Cord cutting or cord shaving....or just much ado about nothing

For all the talk about "Cord Cutting" and or "Cord Shaving" (where people cut down their cable tv bill to the basics but enhance it with a Netflix subscription or similar) this report clearly shows that its much ado about nothing.

http://www.theconvergence.tv/2013/05/21/pay-tv-industry-sees-first-4-quarter-loss-ever

In the last year pay-tv subscribers dropped less than 80,000 subscribers (heck I've seen more articles about Cord Cutting than that......).

For the year, cable operators were down a whopping 1.56 million subs, BUT telcos gained 1.3 million and satellite picked up 160,000.
In other words, yes some people dropped cable but they moved to U-Verse and Fios.

So in other words with 94m pay tv subscribers in the USA dropping at a rate of 80,000 a year and allowing for no more new people to be born or no more immigration......I'll be the last TimeWarner subscriber in 1,175 years.

We should all be so lucky.


Cheers,
Dean

Fantasy sports?

You know as a foreigner I find the whole American idea of Fantasy Sports intriguing.

For years I've wondered if the USA was just leading the way and there would be fantasy EPL or fantasy Rugby Union announced next. ...And as close to "fantasy selection process" the Indian IPL cricket tournament is with its annual auction played out by indian billionaires....its still a real event played in real life.

So when the New Jersey governor Chris Christie said a few months ago that he was making a state ruling that NJ Casinos can start taking bets on fantasy sports and if Obama didn't like it he could kiss his ass and take the state to court.....I sat up and took notice.

Whats really interesting is this comment

"Most players spend $467.60 per year playing fantasy sports"

in the article - http://seekingalpha.com/article/1362721-the-only-stock-for-investing-in-daily-fantasy-sports?  about how MGT a listed company have bought out www.FanThrowDown.com for $4m but that The top website in daily fantasy sports, www.FanDuel.com just received $11 million in Series C financing (its Series B was $4 million) led by the investment unit of Comcast.....!!

If fantasy sports participants are betting $450 a year....this means they're gambling more than they are paying to watch the games in the first place....Will there be a "bet by set top box" league on every game on every cable channel?

Better still could there be a "bet on survivor winner" to draw in a bigger more widespread audience?

Any thoughts?



Cheers,
Dean

Peggy grows up and buys an apartment

Lots of discussions about Mad Men and New York's favorite past time...real estate property from last nights show where Peggy was looking to purchase an UES 2br apt on 88th ...near the river but with balcony.....for the princely sum of $28,000

lol you could hear all of New York laugh when the broker mentioned about how much of a steal it would be when the 2nd avenue subway was completed (still under construction now in 2013....)

It did bring up some interesting points


Cost Of Living 1968 to Now.
http://gothamist.com/2013/04/29/real_estate_1968.php
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 4.27%

Depending on costs of renovations etc  here is a quick comp at $1.6m though its a fair bit nicer than what we saw in the episode
- http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/841887-condo-455-east-86th-street-yorkville-new-york

This is a closer example features/fixtures wise and is $749,000
- http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/853429-coop-301-east-87th-street-yorkville-new-york


So for the quick calculation check out the tables below, basically based on comps it looks like apartment prices doubled every 11 years.





Or look for your own comps here;
http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sales/yorkville-manhattan/status:open%7Cbeds:2%7Cdescription:balcony

2013 NFL Draft starts today

This Thursday the 25th of April at 8pm ET will be the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

In simulcast with the ESPN tv coverage we will have a Live Fan Chat for each of the sessions over 3 days for you to invite your friends to chat live with you.

Tonight's 3 hour chat room url is
- www.LiveFootballChat.com/go/20776
Friday's chat room url is
- www.LiveFootballChat.com/go/20777
Saturdays chat room url will run all day from 12pm est until midnight at
- www.LiveFootballChat.com/go/20778

So invite your friends, post the links out to Twitter and Facebook, lets see who really knows their NFL stuff.

Don't forget if you haven't signed up already to add your profile to your teams FanWall eg. http://www.LiveFootballChat.com/fan/49ers


Cheers,
Dean

Veronica Mars....the movement

"Veronica Mars made history by raising more than $2 million in just 10 hours"
- http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/veronica-mars-film-funding-plea-makes-history-20130314-2g2ak.html

Is today the pivotal moment in time and space where we look back on and say that tv production changed forever? Are there enough $10,000 speaking role backers to change how tv is produced and what does this mean for the revenue curve for the various parties.

- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project

Whats also interesting is the digital download on the same day of theatrical release for $35 (same as how bbc are selling the dvd's in the UK....before the USA tv broadcast of Downton Abbey). Is the cut to be made from the "eager beavers" who are prepared to pay more to watch at home? (hey who needs over priced coke and popcorn when i can watch it at home).

Will also be interesting to see if pressure is put on Kickstarter to cut fees for $1m+ fund raisings.

Either way its interesting times for LiveTVchat.com

 

 

 

Cheers,
Dean

Interesting legal question about copyright happening right now

As you probably know by now there was an incident in the last lap of todays Nationwide Daytona race where several cars crashed and parts went over and through the fence.

Whats interesting is that a fan posted a video he took from his seat in the stands of 2 minutes after the accident.

YouTube pulled the video on behalf of Nascar as they are claiming copyright

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151632321154705&set=a.76650969704.71443.18807449704&type=1

Makes for interesting argument

      -       Is Nascar within its rights as it IS private property.
      -       Is the fan within his rights as he posted less than 1% of the event (eg he shot the accident scene 5 seats over where a tire landed on someone)

Either way what has happened…..and this is so true about the internet once something is uploaded it can never be deleted…..the video is now being displayed on 20 different websites some which have refused to remove it in addition to it being uploaded to youtube under many different accounts with no mention of Nascar so cannot be located through simple keyword search.

btw here is the CHurl for the live fan chat for todays race – http://www.LiveNascarChat.com/go/19750

 

Regards,

Dean Collins
Founder – Live Fan Chat

Jeremy Lin Went On Google Plus To Chat With Fans

Remember when Jeremy Lin skyped with a 5-year-old Knick fan after the NBA star found out about the child's tears? Well Lin is at it again, this time "hanging out" with a group of fans yesterday via Google+.

 

 

http://www.isportstimes.com/articles/4107/20121107/jeremy-lin-went-google-plus-chat-fans.htm