Amazon Studios: If Youtube can do it, so can we

Amazon is going Hollywood with the  expansion of its Amazon Studios division. The media super power will develop comedy and children’s programming. It is going to be all original content. They are currently accepting proposals if you have a great idea. If they like your idea you will get $55,000 and up to 5% of Amazon’s net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, along with other royalties and bonuses. YouTube already does original programing. The folks from Sword & Laser have a great show.  Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios said “Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love. In the course of developing movies, we’ve heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children’s genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series.”

Press Release:

Amazon Studios to Develop Original Comedy and Children’s Series for Amazon Instant Video

Writers, animators and filmmakers around the world are now invited to submit comedic and children’s series proposals

SEATTLE—May 2, 2012—(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that Amazon Studios is expanding its development efforts into comedy and children’s series. Amazon Studios is Amazon’s content development division that uses audience feedback to identify great, original entertainment customers will love. Starting today, series creators are invited to upload their proposals for comedy and children’s programming to Amazon Studios at http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started/series. The best comedy and children’s series will be distributed through Amazon Instant Video, Amazon’s digital video streaming service.

“Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “In the course of developing movies, we’ve heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children’s genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series.”

Each month, Amazon Studios intends to option one promising new project and add it to the development slate where it will be tested for viability with an audience. If Amazon Studios elects to distribute a full-budget series, the creator will receive a $55,000 payment, up to 5 percent of Amazon’s net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, and other royalties and bonuses. Amazon Studios’ production company, the People’s Production Company is signatory to the Writers Guild of America and to The Animation Guild, Local 839.

To submit, a project must have a five-page description, along with a 22-minute pilot script for comedies, or an 11-minute pilot script for children’s shows. Within 45 days of submission, Amazon Studios will either extend an option on the project for $10,000 or invite the creator to add the project to the Amazon Studios site. If a project is not optioned, creators may remove their idea from the Amazon Studios site or leave it to get community feedback.

Amazon Studios new series development is led by Joe Lewis, previously with 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central and Tara Sorensen, formerly with National Geographic Kids.

Amazon Studios launched in November 2010. Since then, more than 700 test movies and 7,000 scripts have been submitted and 15 movie projects are currently under development.

Can Next Issue Media’s all you can read Digital Magazine Subscriptions work and will Apple’s Newstand be effected

Do you a tablet? Do you like magazines? Do you hate the Apple Newstand? Well Next Issue Media was hoping you would say yes to all the above.  Tablets are everywhere. As we all know Apple’s iPad has a virtual monopoly on the tablet market and as such on the magazine market. That also helps them sell everything. You can find pretty much any magazine you want to buy in Apple‘s Newsstand app. The problem is  you still have to  download each magazine’s reader app. Some of those apps are nothing but a glorified PDF reader.  Magazine publishers want some of the action that the Newstand now enjoys. Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc., Meredith and News Corp. have teamed together to form Next Issue Media.

Next Issue Media’s CEO Morgan Guenther said “On the consumer experience side, at least from our perspective, there’s been very little innovation. At the moment, one of the chief unmet needs is simplicity.”   The new tablet only newsstand lets users pick between different magazines for one low subscription price.  The prices are as follows; $14.99 covers weekly & monthly titles. You also can pay just $9.99 for only monthly titles. I love this idea and can’t wait to try it. Unfortunately,  right now the app is only on Android tablets running Honeycomb or higher but an  iOS app will out in a few weeks.

The only thing that people might not like is that users have to go to Next Issue Media’s website to manage their subscription purchases. You will not be able to do from within the app. That is very smart on the part of  Next Issue Media. This way they do not have to pay Apple 30% that everyone else has too. This is a very smart idea.

Cut the cord with the iPad; sort of: It’s more like an extension

There are now apps that will let you watch most of the TV that is important to you while on the go. The TNT and TBS Apps are just a just the latest in a long line of media entertainment extenders. Over the weekend  NBC had released a new version of their iPad app that allows users to watch full episodes of their favorite shows on the iPad. Watch by ESPN has been out for a while and ABC was the first to do it when the iPad came out. Lost was still on the air.  The only catch is that you are still married to a cable company because you have to log in with your credentials to use these apps to their full capabilities. That is the part that needs to be addressed. Someone needs to do what Netflix has done for movies but for TV channels.  No, Hulu is not there yet.

Game systems are not for just games anymore

Nielsen published a new study this week on game console usage within the US. Seems that gamers have spent notably more time streaming video to their systems than they did in last year. When you have so many options for media. It is a an easy thing to do.  You have the option of Netflix, Hulu, MLB Network, ESPN3. Xbox 360 users who have spent 14% of their time streaming video this year have even more options. They have Fios, Comcast and UFC. PlayStation 3 owners on the other hand have spent 15% streaming. Nintendo Wii users who have no games worth mention whats so ever have spent over 33% this years.

Xbox 360 users spent 34% of their time to online gaming, Wii owners spent 55%  of their time on offline gaming. So, you mean that there are people who are playing Wii games online? Who are these people and what are they are playing? PS3 players spent most of their time not surprisingly watching Blu-Ray movies.

InfoGraphic: Where are you spending your time online?

I just ended my Netflix because I was not using it enough. everything on there was old or not full seasons. Luther was the last straw. It only had season 1. Not cool Netflix. I will not being going to Hulu until they end the 30 Second spots. If I am paying for something why should there be commercials? Just make it free.

Netflix will keep DVD & Streaming together; says “April Fools, wait it’s only October?”

The Netflix year of bad PR continued today. After the company had announced that it would make its already upset customers go to two websites. One for DVD and one for streaming movies it backtracked today. Netflix won’t be spinning off DVD-by-mail rentals into a new company called Qwikster.

This seems to be just a cosmetic stunt since internally the separation still be under way. The press release below does not say anything about the video game option as of yet. Therefore Gamefly can still continue to relax a little. While not splitting the company is a good mood. It should have never been done in the first place. The continued bad move after bad move followed by the CEO Reed Hastings handing customers yet another apology seems more like the boy who cried wolf. Stock holders may be speculating about the company’s true plans. At this point even Netflix might not know its own plans.

Since all the drama over price Netflix has announced a few new content deals with Discovery and AMC. Blockbuster and Amazon should this year as the year where playing David might work out in their favor. The Netflix Q3 earnings report is due October 24th. We think the stock might be headed lower for price and the bad PR will continue.

Press Release
DVDs Will Be Staying At Netflix.com

LOS GATOS, Calif., October 10, 2011 – Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today said it will not rename its DVD-by-mail service and that its US members will continue to go to the Netflix website for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

Netflix said in a Sept. 18 blog post that its DVD by mail service would operate at Qwikster.com. Instead, U.S. members will continue to use one website, one account and one password for their movie and TV watching enjoyment under the Netflix brand.

“Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that,” said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. “There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case.”

Netflix today informed its U.S. members in personal emails and a post on the Netflix Blog on www.netflix.com

Amazon Prime gets Fox & Netflix gets Dreamworks

Fox shows and movies will be available for unlimited streaming later this fall through Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year and also includes unlimited two-day shipping on retail items.
Amazon’s Prime instant video now has 11,000 movies and TV shows. They have deals with CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Bros and now Fox. “Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote on the company’s home page.

Netflix has about 20,000 titles in its catalog. Netflix will feel the loss of Starz content and from changes to its pricing now more than ever. When you have angered customers and they hear about other services adding content at $16.88 cheaper than you; that is a problem.

Amazon Prime may have all the content in the world but as they say its all about Location Location Location. Netflix is on every device out there.

Netflix does understand however that customers are not happy. They know Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are out there. After Starz leaving they needed someone to fill the void. Netflix has inked a deal with DreamWorks Animation over the weekend. That should fill the void very well, thank you very much.

This is a costly deal to Netflix and might more for PR than anything else. DreamWorks content won’t show up until 2013. This deal is the first time a major Hollywood studio has chosen a video streaming service over pay television. We don’t know how long the deal but understand that Netflix is giving out $30 million per film to DreamWorks. New York Times states that DreamWorks walked away from a deal with HBO and chose to partner with Netflix instead.

F8: Facebook adds music (as expected) but the way they do it was not & what’s this? Movies & games? Yes and yes Hello Open Graph

We knew that Facebook was not going to go down without a fight. F8 that is still going by the time you read this has shown that they still have a lot in their social bag.  New apps allow users to add activity to Timelines without getting prompts to share with friends. “You’re connecting the app and your Timeline together,” says Zuckerberg. They have teamed up with Spotify for music and Netflix/Hulu for more was to make media content more social.  You can not just click a show or movie that your friend is playing to start to watch it with them. Mark speaks to just having apps connected to Facebook that have reports at the end of the month. People can just hover order the app to download it. One wonders will that take you to the website, Android marker or The AppStore?

There are now visuals such as infographics and year-in-review publications and how they tie to Timeline. A designer who would regularly conduct annual visual reports on companies and how that sparked the idea of what a report like that on one person’s life would look like. Was hired to work for Facebook. You will be able to have your own infographic. This is kind of cool I must say. Zuckerberg says the Timeline beta period will start now. Developers can start using it today, and Timelines will roll out widely over the next few weeks. It should be interesting to see how well Graph Rank works. Will it help me discover new apps or will it just be what gets the most advertisement?  I will say it has been a while since I have been actually looking forward to using Facebook for more than just a nothing way to expand my audience.

MUSIC:

A “real-time serendipity” feature allows you to share content such as Spotify songs with friends easily. If someone is listening to a song on Spotify, you can hover over it and listen along with them or chat with your friend about it. “Developers are using OpenGraph to not only rethink music, but to rethink the whole music industry,” Zuckerberg said. Facebook partnered with other music companies for content as well, although it highlighted its relationship with Spotify. “You’ll now start seeing new music posts and play buttons all over your newsfeeds,” Spotify said in a blog post on Thursday. “Hit a play button and the music starts. Right there.”

Movies & Shows & TV:

DirecTV, Blockbuster, Flixster and Dailymotion. We’re super excited about all of these great applications, and of the social aspect of Netflix,” says Hastings. He adds “outdated privacy law” preventing company from adding Netflix integration to Facebook right now. Note that Netflix Viewing data lets you share only the viewing habits you want to share, this kind of social TV could create an entirely new way to find shows and movies to watch.

Games:

Games are now even more social. You can see what is happening within the games your friends are playing.

Apps:

Lifestyle Apps, and the Nike GPS running app. It shows Zuckerberg’s times and the run times of his friends. Another app, Foodspotting, is used to find restaurants and snap pics of food item. Timeline brings them together in reports. Ticketmaster, Eventbrite and StubHub will partner with Facebook.

Netflix to shed DVD all together: Step 1 Raise price & Step 2 split the DVD-by-mail business away. Call new venture Qwikster

Netflix has announced in  blog post and video that it’s splitting the DVD-by-mail business away into a new. The new venture will be called Qwikster. I see this new venture as just one more step to leaving the DVD business for good. The recent price changes already split the cost for each service. This step takes effect in a few weeks and will force customers to go to two different websites. They will also get two two different sets of movie ratings and queues and two different charges on their bills. The separate sites will make it more difficult to manage for customers and that may be what Netflix wants.

Lack of communication for the backlash that Netflix has gotten may be justified but it seems that they don’t really care much. It’s very clear that Netflix is movie streaming company and does not care much if DVD subscribers jump ship.  They plan to add a lot of new streaming content  in the next few months. We will see. Until Hulu gets rid of ads, I’ll still be a loyal Netflixer

What does the Starz departure from Netflix mean to subscribers?

When Starz announced that it ended its contract renewal with Netflix. At first I thought it was a rumor akin to the absurd ones that have been flying around about Apple’s plans to buy Hulu.

The statement was plain and to the point:
“When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content on the Netflix streaming platform.”

As a subscriber I had to consider if Netflix was worth the price to continue. Netflix depends on the Starz to bring in current releases for its streaming service. Netflix does not have that much current content to start with. The lost of Starz is going to hurt more so than the recent lost Sony. Sony’s movies were removed in July. Starz takes with it content from Disney, over 1000 movies and original shows when the agreement expires.

The stock crashed in the market, going down as low 9% If Netflix can not find new content providers by February 12, 2012 when the contract expires; more people might than when the prices were increased. The rumor is that Starz wants to squeeze more money out of Netflix in a renewed agreement next year.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings seems to be stressed about the departure of Starz and puts there exit into perspective:

“Starz is grateful to Chris and his team for the early notice of their decision, which will give us time to license other content before Starz expires. We are confident we can take the money we had earmarked for Starz renewal next year and spend it with other content providers to maintain, or even improve, the Netflix experience.

Over the years we spent more and more licensing great TV shows from all four broadcast networks and many cable networks, and we have licensed 1st run movies from Relativity, MGM, Paramount, Lionsgate and others. We expect Starz content to drift down to 5-6% of domestic viewing in Q1.”

So, basically, Starz was not doing much for Netflix so subscribers should not miss it too much. There is a lot of other content out there with to come. It’s not time to jump ship just yet.