July 2, 2020

what is keeping us on the edge of our seats...

July 02, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Media

Remember when everyone was sick of cable providers and decided to cut the cord? We were already paying for Netflix, so why not jump ship and create our own package of streaming plans.

Well, this is one reason why not. Several streaming platforms announced rate hikes this week (including YouTube which raised prices by 30%). Most likely, like us, you are paying for several streaming services (Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, HBO, etc), and your customized bundle is starting to cost as much as a car payment.

With so many streaming platforms out there, why are companies raising prices? One, because they can — consumers are “locked in”, since they cut the cord and finding their favorite shows/channels can be all-consuming. Also, many of these platforms added live television (or other channels that you don’t actually want in your package), so like the cable companies, they have to pay licensing fees to content providers.

While the content providers have consolidated (Disney and Fox, AT&T and Warner Media, Viacom and CBS), the streaming landscape has become quite diverse. We’d expect to see more pressure on prices as consumers re-evaluate their choices (or share more passwords with friends).

The pandemic may have boosted consumer participation in streaming, but as each content creator launches its own platform (HBO, Peacock, Amazon), consumers may become more choosey when it comes to their wallets if a recession hits.

Technology

Apple and Google have a unique relationship — Google pays Apple billions to be the default search engine behind Safari (Google paid Apple $12B in 2018). While Google is willing to pay this amount for the reach (and data) behind Apple’s network, Apple gets a hefty fee and a clean user experience. However, regulators in the UK believe this may violate anti-competitive practices, causing a “significant barrier to entry” for other search companies.

Big Tech is coming under scrutiny from a variety of regulators. CEO’s from Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon have all agreed to testify in front of the US House Judiciary Committee later this month, and the regulators will have a lot to cover.

We hope Congress has done their homework this time around or at least asked their children for questions to ask (see Zuckerberg and Pichai’s last appearances in Congress). Having four celebrity CEOs at one table may be a fiasco or we may finally get some clarity on how the government plans to manage the tech platforms and hold them accountable for their inactions.

Raising our 👀: Remember Google Glass? (yeah, we don’t really either.) Google has just acquired North, the maker of a smart glasses company. Google Glass had some success as a product for businesses (using its augmented reality functionality in factories and medicine), but it never really caught on for consumers. Like most AR/VR glasses, Google Glass was not a fashionable accessory despite what DvF might have told us. We’ll be interested to see if Google targets gamers or more enterprise users with North’s technology, but we’ll stick to wearing our face shields and sunglasses for now.

International

Since 1999, Hong Kong was run under the premise of “one country, two systems”: Hong Kong would have its own economic and administrative system but would be officially a part of China. This week, this principle came under fire with China’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong: a broad, open-ended law meant to suppress political subversion. Fear of a similar law was the impetus for the unrest and protests in Hong Kong that started over a year ago.

Within a few hours of passage, hundreds of people were arrested in Hong Kong and new protests began. The UK announced that it would make it easier for citizens of Hong Kong to repatriate, and the US House passed sanctions on China for the move.

China has been infringing upon the human rights of its citizens with little push back from the rest of the world (note its treatment of the Uighurs) due to its prominence as a trading partner. Hong Kong is also a financial hub, and operated on a different set of rules than the mainland (China’s financial system was effectively closed to foreign investment without a sponsor). The protests in Hong Kong (and the pandemic) had made the financial hub less attractive to foreigners in the past year, but the new laws could make investment even more difficult and confusing.

If China can assert its rule over Hong Kong, what happens to Taiwan? Which city will take over as the financial hub of Asia — will Tokyo or Singapore step up with tax breaks for VCs or foreign investors?

An update: As expected, Putin will be allowed to remain in power in Russia through 2036. With voter turnout of 65%, the referendum passed with 78% approval. (An independent election monitoring agency claimed that local official would be fired if turnout wasn’t high.) As voters in the US, we are definitely jealous of the turnout, but scared sh**less of the referendum.

True Crime

  • Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s partner, was arrested by the FBI this morning. Notably, this case was being run out of the office of SDNY before Barr fired the former head, Berman. Epstein is linked to many famous and powerful men, and while he can no longer tell his own tale, Maxwell is accused of being the facilitator for many of his crimes.

  • The Golden State Killer, Joseph D’ Angelo, pleaded guilty to 13 murder charges and admitted to 161 uncharged rapes, among other crimes. GSK terrorized parts of California for over 13 years, and has been called '“the real life Hannibal Lecter.” Although his crimes occurred over 30 years ago, GSK had remained on the loose until genetic genealogy was used to find him. (The use of public DNA databases for solving crimes remains controversial.) Watch HBO’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark for more about the hunt and his survivors.

  • Inmates in the US have been using TikTok as an underground means of sharing their living conditions. Prison TikTok is filmed on contraband phones, and has shown the daily life of prisoners as well as the challenges they are facing with COVID. Some viral videos were used to show the horrific conditions inside a Mississippi prison which lead to a prison reform bill in the state. The storytelling of TikTok and other prison-produced media has helped to humanize their situations and bring criminal justice reform top of mind. For a legal take inside San Quentin, one of our favorite podcasts is Ear Hustle, produced inside at the prison’s media lab with stories about prison life and post-incarceration.

Culture

Less than 24 hours to go…Hamilton will begin streaming on Disney+ on July 3, and we are just a little too excited!

If you haven’t seen the show or listened to the soundtrack non-stop, here is a taste of what you’ll see tomorrow. Jimmy Fallon and the original cast performed Helpless, and while the performers are certainly the stars here, huge shoutout to the sound and video editors. I still can’t stop smiling, even after watching this 20 times (but who’s counting).

We’ll have our eyes and hearts glued this weekend, but we are still waiting for news on the release of In the Heights (Lin Manuel Miranda’s first broadway success). So grab a glass, get your dancing shoes on, celebrate our country and enjoy!

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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