| | | | | Amazon, ESPN and the Future of TV | | | Welcome to December...This is Dylan Byers in for Brian Stelter... Bear with me here, because today's incremental developments have big implications... | | Amazon made a major leap in the streaming arena today with the launch of HBO and Cinemax on Amazon Channels. Amazon Prime members can now buy an HBO package for $14.99/month and a Cinemax package for $9.99/month.
"Prime members can now watch the latest episodes of the critically-acclaimed 'Westworld' and 'Game of Thrones' without the need for a cable subscription," Amazon Digital Video VP Michael Paull said in a statement. That's in addition to shows on existing Amazon channels like Showtime, Starz and Acorn TV.
This isn't just about obliterating Netflix (though it is about that, too). This is about Amazon's ambitions to become the next major media company... The next Disney... with the ability to distribute all content (film, television, etc.) directly to the consumer...
But here's what Amazon doesn't have: Sports and live programming, which are the moneymaker for cable... There's no doubt Amazon, Apple and others would like the rights to the NFL, NBA, etc, but cable channels have sports locked up for years to come...
And yet... | | Sports channels are losing subscribers, just like the rest of cable (including news)... ESPN lost another 555,000 cable subscribers in November, according to Nielsen, bringing total losses since September to a whopping 1,455,000 million subscribers... The losses are even higher at sister networks ESPN2 and ESPNU. ... Fox Sports, NBC Sports, BEIN and other sports channels are also seeing significant decline. ...
Says ESPN, "We remain at the forefront of the industry, and no one is navigating change better than Disney and ESPN."
How to read that: ESPN will evolve. The network has deals with Sling, Playstation Vue, DirectTV Now, Hulu (not accounted for by Nielsen), and has invested in the BAMTech streaming service.
But, yes, the change is happening... | | The view from Silicon Valley: "It's the fault line before the earthquake," one tech executive told me. "ESPN is the reason people pay for cable."
The view from the TV industry: Not so fast. Remember when Twitter aired the NFL? It didn't exactly work... We're going to see continued experimenting until someone finds a way to get specific sports broadcasts into the specific devices of specific fans....
"The major sports fan is going to have a big bundle for a long, long time, because cable channels have those deals locked up for years," Rich Greenfield, Media & Tech Analyst at BTIG, tells me. "But the question the industry is running into is: How many people are massive sports fans?"
Note to Jeff Bezos: Current NFL TV rights expire in 2022. | | | CBS strikes NFL streaming deal | | Speak of the devil: CBS and the NFL have reached a multi-year deal that will enable subscribers to the network's All Access service ($6/month) to stream live games...
That starts this Sunday with Houston vs. Green Bay, Kansas City vs. Atlanta, Miami vs. Baltimore, Denver vs. Jacksonville and Buffalo vs. Oakland.
Les Moonves, CBS Corp. Chairman and CEO: "Adding the most watched programming on television, to the most watched network on television, will be a powerful combination as we continue to grow CBS All Access into the future..."
Note to Brian and Jamie upon your return... Eagles vs. Bengals is on Fox. | | | NFL Savior: The Dallas Cowboys | | Frank Pallotta: "In a season of consistently disappointing ratings for the league, including its marquee games, the Cowboys have been the one real bright spot... Dallas has been in four of the top five most-watched NFL games this year, per Nielsen.
"It's easy to figure out why the Cowboys are such a draw: They are a perennially popular team that has won five Super Bowls... And now, after a terrible 4-12 season last year, they're leading the NFL with a 10-1 record... [They also] have something the rest of the league is lacking right now: a feeling of freshness and excitement."
In other words... Premium content wins.
Tonight on NBC: Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings (Opening spread: Dallas by 2.5) | | | The Megyn Kelly scoop that wasn't | | Drudge Report published a breathless, all-caps, siren-topped exclusive this morning: "EXCLUSIVE: MEGYN KELLY MAY JUMP NETWORKS" ... Which was rather amusing, because Kelly has been considering jumping networks for over six months now.
Drudge also reported that CNN was a suitor, which is also something the entire television news industry has known for about six months... But, hey, why forego the clicks?
Here's the facts: Megyn Kelly is still considering all her options.... If you don't want to take my word for it, here's Variety's Brian Steinberg:
"The popular anchor... is entertaining offers from a handful of rival outlets, according to people familiar with the matter — part of an agreement with her employer that gives her a window to hear outreach from other networks. Most of the talks are very preliminary in nature, and none are guaranteed to come to fruition." | | | Jeff Zucker on the hot seat... | | CNN President Jeff Zucker was the subject of much attention during a panel event at the Harvard's Institute of Politics' Campaign Managers Conference last night...
From an attendee: "Representatives from the Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio campaigns shouted out criticisms of CNN coverage when Zucker was asked about fairness in coverage of Trump vs. other candidates...
"Asked about his decision to cover Trump intensely from the beginning, Zucker said in hindsight that he would not have taken as many Trump rallies live during the primary... But Trump was frontrunner, and there was intense public interest. Zucker repeatedly said that other candidates were offered same opportunity to do interviews and phoners with CNN anchors, but Trump was the one who took advantage."
Fact-check: True. Both Bush and Rubio refused to come on CNN for roughly two months.
The campaign reps didn't buy it... "Sarah Isgur Flores of the Carly Fiorina campaign... Todd Harris of the Rubio campaign… David Kochel of the Bush campaign and others said Zucker was wrong, and yelled 'empty podiums', 'you showed empty podiums for hours' … Some muttered 'bullshit' as Zucker continued to defend his premise that other candidates were invited to go on air, but repeatedly declined interview requests."
When the panel was over, Zucker said directly to Harris 'If you're not willing to look in the mirror…' Then walked away..."
Flashback: From Zucker in CNN's "Unprecedented" 2016 campaign book: "When Trump jumped in, CNN recognized, I believe sooner than most others, that there was something to his candidacy. I feel incredibly proud of our overall coverage with regard to Trump. People have been critical of the amount of attention we gave Trump in those early, initial months, but I think that's a testament to the fact that we understood—more than most other newsrooms in New York and Washington—that Trump had much broader appeal...
"Our first debate was Simi Valley at the Reagan Library. Jake Tapper asked both Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush whether they had any issues with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear button. They both took a pass and did not say they had any issue. My point is this: The questions were asked right from the start. His competitors took a pass. How is that the fault of the media?" | | -- SHOT: CNN's Alisyn Camerota smacking her head in disbelief as Donald Trump supporters continue to push the President-elect's debunked claim that he lost the popular vote because "millions of people" voted illegally. A Must-Watch.
-- CHASER: Camerota talks to Mediaite about how the 2016 campaign became a "fact-free zone," and why she is optimistic it was a "wake-up call" for the media.
-- PLUS: For those interested in the facts, see these wonderful flow-charts from The New York Times on Trump's many conflicts of interests. | | | Breitbart's war on Kellogg continues | | Breitbart continued its all out assault on Kellogg's for a second day, following the company's decision to pull its advertising in protest of the site's political views.
Visitors to Breitbart were first confronted with a pop-up invitation to sign the site's "Dump Kellogg's" petition, and the lead story on the homepage touted a 1.44% drop in Kellogg stock on Thursday.
Brian Lowry emails: "Breitbart's counter-attack against Kellogg's for pulling its ads from the site is striking on a couple of fronts. For one, media outlets that rely on advertising seldom go out of their way to antagonize potential buyers. For another, the tactic of pulling sponsorships to reflect concerns about content was largely originated and championed by conservative organizations — groups like the American Family Assn., which famously urged a sponsor boycott of 'NYPD Blue' in the '90s. Breitbart is sending a message, but it's one that could easily backfire and cause more blue-chip advertisers to steer clear." | | | How Snapchat kept fake news out | | Smart one here from BuzzFeed's Nitasha Tiku...
"Facebook emerged during the U.S. election as a central political and news source, but also a hub for hoaxes, propaganda, and outright fake news... But its leading U.S. competitor, Snap, has managed to sidestep the issue...
"There are a handful of obvious reasons why Snapchat might be a less fertile ground for propaganda from Macedonian teens, hoax purveyors, or hyperpartisan websites masquerading as news. User-generated content on Snapchat disappears after a short period of time. News is contained in a separate section, called Discover. Posts from the people you follow are displayed chronologically, not by popularity or personalized algorithm."
"On Snapchat, the name of the game is projecting authenticity, not racking up faves, and the rules of the game are enforced in the way the app is designed..."
Read Tiku's full piece. | | | Watters goes to Hampshire (sigh) | | Tom Kludt emails: "Fox's resident ambush journalist Jesse Watters was deployed to Amherst, Mass., where he greeted Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash [whose decision to remove American flags from campus has sparked national debate] in what looked like a parking garage. 'Don't you realize the whole country's laughing at you right now?' Watters asked, placing his foot in the door of Lash's home. Lash repeatedly asked Watters to remove his foot, but the reporter kept pressing....
"Today, the college said it notified local police and campus security because Watters 'entered the college president's private property and then tried to prevent the president of the college from entering his private home.'"
Read Tom's full write-up of the incident.
Over at The Washington Post, Erik Wemple says Watters is "officially out of control." | | The Associated Press accidentally sent out a draft of a tweet today....
It read: "France's deeply unpopular Socialist president, Francoise Holland, says he will/won't seek re-election
Can't have it both ways... So which one's right? Hollande says he will NOT run for re-election. | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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