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Apple to get into the Content is King theme

Apple to get into the Content is King theme

Apple and the iPhone have been at the forefront of our Connected Society investment theme and Apple Pay lands the company in our Cashless Consumption theme as well. For a long time, Apple has held off creating original content preferring instead to be a platform via iTunes and its app ecosystem for others to distribute their content (Netflix on iPads, iPhones and Apple TV as an example). With the battle for the device consumer heating up, Apple is taking a page out of Content is King companies Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA) and moving into content to shore up its competitive position. We’ve seen Netflix do this and Amazon (AMZN) is charging ahead as well. From a thematic sense, if Apple can get the programming right, three thematic tailwinds are better than one or two.

Apple Inc. is planning to build a significant new business in original television shows and movies, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could make it a bigger player in Hollywood and offset slowing sales of iPhones and iPads.These people said the programming would be available to subscribers of Apple’s $10-a-month streaming-music service, which has struggled to catch up to the larger Spotify AB. Apple Music already includes a limited number of documentary-style segments on musicians, but nothing like the premium programming it is now seeking.

Source: Apple Sets Its Sights on Hollywood With Plans for Original Content – WSJ

AT&T CEO puts DirecTV Now at $35/month, but…

AT&T CEO puts DirecTV Now at $35/month, but…

AT&T has been all over the news the last several days, and the news flow continues today when fresh from yesterday’s conference call to discuss the merger with Time Warner,  CEO Randall Stephenson shared its soon to launch DirecTV Now video streaming service will cost $35 per month. Details were rather sparse and we expect more when the official launch happens “next month.”

We expect many comparisons to offerings from Sling as well as pricing relative to Netflix and Hulu, but we suspect it will be far cheaper than the video services offered by Verizon’s FiOS, Comcast and others. As potential chord-cutters, we are anxious for the details!

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal conference today, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson reportedly told attendees that DirecTV Now will launch in November at a price of $35/month. That puts the service $15/month above the starting point for the competing Sling TV live-TV streaming offering, and about the same price point for the barest-bones versions of Sony’s PlayStation Vue service.Where DirecTV Now appears to be trying to compete is on content. According to reports — again, this has not been officially announced or confirmed — Stephenson says that DirecTV Now will offer 100 channels.

Source: AT&T CEO: DirecTV Now Streaming Service Will Cost $35/Month, Launch Next Month – Consumerist

Video Arcades Trump Most Amusement Parks, Not Disney or Universal

Video Arcades Trump Most Amusement Parks, Not Disney or Universal

What do you get when you mash together aspects of our Connected Society  and Content is King investing themes? One answer is gaming.

Add in our “Death of the Mall as You Know It” view and we are not surprised by the return of video arcades. These 21st-century arcades are filled with high-end 3D games and simulators that are chomping more than just a few quarters. But that’s where our Cashless Consumption theme comes into play as a player uses a topped off game play card that also keeps track of  prize tickets. While we still love our roller coasters, we can understand how the quasi-addictive nature of gaming. Add in some friends and some adult beverages a la our Guilty Pleasure investing theme and <boom> there is your Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (PLAY) business model.

For those of you who miss the old stand-up games of Galaga and Defender, there were more “amusement arcades” in 2014 than in 1998, according to the Census Bureau.

The amusement park has been on a roller coaster ride for two decades, one that—as the chart shows—is fundamentally headed downward. In some years, more parks opened than shut, but the small upticks have been wiped out by the near-regularity of a free fall. There were 48 percent fewer amusement parks in the U.S. in 2014 than in 1998.

Among these, the smaller parks which depend on local or regional customers, and often just during summer, are having the hardest time. Even such a well-loved brand as Lego met industry skepticism as it seeks to build a chain of regional parks. On the other hand, huge amusement and theme parks that double as vacation destinations are still going strong.

Source: Americans Are in Love With Video Arcades Again – Bloomberg