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Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#141

Post by lotsofpulp »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #108
lotsofpulp wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today you want to watch an Apple show you must go to Apple's VOD. When I was a kid, if you wanted to watch an NBC show, you had to watch it on an NBC network. What is the difference? At least nowadays you can just pay, watch, and cancel at your leisure with the click of a few buttons.

I’m guessing that you’re young-ish, then? Because that’s not how it was when I was a kid. That changed in the mid-nineties, and it was a fairly controversial decision. From about 1970 to 93, antitrust regulations were put in place because only three networks could determine over 90% of broadcast media. A judge ended that rule under the rational that upstart networks like Fox and CW were now competitive. https://www.n…

> But fortunately the Internet came along

Yes, that’s the difference. There used to be a gatekeeper to reaching your audience, but now there is none. A kid can take their 4K phone and make their own TV show with their friends and distribute it worldwide, or a company can get a professional crew and spend a couple billion dollars and distribute it worldwide.

If the contention is that a few companies owning all the content will raise the prices, then that solution would be removing/reducing copyright protections, or compulsory licensing, but in the current environment, who owns what is mostly immaterial to customers.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#142

Post by ipaddr »

salamanderman wrote: post #111
ajaimk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s kinda happening now too but with directors that have signed first look deals with VOD providers.

First look deals with production companies never went away. The first one coming to mind is The Weinstein company had a first look deal with Disney (yes, Disney turned down lord of the rings).

Not surprising. I can't see how that would help their brand.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#143

Post by windock »

simias wrote: post #86
libertine wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will be my prediction: the usage of piracy to consume this type of content will increase. And they will blame PLATFORM X (or just the ol'piratebay) for the losses of revenue, when in reality it's just a matter of people not being able to access content because everything has a paywall gate. It's like they want to bring cable TV back to the internet, and you had massive bills just for channels subscriptions.

I wonder if the rise of smartphones will dampen this. Back when PCs were the standard piracy was relatively simple, you downloaded bittorrent or edonkey and sailed the high seas. Nowadays it would be rather difficult to install a piracy app on your phone (not impossible, but definitely harder than simply downloading a binary from sourceforge). So you're left wish shady streaming sites who in my experience have terrib…

There are Telegram channels that post full episodes of tv series. It is really convenient to watch them as you can download for offline use.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#144

Post by elzbardico »

libertine wrote: post #38
scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #23

So what we're seeing is a repeat of the film industry from 1930's-1950's. You want to see a Paramount movie, you must go to a Paramount theater. Today you want to watch an Apple show you must go to Apple's VOD. We could really use laws that force, once again, some sort of separation between production and distribution. Better stuff gets made in this kind of ecosystem.

This will be my prediction: the usage of piracy to consume this type of content will increase. And they will blame PLATFORM X (or just the ol'piratebay) for the losses of revenue, when in reality it's just a matter of people not being able to access content because everything has a paywall gate. It's like they want to bring cable TV back to the internet, and you had massive bills just for channels subscriptions.

I think that what the industry will move into will be into something very similar to cabletvm, so, instead of buying subscriptions from a few services, you'll buy a package from a bundler. On the bright side it won't be as bad as it was with cable, because it will be on-demand. But also, probably the MBAs are going to come out with infinite combinations of tiered-services that nobody will understand, at first, it will be cheaper to buy a bundle, but as it becomes popular, the consumer value extraction machine will go full throttle.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#145

Post by lotsofpulp »

acwan93 wrote: post #130
lotsofpulp wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that affect me as a customer?

It means shows that don’t get picked up by the studio making the show can get picked up by other studios to air it. Two immediate examples I can think of: “House MD” was produced by NBC/Universal but aired on FOX “For All Mankind” was produced by Sony but currently airing on Apple TV+

How are the incentives any different now? Why would Amazon not want to be paid for a show it does not want but Apple or Netflix does? Swap around any of the company names.

If a different studio was selling to Apple/Amazon/etc then presumably they would have language that lets them sell to someone else if they did not end up distributing it.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#146

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

vimy wrote: post #87
paganel wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or we could fall back to watching movies made from the ‘30s to the ‘50s, that’s what I have been doing for more than half a year now and it has been wonderful for my mental well-being (they really knew how to make comedies back then, even after the Hayes code).

Any recommendations?

The intruder with William Shatner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci4dQ2QzBhE

The story depicts the machinations of a racist named Adam Cramer (Shatner), who arrives in the fictitious small Southern town of Caxton in order to incite white townspeople to racial violence against black townspeople and court-ordered school integration.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#147

Post by ptha »

totaldude87 wrote: post #2

Would be interesting to see whether the latest James bond movie gets a direct Prime release.. may be for few $$?

The article mentions complications with this because of existing deals:

Still, efforts by Amazon to profit off MGM's library won’t be easy, or cheap.

In many cases, MGM’s content is tied up in multi-year deals with television networks, the former Amazon executives said. Amazon cannot air MGM’s reality show “The Voice,” for instance, which contractually is in the hands of NBC.

Bringing a new installment of the James Bond saga to Prime viewers may be a particularly difficult task, the sources said. The terms under which MGM acquired the franchise leave control in the hands of the Broccoli family, the Bond films’ producers.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#148

Post by jtdev »

I suppose Bezos and co. will use MGM to push their cultural and political narrative much like they have done with WaPo... I'm fully on the boycott Amazon program at this point, having previously been a Prime member and heavy user of Amazon/AWS/WaPo/etc.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#149

Post by enragedcacti »

rapsey wrote: post #131
enragedcacti wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it makes you feel better the fourth book of The Expanse is the most boring in my opinion and the show stuck to the plot for the most part throughout. I still enjoyed both the book and the fourth season but the action and production really picks back up in the fifth season. EDIT: VAGUE REFERENCES TO SPOILERS BELOW

The expanse has a lot of problems. Mainly the fact that the creators dislike "disaster porn". Thus making the show completely devoid of any emotional impact. Like the rocks falling was filmed in such a way as to be the least emotionally impactful to the viewer. I don't think they could have done anything more than they did to make it un-emotional. It is incredibly bizarre.

I agree with that, I think the way the rocks were handled in the books was much more impactful. It all felt a bit analytical and detached in the show which I didn't like. It still had an emotional impact for me but that may be because I was relating it to how I felt while reading it.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#150

Post by 52-6F-62 »

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #23

So what we're seeing is a repeat of the film industry from 1930's-1950's. You want to see a Paramount movie, you must go to a Paramount theater. Today you want to watch an Apple show you must go to Apple's VOD. We could really use laws that force, once again, some sort of separation between production and distribution. Better stuff gets made in this kind of ecosystem.

Isn't that the period considered the "golden age" of Hollywood cinema?

I've no skin in the game, really, except that I do love film and I hope good films are increasingly made.

It's not as if those films or productions are requisite viewing. It's casual entertainment or philosophy. I'm not sure what the pressing concern there is.

Amazon, however, is a different beast and should probably be broken up to some degree for other reasons—not this one.

It's definitely a streaming service arms race, though.

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