Weekly digest from the West

-The TV Business Has Changed Forever—And That’s a Good Thing: When Lost went off the air in 2010, there were around 200 original programs on television. This year, there will be more than double that. Netflix alone will spend nearly $6 billion on 600 hours of original programming and acquisitions. “It used to be that there were many fewer shows and writers, and showrunners would have overall deals with exclusivity at one place,” Cuse told WIRED Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich on stage at the 2016 WIRED Business Conference. “It’s much more common now for people to be working on a variety of shows, gigging around and doing different things in different places.”
https://www.wired.com/2016/06/tv-business-changed-forever-thats-good-thing/?mbid=social_fb

-Luc Besson Creates, Writes Mobile-Native Series for New Platform Blackpills: Tackling an emerging fiction format, “Lucy” helmer Luc Besson has created “Killer’s School,” a premium mobile-native scripted series that will be part of a new digital platform called Blackpills. Written by Besson, the series will shoot in English and be co-directed by Pascal Sid, the director of “Behind The Walls” and producer of Julien Seri’s “Night Fare,” and Olivier Schneider, the fight choreographer of “Spectre.” Comprising 10 episodes of 10 minutes, “Killer’s School” will boast an international cast of European and American talent. Casting is underway. https://variety.com/2016/digital/global/luc-besson-creates-writes-mobile-native-series-for-new-platform-blackpills-exclusive-1201796806/

-BitTorrent Now is a radically different take on traditional media streaming apps: If you haven’t been paying attention to BitTorrent over the last few years and still equate the company with piracy, its plan to become a legitimate media company may come as a surprise. But BitTorrent, the company behind the peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol of the same name, just launched a streaming app that has already won over artists, musicians, and filmmakers. The app is available today on Android and coming soon to iOS and Apple TV.BitTorrent Now emphasizes emerging artists, so content discovery is a high priority for the company. I’ve never heard of most indie bands from Brooklyn (despite living in Brooklyn), so how will I know which ones to listen to? BitTorrent has a team curating recommended projects inside the app, and there will also be a trending tab to see what’s popular with other BitTorrent users and on social media. You can follow your favorite artists, shuffle play genres of songs, create playlists, and sync all your content across your devices. Basically, it functions similarly to the other streaming apps you know and use daily.
https://www.macworld.com/article/3087611/software/bittorrent-now-is-a-radically-different-take-on-traditional-media-streaming-apps.html

-52% of the OTT companies are going to launch VR content: According to a new research, the OTT video market is “moving in the direction of virtual reality” with 67% of OTT companies believing VR is “here to stay.”
The new Level 3, Streaming Media and Unisphere Study found that 52% of the OTT companies polled said they are “researching, getting ready to launch or have already launched VR-video content”. https://www.muvi.com/52-ott-companies-going-launch-vr-content.html

-Why Facebook Live is Taking Over Livestreaming Video by Christine Wilson: First there was Meerkat. Then came Periscope. And then Facebook Live joined the mix – and has been gaining momentum ever since.
Live streaming video is still a recent addition to social media, but it’s already had a huge impact on the way we interact with brands, celebrities and even politicians online. Not convinced? Just take a look at the US House of Representatives right now. House Democrats have been staging a sit-in protest since Wednesday morning to try to push their Republican colleagues to a vote on a gun-control bill. Because the House isn’t formally in session, C-SPAN cameras aren’t allowed to film a feed from the floor – so instead, C-SPAN is airing live video shot on Periscope and Facebook Live.
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/why-facebook-live-taking-over-livestreaming-video-christine-wilson

-YouTube Purchases TV Show as Part of YouTube Red: YouTube Red is YouTube’s premium subscription service. You are able to unlock background streaming, offline videos, no ads, and access to a variety of exclusive content. While YouTube has partnered with a few popular channels to make this premium content, they are now taking another step with the purchase of the TV show Step Up based on the movie franchise. The producers, Lionsgate, are planning on a 10-episode season, each roughly 45-minutes long. They believe this will hopefully encourage more subscriptions to YouTube Red. This move is coming after other companies have been publishing exclusive content as well. Netflix has had success with House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Amazon has been adding exclusive content to their video catalog such as the award-winning Mozart in the Jungle. Hulu has also been producing original work.
https://androidtv.news/2016/06/youtube-purchases-tv-show-part-youtube-red/

-The Roku App for Windows : a Chromecast-like for Windows users ? Now with Windows 10 you can show off your photos and music on the TV through your Roku device and let everyone share in your memories from your Windows 10 device. All you need to do is select your photos and music, one-by-one or by selecting a folder, to begin playing the content. https://cordcuttersnews.com/roku-is-now-available-on-windows-10-windows-tablets/

-Offline viewing may finally be coming to Netflix: Netflix users have long wanted to have the ability to save titles for offline viewing. Such a feature would allow subscribers to watch specific movies and shows offline, and would make the company more competitive with alternatives that do allow downloads. That feature may be available before 2017, Dan Taitz, COO of Penthera, told Light Reading.
Why the rumor may be true : ? My expectation is that by the end of the year Netflix will be launching download-to-go as an option for their customers, ? he said.
Why the rumor may not be true : Although these signs point toward Netflix bringing a new download feature to the service soon, there are other signs pointing the other way. Penthera is involved with video-downloading software, so it makes sense Taitz would like to believe Netflix is looking at offering a download feature soon — what's good for downloads is good for his company. Because he didn’t offer anything in the way of evidence that Netflix is introducing the feature soon, his statements could simply be wishful thinking.
https://mashable.com/2016/06/24/netflix-download-rumor/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#X.qirTsg78qV

-Apple won’t collect your data for its AI services unless you let it: Apple is looking to thread a fine needle, gaining access to the data it needs to make its servers smarter while also protecting user privacy. It’s doing so by employing a concept known as differential privacy. https://www.recode.net/2016/6/24/11967188/apple-data-collection-ai-opt-in-differential-privacy