Jeffrey Katzenberg was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios back when they made good content like Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and The Little Mermaid (1989) — don’t knock it, Sebastian’s cool.
Any investor looking at Katzenberg’s resume would be throwing money at him after just Walt Disney. Yet, the man went on to be the co-founder of a little company called Dreamworks.
At Dreamworks, he oversaw the Shrek franchise, Kung Fu Panda franchise, and How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Mr. Katzenberg is top billing but he’s wrong about Quibi. It’s not a pandemic problem. It’s “who gives a s***” problem.
FACT: Quibi is trying to challenge the content that people binge on social media. They’re putting big-budget productions together to be consumed in little bits.
On the surface, it sounds smart, but having subscribed, and used it for about three-days total, the issue is obvious.
It cannot rival social media for attention.
The reason people binge on social media is because of the eclectic, personal, and infinite nature of its content.
We’re confident in time Mr. Katzenberg will figure it out but it’s unlikely that Quibi will ever make a recovery without doing something bold.
Great news cats and kittens, Netflix’sTiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is reportedly getting a new episode.
The big reveal comes by way of Los Angeles Dodgers Justin Turner. The Third Baseman posted a video on Twitter from G.W. Zoo owner and docuseries rogue Jeff Lowe.
If you haven’t seen the docuseries, Jeff Lowe was charged for putting tiger cubs into luggage, wheeling them into hotels, and using them to encourage women to have sex with him and his wife. In his own words, “a little pussy gets you a lot of pussy.”
Lowe’s quote sums up Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness perfectly. It’s a seven-part docuseries about unbelievable people doing and saying unbelievable things — and Jeff Lowe isn’t even in the top 5 of “WTF” people in the show.
If they’re only just recording, as Jeff Lowe states, it’s unlikely to hit Netflix any time soon. But when it does, consider us excited to see more Tiger King.
The best show on TV
Since Tiger King premiered on March 20th it has topped Rotten Tomatoes‘ most popular TV shows list, beating Ozark Season 3, Westworld Season 3, and Better Call Saul Season 5. This is despite only scoring a 92% from critics and 89% from the audience.
#TigerKing was so insane that by the time this guy pulled up with a skeleton riding shotgun I didn’t even blink and the show didn’t feel the need to explain it pic.twitter.com/tTzJloh74e
The biggest proof its the best show on TV right now is that it has been embraced at a time when the world is in a pandemic. If it’s not a new meme about the coronavirus, it’s a new meme about the Tiger King. It really is talked about online a lot.
The Tiger King is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, or as he’s better known ‘Joe Exotic’. This mullet-wearing, homosexual, polyamorous, gun-wielding, redneck from Oklahoma has become an internet legend. This is despite currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for animal cruelty and a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, a big cat sanctuary owner in the docuseries, who ends up the shows most hated.
The docuseries tells the story of Joe Exotic’s and Carole Baskin’s rivalry, introducing countless new characters and twists to a tale that’s stranger than fiction. If you haven’t watched Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness you really should.
If you want to know what’s new on Hulu this April, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll be able to stream the award-winning Parasite, Blazing Saddles, plus the classic Stephen King adaptation Misery. Yet, if you’re like us, streaming junkies, you’ll be most interested in their originals.
The only original newly streaming in April on Hulu is Season 3 of Seth Rogan’s comedy Future Man. The final season premieres on April 3rd.
Find out what else is new on Hulu this April below.
If you want to know what’s new on Amazon Prime Video this April, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll be able to stream all the classic James Bond movies in 4k, Rambo: Last Blood, and Hotel Artemis. Yet, if you’re like us, streaming junkies, you’ll be most interested in their originals.
Standouts include Tales from the Loop Season 1 and BoschSeason 6, releasing on the 3rd and 17th respectively.
Find out what else is new on Amazon Prime Video this April below.
If you want to know what’s new on Netflix this April, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll be able to stream the Lethal Weapon tetralogy, Olympus Has Fallen, and Taxi Driver this month. Yet, if you’re like us streaming junkies, you’ll be most interested in their originals.
Quibi is a new streaming service that launches April 6, 2020. Its unique selling point is that every movie, documentary, or series episode is 10-minutes max. This short-form entertainment and the creative talent $1.75 billion in funding buys, positions Quibi to challenge on its platform of choice — the smartphone.
The name Quibi is a mash-up of Quick Bites and Big Stories. We already know short-form content is massively popular because people binge for hours on it via social media and YouTube.
This is why Quibi will become a dominant streaming service in the future. Especially with younger audiences who consume the majority of their content via smartphones and social platforms.
Quibi is headed up by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and DreamWorks. He told Vulture “Nobody has made [premium] content that was native to, and only for, the phone.” This makes it clear Quibi isn’t trying to compete with Netflix and Co.
Katzenberg also told Vanity Fair who Quibi was targeting, “Our [service] is exclusively about what you do from 7am to 7pm on your phone. And what you’re doing today, if you’re in our core demographic of 25 to 35-year-olds, you’re actually watching 60-70 min of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.” It’s obvious Quibi wants to take views away from those platforms by making big-budget versions of what trends.
Credit: Quibi
What is on Quibi?
Over its first year, Quibi will launch 175 shows including scripted and unscripted content. It will cover drama, comedy, documentaries, reality TV, and even interactive shows. This content will be broken down into three categories.
Lighthouses: Scripted titles with two hour seasons that are split into multiple 10-minute chapters.
Quick bites: Unscripted titles including reality TV and quiz shows.
Daily Essentials: News and lifestyle content.
Check out the teaser trailers for Quibi shows below:
How much does Quibi cost monthly?
The one hurdle Quibi faces is that it costs $4.99 with ads and $7.99 without, per month. It might be a big hurdle but one that is possibly mitigated by the stars involved in upcoming content, including Steven Spielberg, Justin Timberlake, Bill Murray, Jennifer Lopez, John Travolta, and many more.
YouTube TV won’t carry Fox Sports Regional Networks and the YES Network after reaching a contract negotiations impasse with Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The cord-cutting TV provider announced the news via Twitter in a thread on Thursday:
We purchase rights from Sinclair to distribute content to you. Despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair. As a result, we will no longer offer FOX Regional Sports Networks, including YES Network, beginning February 29th.
Yes, Sinclair is indeed powerful, and is evidently keen on clinging to the traditional pay-TV model that suits them. Instead of adapting with the times, they must have made shortsighted demands — based on YouTube’s rhetoric — that’ll backfire in the long run.
YouTube TV throws shade at sports providers
Whoever runs that social media feed didn’t thinly veil their feelings on the matter whatsoever.
We do not take this decision lightly. This is a reflection of the rising cost of sports content. You may have noticed several other TV services have also decided to remove FOX Regional Sports Networks from their lineups.
Lots of angry sports fan tweeters are saying they’ll immediately cancel their YouTube TV subscriptions. Should that actually come to pass, expect it to be a short-term trend.
YouTube is ubiquitous and has been a video hosting platform for years. They’re backed by Google. Losing the regional networks may be tough, yet there are bigger things on the horizon.
There will be a Streaming Wars battle for a piece of the massive NFL pie. After the league sorts through the new CBA, TV rights will be on the table. YouTube has been talking to the league about NFL Sunday Ticket rights. The same goes for Apple TV+. Amazon already streams the NFL on Prime Video.
Those NFL pay-TV deals simply can’t last forever. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, too. All major sports will deal with this in the coming years.
Sinclair stays status quo
Credit: Donald Trung Quoc Don, Wikimedia Commons
Every media company has a certain bias or agenda, as does every individual in said media company.
But for such a pro-democracy collection of local news providers, aimed at truth and, presumably, the first Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that explicitly establishes freedom of the press, Sinclair’s run a little…well, counter to that.
Let’s bring in Joss Whedon, who has cool movies streaming such as Marvel’s The Avengers on Disney+. He cited Deadspin in shedding some light on Sinclair a while back:
This is a terrifying look at how precisely Sinclair media is controlling their message. This IS extremely dangerous to our democracy. Painful and necessary viewing.
(It does help if you imagine every one of them breaking into “God I hope I get it” at the end) https://t.co/CufPCEoGqT
Sports are obviously separate from all this political coverage, yet the eerie, groupthink mentality is markedly similar in spirit to what happened with Sinclair and YouTube TV with sports.
YouTube TV is going to be just fine in the sports media game. I enjoy watching games on Fox Sports and the YES Network. Heck, the latter is home to the legendary New York Yankees!
Whoever is in charge of their rights should probably embrace the inevitable cord-cutting era sooner rather than later. Refusing to agree with YouTube is a bold move, even if it means better business for now.
If you subscribe to premium services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ et al, expect to pay more soon. There is a 6% sales tax exclusively for streaming which is already active across half the country. For those not currently paying, your state is pushing for it so expect to be paying another tax soon.
In the grand scheme of things, 6% on Netflix’s $15 monthly fee is $0.90. It isn’t a big deal, and even with several premium streaming services ,you’ll end up only paying an extra $5 to $10. The good thing about streaming is that it’s easy to cut a service. However, paying even $0.90 is ironic.
Credit: Creative Commons Zero
The irony of the sales tax
The sales tax has never impacted intangible goods and services before, but because of the popularity of streaming, the government wants in. If these taxed funds end up improving education, the police and fire services, it’s worthwhile, yet it still leaves a horrible taste in the back of my mouth.
Why is this sales tax enforced on us while behemoth tech and entertainment companies pay nothing at all?
This nickel-and-diming of consumers is illogical when massive companies get away with paying nothing in taxes. Putting that aside, the issue is that politics is a divisive topic, one we don’t want to get entangled with. Instead, we’re concerned by what gets taxed next.
Streaming is a simple technical pastime, just like social media, online gaming, and other digital distractions. If a state can tax Netflix, how long until they tax our other digital subscriptions and transactions, from online gaming to SaaS?
At the end of the day, if every intangible service is hit with a 6% tax, it will become a huge monthly burden.
If you want to know what’s on Amazon Prime Video this March, you’ve come to the right place.
Whether you’re looking for a zombie-virus horror like The Crazies, something supernatural like Pet Sematary (2019) or a stoner remake like the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Prime has you covered.
If you’re like us streaming-junkies, though, you’ll be most interested in their originals. Amazon has six new shows coming in March, including Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse. This series follows a man whose name is on a list found inside the shoe of a dead woman. His investigation leads him to the home of three rumored witches. Watch the official trailer here.
Find out what else is new on Amazon Prime Video this March below.
If you want to know what’s on Disney+ this March, you’ve come to the right place.
Marvel’s Black Panther finally lands on Disney+, having just left Netflix. It’s not alone, either. The fantasy A Wrinkle in Time also becomes available, along with the high-octane guinea pig spy comedy, G-Force. It’s an eclectic month that also returns The Finest Hours to the Disney+ library, after it was pulled due to licensing issues earlier this year.
If you’re like us streaming-junkies, you’ll be most interested in Disney+ March originals. The standout is Stargirl, a teen movie based on the Jerry Spinelli novel of the same name. If you like coming-of-age, romantic teen drama, it should be on your watchlist this March. Check out the trailer here.
Find out what else is new on Disney+ this March below.
