(TV) Pay TV: The Pay TV apocalypse continues

It's no secret that we're the golden age of television but its also no state secret that cable and satellite Pay TV providers have been taking a pounding for years which has culminated this week with the worst quarter in the history of the industry with Pay TV providers losing a whopping 762,00 subscribers. 

Why Pay TV providers are losing subscribers at a record rate isn't rocket science with the combination of skyrocketing price hikes, an increasingly unpopular business model, and better digital alternatives offering by SVOD services such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, it was only a matter of time before quarters like this become the new normal.

What's worse is that Pay TV providers are in no position to do much about it as they contend with soaring programming costs largely fuelled by the increasing value of sports content. Pay TV providers have for years passed  this cost onto customers without much to sweeten the deal which has seen an customer cut their cords at record rates for the best part of  a decade.  

It's always concerning when an industry can't keep its customers and even more so when can't attract new ones but the pay TV industry recent bloodletting has shown that can't do either which is why an already mature market is now showing signs of atrophy.

The decision to pay lengthy and expensive premiums for sports TV rights has cost Pay TV providers dearly but rationale behind pay TV's bet on live sport made sense as live sport events such as the Super Bowl or march madness have proved to be the most reliable content for getting bums on sofas across the land at the same time but as the last NFL regular season proved, sports content is showing signs of losing its lustre. The 7% dip in regular season viewing and a drop in Super Bowl viewership for the second year running saw many executives clamouring for answers to why NFL ratings dropped from a highly divisive presidential edition to Colin Kaepernick's stance (or lack thereof) during the national anthem. 

However, despite the complicated and varying factors that negatively affected NFL viewership during both regular and postseason games, the fact remains that pay TV's costly bet on sports programming is starting to unravel and it's unclear whether last year was a blip or a start of a very grave trend.  

Despite their recent struggles, Pay TV providers aren't sitting on their hands and idly watching their industry crumble before their eyes with  pay TV operators increasing their digital footprint with skinny bundles and even SVOD offerings that appeal to cord cutters and cord nevers who enjoy the power of watching TV where, how, and when they want to. 

However, Pay TV providers fight in keeping and attracting new customers is taking a turn for the worse with Amazon and Facebook picking up live sports content deals. This development should scare the life out of pay TV executives everywhere as While Amazon's deal in particular involves the ecommerce giant airing much maligned Thursday night games, should Amazon attract large audiences for Thursday night NFL matchups or at least larger viewership number than their cable counterparts. It could see live sport content providers hosting more of their content with online partners. 

This would be a disaster for Pay TV providers and networks as they'll have to outspend deep pocketed behemoths for live sports content when the cost for live sports TV rights are already high. Pay TV providers will be forced to pass even more costs onto a customer base already looking for a reason to jump ship.  

However, what should keep pay TV executives up at night is that whether Amazon or Facebook attract large audiences for NFL or MLS games or not is what they'll learn about sports viewers. The reason why both Facebook and Amazon have largely pulled away from their direct competitors and send shivers down the spine of executives everywhere when they so much as hint about entering their market is because both companies are become very good at using data from their users to provide a more personalized service to the point they know their customers better inside out, literally. 

It's why both companies have abnormally high customer retention rates and never have trouble attracting new users as their ability to implicitly meet the needs of their users through data keeps current users hooked with new features and services which in turn provides Amazon and Facebook new opportunities to learn even more about their users habits. 

What all this means is should Amazon and Facebook deliver impressive viewership numbers, Pay TV will have a hard time getting those customers back. This alone will put a steak through the hearts of Pay TV providers everywhere who will continue to lose customers, spend and lose millions trying to get them back and surrender their future customer base to SVOD services. 

In sum, there has been much talk about the future of Television but now the chatter should cease as the future is here and it's going to be brutal.

(The Big Disrupt) The Long Slow Death of Internet Privacy

What do you do online? No, really. What do you do? In addition to the glut of social media we consume, we store and share files, access our banks, fill out forms, buy furniture, and make fun of politicians we don’t like. The reasons for these activities are manifold, but two of the big ones are privacy and anonymity.

Well, the United States just voted to repeal a law that protects that online privacy and anonymity.

If you have not read George Orwell’s book ‘1984’, you may want to pick up a copy so you can brush up on what our future will be like. To sum it up, the government controls everything and is always watching. Even the smallest things are recorded. You can be arrested for ‘thought crime’ which is writing, saying, or alluding to something that the government doesn’t like. Then the whole avalanche of your other transgressions falls upon you as you are shipped off, never to be seen again. But, hey! It’s good for profits right?

Major communication corporations like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon are strong proponents of this action because it means they will be able to use any data they have about you freely (BBC). Get ready for more targeted advertising, folks.

“Today Congress proved once again that they care more about the wishes of the corporations that fund their campaigns than they do about the safety and security of their constituents,” said Evan Greer, campaign director from rights group Fight for the Future (FFTF).

Think of this change as allowing your mail or parcel carrier to snoop through your letters and packages in order to figure out what junk mail to send you (WIRED). Or on a deeper level, allowing the government to do the same thing in order to accomplish whatever secret ends they have in mind. All it takes is for one nation to set a precedent in order for others to think it’s okay. It’s the whole idea of your child whining and saying “Billy did it, why can’t I?” There isn’t much sense to the argument, but it gets many ideas pushed through a governing body in the interest of ‘fairness’.

The point here is that citizens, who are supposed to be cared for by their government, are being pushed aside in the interest of profit. It’s easy for major corporations with plenty of money to play off of the rampant fear many governments have regarding terrorism by giving the government what it wants and getting the profit boost they so desire in the process. Why fix the system if it isn’t broken? Let’s keep our internet free and neutral, the way it always has been.

The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale Review: 'The First Day of the Rest of Your Life'

(Photo Credit: AMC)

The Walking Dead

Season 7 Finale

By Garrett Yoshitomi

I have this one friend, who, whenever the conversation turns towards TV, asks what's going on with The Walking Dead, specifically wondering if anybody’s found a cure, yet. Now, for the more fervent of fans, the idea of “finding a cure” is viewed as preposterous. “Robert Kirkman said there’d never be a cure!” They'd bemoan, “The Walking Dead is a show about how these people learn to survive during the zombie apocalypse. It’s not about finding a cure!” Blah, blah, blah. Fine, I get it. But this lack of a "cure," or anything resembling a wider overall storyline, is a pretty valid criticism for a show that too often stagnates with its plot and character development.

Shows need to have some kind of payoff in order to maintain viewer interest- we need something to root for, something to feel vested in. Even a show like Game of Thrones, with all of its Red Weddings and Sean Bean beheadings, manages to keep us coming back for more with the promise of an eventual epic clash with the White Walkers. But that type of overarching story arc just doesn’t exist for The Walking Dead; and for the longest time, it’s felt like the only reason to tune in each week has been to find out who dies. Talk about bleak. With all that said, the season seven finale finally gives us something worth cheering for, as our heroes finally score a win in what’s been a season of losses.

(Photo Credit: AMC)

One of the brightest spots of the finale is by far Sasha’s storyline- a rather surprising development given that she spent most of this season singing back-up to Maggie at the Hilltop. But, during the last couple of episodes, Sasha’s been swept up in a whirlwind of plot, placing her front and center in a pivotal moment for maybe the first time ever. If you squint just hard enough, you’ll find that the lead-up to Sasha's big scene seems fairly contrived. But, it plays off in a pretty satisfying way, and the action quickly segues leaving little time to dwell on just how absurd Negan's dog and pony show actually is. As far as supporting characters go, Sasha is one of my personal favorites, and she’s been around long enough/done enough during her time on the show, that her actions strike a true chord with both casual and hardcore fans, alike. It would have been a lot less impactful if say, a Tara or a Gabriel had taken her place in the storyline.

Unfortunately, I’m considerably less on board with the flashback sequences that intersperse with the majority of Sasha’s scenes. The actual content is enjoyable enough, in fact, it’s probably one of the best Abraham-Sasha interactions we’ve seen. (Although, it is sad that we have to wait until Abraham dies to get such a poignant moment between the two). For the most part, though, I found the flashbacks to be a little too ambiguous, and the transition between them and the present storyline, a tad jarring. I’m not exactly sure what the solution could’ve been because we do get some valuable character development for Sasha that I’d hate to see go away. But, I could also see some of this screen time easily getting tossed towards Rosita, who, other than a couple of lines at the beginning of the episode, largely goes unnoticed.

(Photo Credit: AMC)

I never thought I’d find myself saying this, but I’m pretty surprised at the lack of screen time Rosita receives this week. She’s been the character (other than Maggie) most closely tied to Sasha this season, and even though Sasha stole her spotlight by storming the Sanctuary two weeks ago, this episode is ultimately the culmination of Rosita's season-long plan to assassinate Negan. I really would have appreciated more of Rosita’s reaction to Sasha's fate, especially since it so easily could have been her in that coffin, instead. It's just so strange that after a season of unprecedented levels of character development and narrative focus, Rosita retreats right back into the background.

Comic fans everywhere can finally rejoice knowing that TV Dwight is finally following in his comic book counterpart’s footsteps, defecting from the Saviors, and aligning himself with Alexandria as a double agent. It’s an interesting twist for the character, and one that most show-only fans probably didn’t see coming. However, there’s a lot to hold against a guy who literally shot Denise in the eye with an arrow, and I have a feeling that a majority of the fan base is going to have a hard time looking past his previous transgressions. Now that Dwight’s jumped ship to the good guys, it’s possible that we’ll never get to see him face righteous retribution, a staple in the character arc of Walking Dead antagonists everywhere. In the absence of such penance, I wish the writers would have made it seem like a tougher decision for the group to trust him. We do get an excellent scene between Dwight and Daryl (thanks largely to the brilliance that is Norman Reedus), but it’s hard to believe that this intense stare down is enough to convince someone as keen as Rick to trust Dwight.

(Photo Credit: AMC)

I'm not a huge fan of the amount of plot armor our heroes are afforded this week. Sure, I never expected anything to happen to the likes of Rick and Carl, but with the number of bullets whizzing in and out of Alexandria, you'd figure at least a handful of red shirts would get caught in the crossfire. There’s also a couple of misdirects sprinkled throughout that just don’t quite do it for me. The bulk of this episode’s build-up and action are compelling enough without the manufactured drama of a woman falling off a building that could be (but definitely isn’t) Michonne.

And just like that, another season of The Walking Dead is in the books. It was a rough start for season seven, dating all the way back to the tumultuous season six finale. In a lot of ways, the start of season seven was doomed from the start, as there was just too much finale backlash for most people to be satisfied with the season seven premiere. And ultimately, a lot of people were proven right, as the first half of season seven was nothing short of a disaster, featuring one of the worst stretches of episodes in the show’s history. Things certainly turned a corner during season 7B, as the March to War plot began to materialize more clearly, and the dominos, leading to this week’s Alexandria showdown, started to fall.

Going forward, it’s likely that we’ll never get a full, balanced season of The Walking Dead. The writers have shown, time and time again, that they’re just not capable of constructing an entire season that steadily moves the central plot along, while blending in quality filler to settle in the gaps. I predict that we’ll see more of the same for season eight, a mostly uneven first half with momentum destroying filler, followed by a much better second half of the season, with a more concrete narrative focus. At this point, though, I’m fine with accepting The Walking Dead for what it is, an average to above average show, with occasional moments of stellar drama and a lot of cool effects work.