Frugal Dad looks at media consolidation, which explains a lot.
Occupy, Banks, and the Spotlight
It's looking like the Occupy Movement has gotten the attention of Bank of America with their new Occupy Your Homes anti-foreclosure protests. What's remarkable is that BofA seems concerned enough to send out a memo – and realizes they're being targeted.
I think they're a bit nervous, and they should be:
- This rebrands the OWS movement in a way that provides easy messaging and positive image.
- It calls attention to foreclosure and home issues – and can keep the issues in the news.
- Anything the bank does backfires.
- The backfires will call attention to bad banking practices, MERS, etc.
- Most people aren't too happy with banks.
If this continues (and my guess is it will), then it's going to keep the public eye on banks and their activities past and present. This could lead to deeper investigations (if not just more awareness) of serious problems in the system.
As we all know the banks have a lot of problems still – and frankly I don't think they can stand the scruity and the lawsuits that would follow. So this shift in tactics could have a lot of effects on the banks and how they're treated.
Verizon to take on Netflix
The Gauntlet has been thrown: Verizon is building a Netflix competitor.
OK I'm skeptical – at this rate the competition is ramping up – but it sounds like they've got a focused plan (movies and kids' shows) and remember they've also got a presence on the new XBox. So it's not unreasonable – and like Game Stores, it seems we're oddly at a place where people would rather launch a redundant service than miss out.
Takeaways:
- Netflix is vulnerable, and I think their response will actually be internationalization.
- OnLive is somewhere in all of this mess, with giant streaming system NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT.
- Verizon has a big "captive audience" they can leverage (and more with XBox).
- Verizon is going to have to hire/employ people to do this – which may mean jobs. If others jump in on this, more jobs.
- People are still talking big, not small content. I'm concerned smaller producers may get squeezed out.
(Oh and side note to Netflix CEO Hastings – do not compare yourself to Bank of America. Man, I'm starting to feel my faith in Netflix is misplaced – but not enough to suggest you look elsewhere for work.)