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Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

reuters.com

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Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#591

Post by passivate »

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #496
echelon wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is to break up big tech. Amazon shouldn't be ten companies in one. Google shouldn't be able to set web and mobile standards, then reap ad monies by forcing everyone to accept their anticompetitive changes. Apple shouldn't be the sole guardian of iPlatform. You can't have a protection racket on 50% of all commerce (phones >> gaming consoles) and enforce what gets put on the device. These companies don't h…

> Microsoft is literally the only tech giant behaving correctly, and it's probably because they got slapped with antitrust in the 2000s. Ask Slack if they agree. Microsoft used the dominance of Office to take over that market by bundling Teams.

"Bundling" isn't any indication of any wrong doing. The OS "bundles" a word processor, a music player, a photo editor, etc, etc. I don't think I'd choose to install an OS without an internet browser. But a decade or two ago, people thought differently that an OS shouldn't ship with a bundled browser.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#592

Post by lpolovets »

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.

> 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.

Forcing this would also have many downsides:

- if you make content that others don't want to distribute, are you not allowed to distribute it yourself? Freedom to publish whatever you want feels very valuable for society, IMHO.

- costs for consumers might rise because you now have two sets of costs priced in, instead of one set of costs.

- It's harder to launch new companies. If content providers don't want to work with you as a distributor when you're small, it's hard to get off the ground. If distributors don't want to work with you because your content is unproven, it's hard to get off the ground. Etc.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#593

Post by awb »

chrisin2d wrote: post #523
awb wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure Bezos knows what he's talking about, but how does this work exactly? Amazon Prime Video and the marketplace have different entry points. Is the idea just general brand awareness?

A customer buys into the Amazon Prime bundle. You can get standalone Amazon Prime Video membership — buuut it's about the same price as complete Amazon Prime membership! So you might as well get the complete membership and get all the perks you might want in the future. And bam, you're now in the Amazon Prime universe. One day you'll be comparison shopping for a specific pair of shoes you like online, and you'll see…

Sure, just surprised that people are finding Amazon through Prime Video and not the other way around.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#594

Post by charrondev »

archie_diak wrote: post #522
rhino369 wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crypto "market cap" isn't really comparable to the market cap of companies. Nobody would (or could) ever buy Dogecoin for 44b. But companies are usually purchased for more than market cap.

Er, yes they would. Thousands of people already have, that's why its 44bn. It's a market cap not a paper valuation. Are you suggesting that if someone wanted to buy Doge outright they could pay less than it's market cap?

On the other hand a surge in demand would likely raise the prices as you tried to buy it all up.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#595

Post by IncRnd »

burntwater wrote: post #527
IncRnd wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There may be places that have only one provider with only one option in that provider, but are those places really $135/month with all the TV channels? The issue might be paying for things that are already free over the Internet.

In the U.S. the vast majority of places have only only provider, there is no shopping around. $135/month sounds about right for the complete package. If you're lucky that includes a "special" on including HBO. Virtually all places have "specials" on the first year of service, wherein the price will increase 50% or even 100% after the first year, which will almost always put you well into the $100+ range.

I understand. For myself, I chose to solve that by not purchasing any TV, cable phone, or any other package and only getting Internet. Internet is the only useful thing for me from all of that, anyway.

If the prices get too high I call them up and cancel. At that time, they try to keep me as a subscriber by giving me lower rates. If they don't have any available I ask when their new packages are coming out and call back a day after that time.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#596

Post by Shermanium »

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?

HIS GIRL FRIDAY, THE AWFUL TRUTH, the SHERLOCK HOLMES series with Basil Rathbone

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#597

Post by [deleted] »

ben7799 wrote: post #67
genmon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the trillies As in companies with a trillion dollar market cap? I hadn't heard that slang before -- I like it.

It's from a David Brin book IIRC... Existence. Good book.. there are a class of people worth trillions of dollars and he explores all kinds of weird things that could happen. Like trillie teenagers launching themselves into space on joy riding rockets illegally. That's just one tiny little aspect of the story.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#598

Post by socialist_coder »

I wish people didn't watch so much television. It's too good and too easy to watch an unlimited amount of content. Every hour you spend being entertained in front of your screens is an hour less you could be spending building actual social bonds with people in your community.

There is a correlation to increasing tv watching and decreased social club engagement. By social clubs I mean bowling clubs, skating clubs, 4H clubs, knitting clubs, quilting clubs, book clubs, etc. Whatever other clubs people used to do back in the pre modern television era.

Being a part of these clubs connects you with your local city. It encourages real social relationships. If the club membership is diverse, you are exposed to people of different backgrounds, experiences, and races, which decreases racism and xenophobia.

All of this will increase the amount of trust we have for random humans. And that correlates strongly to how well government is working for us.

This could also be fueling why the US has so much hostility in politics now. What if we were in clubs with people of different political viewpoints? You like these people, and you disagree politically. I think that would change things.

So please, do your part and stop watching so much bullshit on television. Sure, a few good movies and shows every once in a while is understandable. But really do you need to watch all these new TV series and every single made-for-netflix movie??

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#599

Post by mavhc »

laurent92 wrote: post #585
DrBazza wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Piracy is competition to bad content behavior I really wish we had the bandwidth we have now, back in the Napster-era. Napster, and others forced, persuaded and cajoled the music industry to consolidate, whether they liked it or not, on Spotify, and iTunes. If we'd had easy free sharing of movies, it's not hard to envisage something similar to what we see now in the music industry forced on the movie companies. Now…

> No customer wants to spend X on Shudder, Y on Netflix, and Z on Prime, plus Hulu, HBO, and your cable/satellite fee either. Paying 200 GBP/USD a month is utterly absurd. When we’re done talking about the quantity of movies, let’s talk about quality. If an awesome movie goes to the cinema, like Twilight, you’ll be able to watch Werewolf on Netflix. With abysmal plot and acting. If you type Mission Impossible, you’ll…

Imagine, people making art because they have something to say. The horror. The horror.

Re: Amazon acquires MGM for $8.5B

#600

Post by nradov »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66
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.

> We could really use laws that force, once again, some sort of separation between production and distribution. Piracy is competition to bad content behavior. It's a meaningful consumer response to monopoly, balkanization and other anti-consumer practices.

Another meaningful consumer response is just to not watch the movies. No one actually needs them. Take your dog for a walk or read a book or play a video game or whatever. I've never understood why some people feel like they're entitled to watch particular movies.
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