Streamers Cut Down On Password Sharing

Issue #82

Weekly Recap of Broadcast & Cable News Media, Sports Media & Streaming Media

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LEAD STORY

Streamers Cut Down On Password Sharing

(Picture courtesy of 9to5Mac)

A tactic that was seen by many as getting one over the system when in actuality, it was the system allowing it to happen may soon be taken away from the masses.

Password sharing may be going the way of cassette tapes and tube TVs as streaming networks begin to clamp down on the practice that enabled many to view content without paying a single dime.

Streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon’s Prime Video are looking at ways to limit how many times a user’s password can be shared and/or who can share the passwords.

This action results from content creation expenses as competition stiffens between the various streaming services looking to capture a larger market share.

Hulu with Live TV makes users pay an additional fee to stream from three separate mobile devices, while HBO Max lets up to three profiles within the same account to stream simultaneously.

Netflix, the biggest streaming service out now, is looking for ways to expand its subscription base after it reported a slowdown during its last quarterly report.

The service has begun testing a feature in the southern American countries ofChile, Costa Rica, and Peru that would allow extra users who don’t live in a household to be added to a plan for an additional fee. It would also allow any users of a shared Netflix plan to transfer their shared profile information and data either to a new account or an extra members subscriber account.

If successful, Netflix will expand this feature globally.

Facing heavy competition and financial pressure, Netflix is looking to dial back on a feature that made it a household name. It hopes that limiting password sharing can convert those family members and friends who can no longer access an account into paying customers.

The company, though, is seeing this issue from another angle. It says that password sharing has impacted its ability to “invest in great new TV and films for our members.”

Whatever the reason, streaming has become the focal point for most entertainment companies.

This means that they need to find ways to grow their subscription base, and a tactic that’s beloved by consumers is now seen as troublesome by these very same streaming services.

(Axios, Hulu, The Wall Street Journal)

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RECAP

(Picture courtesy of CNN)

Chris Cuomo Goes After CNN Seeks $125 Million In Damages

Months after being let go by CNN, Chris Cuomo is now going after the network. Last week the former primetime anchor filed a demand for arbitration as he seeks $125 million in damages. Attorneys for Cuomo claim that CNN management was aware that he was providing his brother, former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, advice as he was dealing with sexual harassment complaints. Cuomo is also saying that there was also a breach in his contract when former CNN president Jeff Zucker did not stop CNN employees from disparaging Cuomo. Zucker firing Cuomo ultimately led to his and CNN’s marketing exec Allison Gollust’s dismissal from the news network. (Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter)

Russia Invades Ukraine: Fox News Reporter Injured, Crew Killed

The price of covering what’s happening in Ukraine took a costly turn for Fox News. Its correspondent Benjamin Hall was wounded, and cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and producer Oleksandra Kuvshinova were killed in Horenka, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Fox News Media president Suzanne Scott let employees know that the vehicle Hall and his crew were in was struck by incoming fire as they were out in the field reporting. Zakrzewski, 55, was a longtime London-based employee for Fox News and had helped cover stories from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria. Kuvshynova, 24, helped the network navigate Kyiv, gathering information and communicating with sources. Hall was briefly hospitalized and is safe and out of Ukraine. (CBS News)

HBO Max and Discovery Plus Will Be Combined Once Discovery Takes Over WarnerMedia

With its takeover of WarnerMedia imminent, Discovery is starting to reveal its plans of what it wants to do with the combined company. One of those plans is to combine its streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one main streaming service. It’s unknown whether one of the services will be killed and content moved to the other, or would Warner Bros. Discovery create a brand new service? Discovery’s chief financial officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, said that once the merger is completed, the two services will be offered as a bundled package before merging them into one product. With Discovery’s plans to slim down its streaming services, the fate of the soon-to-be-launched CNN Plus remains unknown. Will it stay as a stand-alone service or folded into the new streaming service? (Variety)

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QUICK RECAP

• Russia Invades Ukraine: Producer interrupts Russia’s Channel 1 broadcast to protest the war. (Steven Rosenburg/Twitter)

• Russia Invades Ukraine: CNN’s Matthew Chance talks about what it’s like to report from Kyiv. (Vanity Fair)

• Russia Invades Ukraine: German broadcaster RTL hires Ukranian news anchor. (ABC News)

• Russia Invades Ukraine: Ukrainian digital broadcaster goes missing. (CNN)

• Russia Invades Ukraine: CNN’s Don Lemon is in Slovakia, and MSNBC’s Ali Velshi is in Hungary. (Don Lemon/Twitter, MSNBC/Twitter)

• Russia Invades Ukraine: Ukrainian president’s comedy now available on Netflix. (Bloomberg)

• Former ESPN reporter John Clayton passes away. (ESPN Front Row)

• NBC Sports names Peter Lazarus as its ad sales chief. (AdWeek)

• Nicole Goodkind joins CNN Business as a senior reporter. (Talking Biz News)

• It’s official, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are moving to ESPN. (ESPN Press Room)

• Carlos Suarez joins CNN as a Miami-based correspondent. (CNN PR/Twitter)

• Sportscaster Siera Santos joins MLB Network. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• Mike Valerio joins CNN Newsource as a Washington, D.C. reporter. (CNN PR/Twitter)

• NBC News makes appointments and new hires to its Meet The Press franchise. (TVNewser)

• ABC News announces senior leadership appointments in streaming and digital. (ABC News Public Relations)

• Former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster hired by CBS News as a foreign policy and national security contributor. (Alex Weprin/Twitter)

• Peacock’s Kelly Campbell is ready for the network to strut its stuff. (Vulture)

• MSNBC’s Lindsey Reiser gives birth to her first baby. (Today)

• CNN’s Paula Reid is pregnant. (TVNewser)

• NBC News is bringing back its Plan Your Vote tool in preparation for the midterm elections. (TVNewser)

• Disney’s Bob Iger and Bob Chapek stopped speaking to each other. (CNBC)

• Fox Sports MLS programming has new graphics. (NewscastStudio)

• Two ESPN announcers go on a lengthy moment of silence to protest Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill. (Washington Post)

• Project Veritas stalks CNN’s Oliver Darcy in New York City. (Brian Stelter/Twitter)

• Bob Chapek’s tenure at Disney hits a rocky path. (Wall Street Journal)

• CNBC’s Shep Smith anchored Friday’s NBC News’ Nightly News. (TVNewser)

• CNN wins Overseas Press Club David Kaplan Award for its Belarus migrant crisis coverage. (CNN Press Room)

• Judge dismisses Project Veritas’ lawsuit against CNN. (Deadline)

• Joe Buck talks about his move from Fox Sports to ESPN. (Sports Illustrated)

• Keith Olbermann acknowledges he was interested in MSNBC. (Variety)

• Sky Sport Austria debuts a new studio. (NewscastStudio)

• What has CNN’s Van Jones done with Jeff Bezo’s $100 million philanthropic donation? (The Daily Beast)

• NBC News’ Peter Alexander was signed by CAA to represent him. (Variety)

• Streaming in Europe outpaces the rest of the world. (The Streamable)

• Erin Andrews cried when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left Fox Sports. (Awful Announcing)

• Annika Pergament moves from New York’s NY1 to Spectrum Networks as a national news anchor. (New York Daily News)

• Media buying agency wants to add “nutrition labels” for TV news programs. (Variety)

• Amazon completes its merger with MGM. (The Streamable)

• How Fox News is part of the Russian disinformation campaign. (The Daily Beast)

• Netflix expands its children’s programming adds Dr. Seuss series. (CNN Business)

• Apple is serious about bidding for sports rights. (Sports Business Journal)

• Hulu adds an only Disney Plus add-on. (The Streamable)

• Streaming has helped the film industry recover from the pandemic. (Axios)

• NBC News’ Craig Melvin gives up his MSNBC gig. (Los Angeles Times)

• Soon-to-be chief of Warner Bros Discovery, David Zaslav, received $246 million compensation in 2021. (The Wall Street Journal)

• NewsNation is expanding its live news programming during the week. (TVNewser)

• ESPN, ESPN Plus add SharePlay capability. (The Streamable)

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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #82 - 2022