Weekly digest from the West

-Look at this goddamn chart: There’s been a lot of excellent analysis and reporting about the proposed $86b AT&T / Time Warner merger in the days since the deal was announced, but this infographic from The Wall Street Journal really nails the fundamental insanity of the telecom industry. What started in 1877 as the original Bell Telephone Co turned into the great phone monopoly of AT&T, found itself broken up by the government in 1984, and has since slowly reconstituted itself as the massive duopoly of the modern AT&T and Verizon. At the same time, Warner sucked up Time Inc to become TimeWarner, merged with AOL in history’s most popular business punchline, un-merged, spun off Time Inc again, and is now being swallowed by AT&T while AOL is now part of Verizon. https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/24/13389592/att-time-warner-merger-breakup-bell-system-chart

-Netflix’s Reed Hastings believes AT&T Time Warner merger could be good for consumers: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings isn’t bothered by the idea of a marriage between mobile powerhouse AT&T and HBO’s parent company Time Warner, “As long as HBO’s bits and Netflix’s bits are treated the same [by regulators],” he said. Hastings, who was speaking at the Wall Street Journal Live conference this evening sparred with Comcast over a proposed Time Warner merger in 2014, fearing the deal could mean Comcast would have the ability to block broadband internet access to Netflix customers. However, Hastings sees the AT&T Time Warner deal as potentially beneficial and says his main concern is Net Neutrality.“I think AT&T’s going to be aggressive about building a national competitor to all of the cable companies like DirectTV has been to the satellite companies — and if they pull that off that would be in the consumer’s interest,” Hastings said. https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/24/netflixs-reed-hastings-believes-att-time-warner-merger-could-be-good-for-consumers/

-Google gets into the whiteboard business: Google, it seems, is still capable of surprising. A few weeks after launching a pair of handsets, a smart home hub and a virtual reality headset, the company is back with one of its most left-field hardware launches in recent memory. After all a big push into consumer mobile, the software giant is pursuing, of all things, the whiteboard. The Jamboard is an unlikely launch for the company, the product of a few years’ worth of development attempting to take the next step with its workplace tools. According to G Suite’s Director of Product, Jonathan Rochelle, the project was born out of a desire to build a new collaborative tablet interface for G Suite, the collection of business apps formerly known as Google Apps for Work?. “Jamboard,” Rochelle explained, ahead of the unveil, “is the whiteboard now in Google Cloud.” It’s a 55-inch 4K touchscreen hub for workplace collaborations designed from the ground up. A director competitor to Microsoft’s Surface Hub built around Google apps. It’s a familiar sort of interface whose output lives in Google Drive, connecting to users in person or via smartphone or tablet using the company’s companion apps for iOS and Android (nope, no Windows yet). https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/25/google-jamboard

-AT&T CEO: DirecTV Now Streaming Service Will Cost $35 a Month: AT&T’s upcoming DirecTV Now streaming service is going to cost $35 a month, revealed AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson during a panel at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., Tuesday. The package will include more than 100 channels, he said.This price point is a significant departure from the company’s previous stance, when it suggested that it would launch a premium product that wasn’t looking to undercut existing pay TV services. Stephenson argued that it can afford this lower price point because DirecTV Now doesn’t require operator-owned set-top boxes, satellite dishes, and customer service home visits. AT&T is set to launch DirecTV Now next month. The service will include channels from cablers like A+E Networks and Scripps, as well as broadcasters like Fox and NBCUniversal. https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/att-ceo-directv-now-will-cost-35-a-month-1201900052/

-Apple CEO: Producing and Owning Original Content Is ‘Great Opportunity for Us’: Tim Cook says tech giant ‘open to acquisitions of any size’. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said the tech giant is interested in boosting original entertainment content as it looks to build on its early forays into TV-style programming. “We’ve got a few things going there that we’ve talked about. And I think it’s a great opportunity for us — both from a creation point of view and from an ownership point of view,” Cook said on Apple’s earnings call Tuesday. “And so it’s an area that we’re focused on.” Cook also said that Apple is “open to acquisitions of any size” that are strategically aligned with its businesses, but he didn’t specify which particular areas the company might be looking at M&A. “We look at a whole variety of companies, and based on that we choose whether to move forward or not,” he said. “But we’re definitely open, and we definitely look.” https://variety.com/2016/biz/news/apple-tim-cook-original-content-opportunity-1201900394/

-MIPCOM 2016 Deals Wrap: MIPCOM continues to be a dynamic forum for deal-makers. While the character and scope of deals is evolving in line with the new-media landscape, demand for high-quality drama, factual, formats and kids content was as strong as ever at the Cannes-based market. https://mipblog.com/2016/10/mipcom-2016-deals-wrap/

-Will HBO Now Become AT&T’s Netflix Killer? Six years ago, Jeff Bewkes derided Netflix’s threat as a competitor — facetiously comparing the streaming company’s ambitions to the likelihood that the Albanian army would take over the world. Now that his company is set to get sucked into AT&T’s maw, the Time Warner CEO is talking a different game: one that sounds a lot like Netflix’s data-driven approach to acquiring and developing content. With AT&T’s heft, HBO Now — already a key rival to Netflix — stands to become a more robust offering in the U.S., potentially bundled with the telco’s wireless and broadband subscribers. And the telco could provide resources to accelerate the global rollout of HBO’s over-the-top services to take on Netflix worldwide, as Amazon also looks primed to take its video subscriptions to more countries. https://variety.com/2016/biz/news/hbo-now-netflix-killer-1201901626/

-Apple announces a TV app to put all your content in one place: Apple may not be building its own TV, but it at least has its own TV guide. Sort of. The company unveiled a new app — simply named TV — at its Mac event today, promising users it will unite of all their digital TV content in one place. The app brings together content from different services, as well as iTunes purchases and live content. The app is free, available on iOS and Apple TV, and works with Siri, so you can use voice commands to find shows and control playback. It also integrates the single sign-on feature Apple introduced for tvOS earlier this year, meaning users only have to sign in once to access content from different services. It’ll be available for download in the US some time at the end of the year. A TV app might sound basic, but it could be a clever way around some of Apple's problems in the industry. The company has been trying to do for TV what it did for music for years now, serving up its own package of content to consumers, but it’s been stymied by negotiations with media execs, who have reportedly balked at Apple’s aggressive negotiating style. https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/27/13433478/apple-tv-guide-announced-october-event

-The Google Cast app is now called ‘Google Home’: Google is gearing up for the release of Google Home in early November by updating the Google Cast app with a new design and a new name: "Google Home." This marks, somewhat confusingly, the third name for Google’s companion application for controlling Google-branded connected devices, following the original "Chromecast" and "Google Cast" names. And while the consolidated branding is sure to be helpful going forward, as the Google Home app now serves as a one-stop shop to manage all your Google Home and Chromecast devices, it’s easy to see that it could be a bit confusing for customers who are familiar with the old product names. Along with the new moniker, Google has updated the app with ? Watch" and "Discover" tabs, making it easier to find new suggested content to watch on your Chromecast, along with a library of applications that support the device. https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/26/13428460/google-cast-app-home-new-name-chromecast