Happy Thursday, everyone.
This made my day: Mark Mulligan over at Music Industry Blog created a Risk board to convey the tension between Spotify and Tencent Music as they expand aggressively into new international markets...
Two of my Smart Reads links didn't work yesterday. Apologies. Here's the profile of Jonah Peretti in The Information and here's the Airbnb Concerts vs. Sofar Sounds comparison in Music Business Journal.
|
|
Facebook unveiled the Oculus Quest
It's a new VR headset priced at $399 and marks the completion of the Oculus headset line according to Zuckerberg.
Like the recently debuted Oculus Go ($199), it's a standalone headset that doesn't need to be connected to a computer. Its visuals will be on par with the Oculus Rift though and it won't require sensors to be set up in a room to track your movements. It will come with the same Touch controller as the Go and Rift.
( Learn more)
|
|
|
Fox/Disney selling 39% Sky stake to Comcast
As expected, 21st Century Fox / Disney are selling Fox's 39% stake in Sky (which is part of Disney's Fox acquisition) to Comcast so Comcast can own Sky outright. Disney will use the $15B from the sale to help pay down its debt from the Fox acquisition.
This marks the end of a long run by Rupert Murdoch to gain control of Sky, which was formed in 1990 via the equal merger of his Sky Television and the rival British Sky Broadcasting after both massively capital intensive ventures realized the market for satellite TV wasn't growing fast enough to sustain two players (and both were at risk of going under as a result).
Since Comcast has already bought 30%+ of Sky shares on the open market, it will now officially take control and can start integrating some operations and otherwise directly working together.
( Learn more)
|
|
|
AMC reached 380k cinema subscription members
AMC Entertainment's $19.95/month subscription cinema pass called AMC Stubs A-List has surpassed 380,000 members in its first 3 months.
It launched following the dramatic rise and fall (though it still lives on) of MoviePass. If you missed my post about why MoviePass can't win but AMC is in a strong position to succeed here, check it out.
( Learn more)
|
|
|
|
Smart Reads
- Jessica Toonkel at The Information analyzed the niche SVOD services a number of different studios and broadcasters have launched and the hit-or-miss dichotomy of their outcomes. (Read it here)
- Stewart Clarke at Variety shared his expectations on the initial collaboration we'll see between Comcast and Sky. (Read it here)
- Mark Mulligan at Music Industry Blog says the big record labels may give Tencent an advantage in int'l expansion just to weaken Spotify, plus frames Spotify's decision to allow artists to directly add their music as "doing a Soundcloud" which leads to "doing a Netflix" that cuts out labels. (Read it here)
|
|
|
VIDEO/TV/FILM
- Jellysmack (fka Keli Network), a social video company founded in 2016 and focused on creating interest-based online communities across platforms, raised $14M from Highland Europe, Interplay, Seed Round Investors Partech, and OneragTime. (link)
- Jellysmack claims 170M monthly users with 2.5B monthly video views.
- The company announced a wave of senior-level hires and a new office in LA.
- IAC's CollegeHumor announced a new comedy-focused SVOD service called DropOut, that will also feature comics and "chat stories". (link)
- The EU's upcoming quota requiring 30% of SVOD libraries being content produced in the EU leaves Netflix in need of ~800 more titles (~4,000hrs) and Amazon Prime Video in need of ~400 more titles (~2,000hrs). (link)
- Rylo, an SF-based startup founded in 2015 that makes a tiny 360-degree camera, has raised $20M from Icon Ventures and Accel. (link)
- Bryan Schreier at Sequoia led their seed round in 2015.
- CBS will construct a large-scale TV and film studio outside Toronto, an investment in it's extensive (and growing) production there for both CBS and non-CBS shows. (link)
- Amazon Studios announced the promotion of Julie Rapaport to co-head of movies. She's tasked with producing big-budget films for broader audiences (that will have a theatrical release). (link)
- More on the changes underway at Amazon Studios: (link)
- Fandor's CEO Larry Aidem is stepping down from the indie film streaming service after 3 years to join Reverb Advisors as managing partner. (link)
|
|
PUBLISHING
- De Correspondent, the innovative investigative news publisher based in the Netherlands, released a report sharing the financial breakdown of its revenue and expenses due to growing requests from its 60,000 subscribers (who pay €70/yr). (link)
- Patrick Soon-Shiong, the second largest shareholder in Tronc (25%), has switched his support away from PE firm Donerail Group to publishing group McClatchy in its bid to acquire Tronc. (link)
- Soon-Shiong acquired the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune from Tronc earlier this year for $500M.
- McClatchy's market cap has declined to just $65M while it carries ~$760M in debt and Tronc market cap is $577M so it's not clear whether McClatchy can pull money together for the deal.
|
|
AUDIO/MUSIC
- Amazon's Alexa-enabled devices went down across much of Europe yesterday morning. (link)
|
|
GAMING
- Pokemon GO has generated $2B in revenue in the 3 years since it launched, with Japan as the leading revenue generator. (link)
|
|
AR/VR + OTHER TECH
- YouTube's "YouTube VR" app for accessing the growing library of 360-degree video on the streaming platform will soon be available for Facebook's Oculus Go headset. (link)
|
|
|
|
