Tag Archives: cbs

Facebook’s Alleged Liberal News Bias Gets Comedy Treatment

Facebook ( FB ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with conservative news figures this week to address concerns that editors of the social network’s Trending Topics feature have been suppressing conservative viewpoints. That gave comedians and satirists a great opening to take some shots at Facebook for its alleged liberal bias. “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert slammed Facebook for having misplaced priorities. “Apparently, Facebook censored popular stories about conservative topics from appearing on the trending news section. Folks, I think this is wrong,” Colbert said. “If Facebook is going to censor things, why not get rid of the stuff people really don’t want to see, like your ex’s tropical honeymoon? Or invitations to co-workers’ improv shows?” Satirical news website The Onion presented a fake response from Zuckerberg, who questioned why people are getting their news from Facebook to begin with. “Facebook is a great place to connect with friends and family, but frankly, if you’re on our site for 20 minutes or longer during the day and you’re reading the articles on here as your main connection to what’s actually happening in the world, then I’d say you’re a little mistaken about what this site is actually all about,” fake Zuckerberg said. “I’m happy to show anyone how to get to a regular news site if you need a little help.” Online comic The Joy of Tech also took a jab at the Facebook bias controversy. Plus, the story was material for political cartoonists including Jeff Darcy of Cleveland.com and Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle . Amazon, Tesla Also Come In For Some Zingers Facebook’s trending-news hullabaloo isn’t the only tech subject tickling funny bones lately. What follows are recent jokes from late-night comedians Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien and James Corden. Their zingers were directed at Amazon.com ( AMZN ), CBS ( CBS ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google, Priceline ( PCLN ), Tesla Motors ( TSLA ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and Uber Technologies. Fallon: Tesla unveiled its new model 3 electric car. And I saw that fans were camping outside Tesla stores to reserve one. Camping out is actually great practice for when their cars run out of power 30 miles from the nearest outlets. Fallon: Amazon Prime just unveiled new buttons you can press to order Doritos, Red Bull, and Trojan condoms. Yeah, Doritos, Red Bull and condoms. Or as that’s called in New Jersey, “A gift basket.” Fallon: The CEO of Priceline just resigned after it was revealed that he had an affair with an employee. As you can imagine, his wife is pretty mad, but on the bright side, at least he knows where to find a good deal on hotels. Fallon: CBS announced that season 33 of “Survivor” will be called “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X.” It’ll start in September, and end 20 minutes later when both teams realize there’s no Wi-Fi. Conan: This week is the 43rd anniversary of the first cellphone call. Historians still don’t know which movie theater it took place in. Conan: Over the weekend, a man broke the world record for “Donkey Kong,” making it through the entire game using up just one life. That’s right — his own. Conan: Google has created several new emojis aimed at empowering women. So congratulations women, you asked for equal pay and you got five new emojis. Corden: The social media platform Twitter just signed a historic deal with the NFL to live stream Thursday Night Football games this coming season. Before this, the only thing Twitter ever live streamed was Kanye West’s meltdowns. Corden: The driverless car thing seems like it’s really catching on lately. In fact, the ride-sharing company Uber has begun testing driverless cars on the streets of Pittsburgh. Finally, Uber found a way to make out-of-work actors even more out of work. Corden: But don’t worry, for all of you who love Uber, the experience isn’t really going to change. To keep in line with Uber’s brand, their driverless cars will be programmed to smell like cologne and also make female passengers really uncomfortable.

Dish Q1 Profit Beats, Viacom Dispute May Fuel Subscriber Losses

Dish Network ’s ( DISH ) Q1 profit topped views, sending the satellite TV broadcaster’s stock up, as shares in Viacom ( VIA ) fell again amid stalled negotiations with Dish over a programming contract renewal. Englewood, Colo.-based Dish, which normally reports Q1 earnings in May, said that profit rose 11% from the year-earlier period to 84 cents a share. Revenue rose 2% to $3.79 billion, Dish said. Analysts had modeled EPS of 62 cents and revenue of $3.8 billion. Dish stock was up nearly 2% in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 48. The satellite TV broadcaster’s stock is down 15% in 2016. Dish has been unable to find a buyer for its wireless radio spectrum or a wireless partner to offer mobile video services. Viacom stock, which fell 7% on Tuesday, was down about 2% late Wednesday morning, near 38. Dish said that it lost 23,000 net pay-TV customers in Q1. The company combines satellite TV customers with subscribers to its new online video service branded “Sling,” but it does not break out results. Dish lost 158,0000 satellite TV customers in Q1 but gained 135,000 Sling customers, estimated Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. While Dish aims to stabilize rising programming costs, its dispute with Viacom could increase subscriber losses, says Moffett. John Hodulik, a UBS analyst, agreed in a report. “DirecTV faced a similar dispute in July 2012, which kept Viacom networks off the air for 10 days, contributing to an 80% year-over-year drop in net adds in Q3 2012. While this is likely a negotiating tactic by Dish, since 2014 smaller cable operators, including Cable One and Suddenlink, have dropped Viacom’s networks entirely to save cost,” wrote Hodulik. Vijay Jayant, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said in a report: “We estimate that DISH pays Viacom between $350M and $400M in programming costs. While Dish will save these costs in case there is no agreement, it will also lose subscribers at a higher pace initially than in a scenario where there is a deal.  Dish also has an ongoing dispute with ( Comcast ( CMCSA )-owned) NBCU.” Viacom’s 24 cable networks include MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Viacom lacks sports content, a strength of Walt Disney ( DIS ) and 21st Century Fox ( FOXA ). Dish has had disputes with CBS ( CBS ), 21st Century Fox and Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting unit. Viacom rose more than 1% near 36 Wednesday afternoon after tumbling 8.3% on Tuesday.

Amazon Goes Head-To-Head With Netflix In Streaming Video

After amassing a portfolio of critically acclaimed original TV series, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) has decided the time is right for its subscription streaming video service to go head-to-head with industry leader Netflix ( NFLX ). The Seattle-based e-commerce giant late Sunday revealed that it will offer its Amazon Prime Video as a stand-alone service for $8.99 a month, a dollar less than Netflix’s standard streaming plan. Amazon Prime Video was launched five years ago as an extra for subscribers of Amazon Prime, a program that offers free two-day shipping on millions of items. Amazon Prime costs $99 a year. In addition to the stand-alone video service, Amazon also is offering full Prime membership on a monthly basis. Customers can pay $10.99 a month with no annual commitment or save 25% by paying for the full-year plan. Like Netflix, Amazon has been investing in original content as well as signing exclusive licensing deals for cable and broadcast shows. Amazon original series include “Transparent,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Catastrophe,” “Bosch,” “The Man in the High Castle” and “Red Oaks.” Other competitors in the Internet video sector include Hulu and Time Warner ‘s ( TWX ) HBO. Hulu is co-owned by Comcast ( CMCSA ), Disney ( DIS ) and Fox ( FOXA ). Amazon’s move comes as many long-time Netflix customers will see the price of their service jump from $7.99 to $9.99 a month starting next month. Netflix boosted its pricing starting two years ago, but it provided grace periods for existing customers. Netflix stock was down about 3% to near 108 in afternoon trading on the stock market today . The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings after the market close today. Amazon stock was up almost 1% to about 631. Amazon gets an IBD Composite Rating of 84 out of a possible 99, and Netflix a 51. For when to buy, hold or sell off Amazon and other top stocks, sign up for a free trial of IBD Leaderboard Amazon is offering the stand-alone video service only in the U.S. for now, but it is likely to take it to international markets soon, CCS Insight analyst Paolo Pescatore said in a research note Monday. Amazon’s new video offer will limit Netflix’s ability to grow its domestic subscriber base, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in a research note Sunday. “The monthly video offering reflects Amazon’s determination to capture an increased share of Netflix’s addressable market,” he said. “While we don’t expect a significant number of current Netflix customers to defect to Amazon Instant Video, it is likely that Amazon and Netflix will divide the remaining uncommitted market on a roughly equal basis, severely impacting Netflix’s continued domestic growth.” Subscriber Fees Hiked Pachter believes Amazon timed the offer to take advantage of the impending price increase at Netflix. An estimated 30 million domestic Netflix subscribers will see their monthly subscription fees go up starting May 9, he said. Pachter rates Amazon stock as outperform with a price target of 700 and Netflix as underperform with a price target of 45. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said Monday that the Amazon offer “creates a negative headwind for Netflix.” However, Mahaney reiterated his outperform rating on Netflix with a price target of 140. “We view this move by Amazon as a significant negative development for Netflix,” he said in a report. “Amazon certainly has the brand name, the customer relationships and the focus on high-quality consumer experiences to impact the growth in Netflix’s U.S. subscriber base, and perhaps eventually its global subscriber base.” Netflix is facing growth challenges in the U.S. market. In the fourth quarter last year, it missed its own target for new domestic subscribers. But its international growth easily beat expectations and offset U.S. weakness. Netflix Original Shows Rank Tops In a survey released last week, consumers ranked Netflix as No. 1 for original programming. It topped HBO for the first time in the six years that Morgan Stanley has tracked consumer preferences in premium video services. Some 29% of survey respondents said Netflix was best in original programming, up from 23% last year, while HBO came in second place at 18% (compared with 31% last year), Morgan Stanley said. Amazon.com, Hulu and CBS (CBS)-owned Showtime were each near 5%. Netflix original shows include “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Narcos” and Marvel comic-book hero shows “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones.”