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AT&T Wants To Overhaul HBO, Says It Isn't Profitable Enough (arstechnica.com)
AT&T recently acquired HBO, as part of the Time Warner acquisition, "and it is already considering an overhaul that would see HBO produce more video that can compete for the attention of smartphone users," reports Ars Technica. "AT&T wants to boost revenue both in advertising and subscriptions, even if that means upending HBO's longtime strategy of producing a relatively small number of high-quality shows."
At a recent corporate town hall meeting, John Stankey, the longtime AT&T executive and new head of Warner Media, laid out the challenges and opportunities he saw for the network to around 150 employees. He said, in part: "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit. [...] You will work very hard, and this next year will -- my wife hates it when I say this -- feel like childbirth... You'll look back on it and be very fond of it, but it's not going to feel great while you're in the middle of it. She says, 'What do you know about this?' I just observe, 'Honey. We love our kids.'" Audio of the meeting was obtained by The New York Times. From the report: The talk, held at HBO headquarters in New York City, was hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler. HBO must compete with smartphones for people's attention, Stankey said in this exchange with Plepler: "We need hours a day," Mr. Stankey said, referring to the time viewers spend watching HBO programs. "It's not hours a week, and it's not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people's hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes." Continuing the theme, he added: "I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow's world."
At a recent corporate town hall meeting, John Stankey, the longtime AT&T executive and new head of Warner Media, laid out the challenges and opportunities he saw for the network to around 150 employees. He said, in part: "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit. [...] You will work very hard, and this next year will -- my wife hates it when I say this -- feel like childbirth... You'll look back on it and be very fond of it, but it's not going to feel great while you're in the middle of it. She says, 'What do you know about this?' I just observe, 'Honey. We love our kids.'" Audio of the meeting was obtained by The New York Times. From the report: The talk, held at HBO headquarters in New York City, was hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler. HBO must compete with smartphones for people's attention, Stankey said in this exchange with Plepler: "We need hours a day," Mr. Stankey said, referring to the time viewers spend watching HBO programs. "It's not hours a week, and it's not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people's hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes." Continuing the theme, he added: "I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow's world."
$4 billion profit on $2 billion investment per year isn't profitable enough?
I don't understand your gripe. Your mother clearly lives in a place that isn't densely populated. They aren't going to spend a half million in infrastructure to make mom happy.
They sure as all hell have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in USF, CAF, USDA RUS, and myriad state-level incentives on the "we'll install broadband next year" promise for twenty straight "next years".
The only way that people like your mother are going to get served high speed broadband is if Americans vote to increase their taxes and have the government subsidize it, as they have done in Korea and elsewhere, but Americans have a special hatred of taxes going back to the founding of their nation so that doesn't seem likely either.
I'm not picking on you, honest, but it's this kind of logic that drives me nuts. The idea that the government has to "make it happen". It's ... dumb.
You want high-speed internet in areas the big guys don't want to serve? Simple.. Remove the obstacles that make it so damn difficult for us little guys to do it. i.e. remove all of those laws that were passed to PROTECT the incumbents.
I cover 100 sq miles of rural San Diego County with very reliable (and inexpensive) internet. But.. it's a goddamn battle every single day to expand further. The amount of red-tape would blow your mind. I know.. it's CA, but for fuck's sake....
We do not have Capitalism in the United States. We have Cronyism and Protectionism.
There is no reason, whatsoever, that the government should be protecting AT&T's rural monopolies. But, that's what we have and that's why a lot of people have no access to decent internet.
Yes, yes, and yes!
This is exactly it! This is the bullshit they have been pulling for ages. Although, it's been a lot longer than 20 years. AT&T has been promising 45mbps MINIMUM since at least 1991, and I know they were promising it earlier, but I can't find the data to back up my memory, so I'll settle on "since 1991". That's 27 years.
I did find this blurb that will help to illustrate just how bad it is..
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By 2014, we estimate that AT&T has collected about $150- $200 billion in excess phone charges and tax perks since the 1990’s to upgrade the state-based utility networks that should have supplied at least 45 Mbps (in both directions) to homes, offices, as well as schools and libraries.
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You were doing so well until the nonsense about Nazis. I really don't get the American ignorance about Socialism, I really don't.
Educate yourself:
https://www.indy100.com/articl...
https://www.snopes.com/news/20...
http://www.newsweek.com/nazis-...
It's really not that hard.
Boo.