, the whole sales job of the entire bill from day one was so much absolute bullshyte....a CEO would be fired immediately if his\her company announced a product like this with the promises that were made that were patently false, non delivered upon and caused millions of customers to actually lose the service they were just fine with.  The media, would destroy that CEO and demand a resignation.  Absolutely DESTROY HIM\HER.  Nightly, daily, eviscerated at every turn.

Funny, media didn't do that here....hmm.  

There are profound differences when you get to control the story, what is written, who writes it, how the tale is told.  PROFOUND differences.

[jesmu84]

Actually Ziggy, I did chuckle.  It's one of my favorite movies.  However, it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.  People do all kinds of things for a living...I see some guys at work go in their cube at 9:00am and leave at 5:00pm like clockwork every day. Working like crazy inputting spreadsheets, etc.  Busy dudes.  Make a decent buck, etc.  Now, they aren't making what others are making and don't have the flexibility say of the dealmakers or the sales guys or some other areas, then again these guys will be employed forever while the guys with more flexibility are churned and burned daily.

So it's a tradeoff I have always found.  The guy that people complain about because he is playing golf with clients or whatever, still manages to bring in millions or whatever for his efforts.  He's going to get the leeway, just the way it is.  He's also going to be out when things go south.  It's like a coach, lots of opportunity to make some money in a short window of time, but if performance isn't there, very few chances to repeat another chance at that level.

To each their own, I just don't care what other people do with their time or even on the company time if they perform.  If they don't perform, well then we have a SERIOUS issue and they will be gone.  Not all functions or jobs have that flexibility, even within the same organization.  Depends on the situation.

Just my two cents.

I once had a boss tell me that there are two types of employees. The first type comes in, puts their head down and works their shift, goes home at night and doesn't want any responsibility outside of their hours. They want 40 hours and paycheck - nothing more, nothing less. The second type will go the extra mile and extra effort to improve themselves, their company and put in extra time toward their careers and advancement. And companies need to employ both types to be successful.

Of course, he also felt threatened by the second type of worker and would find a reason to get rid of a lot of them or take credit for their work.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I once had a boss tell me that there are two types of employees. The first type comes in, puts their head down and works their shift, goes home at night and doesn't want any responsibility outside of their hours. They want 40 hours and paycheck - nothing more, nothing less. The second type will go the extra mile and extra effort to improve themselves, their company and put in extra time toward their careers and advancement. And companies need to employ both types to be successful.

Of course, he also felt threatened by the second type of worker and would find a reason to get rid of a lot of them or take credit for their work.

I would add a third type.  Those that put in the hours, go the extra mile, improve themselves, their company, recognized by the industry with major awards, etc, but don't necessarily want the ultimate promotion...don't want to fly that close to the sun for a number of reasons.  Actually turns down promotions for personal reasons, family, health, etc because they see the damage that almost everyone endures when they take that step in that particular company.   I know a person or two that fits that mold. 

[brandx]

I would add a third type.  Those that put in the hours, go the extra mile, improve themselves, their company, recognized by the industry with major awards, etc, but don't necessarily want the ultimate promotion...don't want to fly that close to the sun for a number of reasons.  Actually turns down promotions for personal reasons, family, health, etc because they see the damage that almost everyone endures when they take that step in that particular company.   I know a person or two that fits that mold. 

Nice to see this. One of a person's biggest strengths should be knowing his own limitations. I knew I was a great #2 but knew that the weight of being top dog would break me. I was an implementer rather than an idea man. Make the decision and then pass it on to me to put in place.

Unlike GWB, I did not want to be the Decider. I would have been as good at it as he was 

[ChicosBailBonds]

The hours are a lot more tolerable if you like what you do.

I remember those days

[brandx]

In the spring of 2000, Reed Hastings, the C.E.O. of Netflix, hired a private plane and flew from San Jose to Dallas for a summit meeting with Blockbuster, the video-rental giant that had seventy-seven hundred stores worldwide handling mostly VCR tapes. Three years earlier, Hastings, then a thirty-six-year-old Silicon Valley engineer, had co-founded Netflix around a pair of emerging technologies: DVDs, and a Web site from which to order them. Hastings was convinced, movies would be rented even more cheaply and conveniently by streaming them over the Internet, and popular films would always be in stock. But in 2000 Netflix had only about three hundred thousand subscribers and relied on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver its DVDs; the company was losing money. Hastings proposed an alliance.

“We offered to sell a forty-nine-per-cent stake and take the name Blockbuster.com,” Hastings told me recently. “We’d be their online service.” Blockbuster wasn’t interested. The dot-com bubble had burst, and some film and television executives, like those in publishing and music, did not yet see a threat from digital media. By the time Blockbuster got around to offering its own online subscription service, in 2004, it was too late. “If they had launched two years earlier, they would have killed us,” Hastings said.


Now 1/3 of all broadband usage in the evenings is for Netflix.

Ken Auletta from the New Yorker was on Charlie Rose last night and it was quite fascinating discussing this. If you get a chance to see the interview, it is well worth your time.

[brandx]

Here's the link

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/-outside-the-box-charlie-rose-01-31-sKpLPOh9RNOZU9qLf_rTAg.html


very interesting stuff on Netflix and Ariel

[ChicosBailBonds]

Amazon Prime considering raising their prices by $40 a month to cover expenses associated with their shipping \ video streaming service. 

Only the beginning fellas, only the beginning.

[brandx]

Amazon Prime considering raising their prices by $40 a month to cover expenses associated with their shipping \ video streaming service. 

Only the beginning fellas, only the beginning.

That will put their streaming business out of business.

The whole key to all of this is to figure out a good way to advertise on mobile devices. If that occurs, the cable TV/network model will be blown apart.

[ChicosBailBonds]

That will put their streaming business out of business.

The whole key to all of this is to figure out a good way to advertise on mobile devices. If that occurs, the cable TV/network model will be blown apart.

Sigh.

People don't pay attention to the advertisements on tv now, what is going to make them pay attention to them on their devices?

The ad revenue only makes up a small part of the pie.  For ESPN, it's about 30% of their revenue comes from ads, but for most channels, it is a lot less.  They need the guaranteed revenues which has to come from subscriber fees.

If ad support was all it takes, then it would keep the newspapers, etc a float right now...which of course it isn't.

[Tugg Speedman]

Here's the link

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/-outside-the-box-charlie-rose-01-31-sKpLPOh9RNOZU9qLf_rTAg.html

This was outstanding.  Here is the article Auletta wrote:

Outside the Box
Netflix and the future of television.
by Ken Auletta February 3, 2014

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2014-02-03#folio=054

It's all going broadband.  The last page of this article explains it well.

[ChicosBailBonds]

This was outstanding.  Here is the article Auletta wrote:

Outside the Box
Netflix and the future of television.
by Ken Auletta February 3, 2014

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2014-02-03#folio=054

It's all going broadband.  The last page of this article explains it well.

That isn't the issue...whether it is going broadband or other technologies...agreed.  What is the issue is whether you are going to be paying $8 for it or whether you're going to be paying what you are paying today on TV.  THAT, is the issue.  The content providers are going to get their dollars, one way or another.  Whether you buy it through Comcast or some broadband provider.  They are going to get their $$.  Disney (ESPN), Fox, HBO, etc, etc....they're going to get their dollars.

THAT, is what people don't understand.  

[Tugg Speedman]

That isn't the issue...whether it is going broadband or other technologies...agreed.  What is the issue is whether you are going to be paying $8 for it or whether you're going to be paying what you are paying today on TV.  THAT, is the issue.  The content providers are going to get their dollars, one way or another.  Whether you buy it through Comcast or some broadband provider.  They are going to get their $$

THAT, is what people don't understand.  

Read the part about the bundle.  That is going away.  It will be ala-carte pricing and their will be thousands of options, not a 100 or 200 like now.  And that kind of competition will drive the price down.

[brandx]

Prices will not go down for individual choices. I would expect ESPN, for example, to be in the $30 dollar range ala carte. Where money may be saved is by only choosing a couple options.

But that is not all bad. If I can get a sports package like I currently have with TWC ala carte, I would gladly pay $50 - $60 a month. I don't need anything else. I prefer to watch series on Netflix and I expect within a few years HBO and showtime will have a subscription service as well,

But the influence of network TV as it is structured will certainly go down. And I suspect the model in 5 years will include parts of what we think it will be, but quite a few differences as well.

Record companies still make money from CD sales, but they also have money streams that weren't there 15 years ago.

[ChicosBailBonds]

That will put their streaming business out of business.

The whole key to all of this is to figure out a good way to advertise on mobile devices. If that occurs, the cable TV/network model will be blown apart.

Amazon Prime going up $20 to $99, starting next week

[brandx]

Amazon Prime going up $20 to $99, starting next week

Whereas, if they were customer oriented - they might have offered a 3-5 day shipping option with Prime and maybe only have needed a $5-$10 increase.

Just speaking for myself, I was going to sign up for Prime, but will not do it now. Since most of my orders are over $35, I get free shipping anyway. One or two day shipping was very important when I was still on the job - not so much anymore. And I would guess it is similar for most people when ordering from home.

[keefe]

plenty of great perks as well

It's not every man who gets to wrap his thighs around the Panty Dropper!