YouTube Entering Paid Content Area
Could it soon be time to YouTube and chill? The world’s biggest online video platform will officially crack into the paid original content business next week when it premieres the first four titles produced for its new subscription service, YouTube Red, the company said last week. Included in the Feb. 10 launch: Dance Camp, a musical teen drama produced by digital network AwesomenessTV; Scare PewDiePie, a series that pairs YouTube...
Virtual Reality, Driverless Cars To Grow in 2016
Virtual reality, connected cars, e-sports, the on-demand economy — all are becoming important elements in the economy, and all are poised for rapid growth in 2016 — along with some challenges. And then there’s Snapchat Inc., based in Venice, Calif., and one of the most highly valued companies currently competing in the latest venture-capital-juiced start-up cycle, which many believe is way overheated. Snapchat The popular disappearing...
Consumer Confidential: Time Warner Cable Takes Baby Step Toward More Affordable Pay-TV Service
Dana Sutton is typical of many Time Warner Cable customers. It’s not that he dislikes the company’s services. He just doesn’t want so much of them. For instance, the $12.75 a month he has to pay for his cable box. “That seems high,” Sutton, 73, told me. Or the many, many channels he never watches. “I’d jump at the chance for a-la-carte channels,” the Los Angeles-area resident said. Could it be that Time Warner Cable feels his and...
Watching Sports on Virtual Reality: Not Ready for Big Time
I took a step into the virtual future of sports recently. I’m glad I got to look around, but it didn’t take long before I was ready to high-tail it back to the real world. The Golden State Warriors season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans became the first ever sporting event to be live streamed in virtual reality video to the public. In a small room in the bowels of Oracle Arena, some fellow journalists and I took turns using...
Virtual Reality On Facebook’s Growth Radar
Los Angeles — Virtual reality won’t just be another technology for hard-core nerds, if Mark Zuckerberg gets his way. Facebook Inc.’s Oculus will sell movies, video games and streaming services via its virtual reality headsets, seeking to make the devices more appealing to average consumers, the company announced during a presentation in Hollywood on Thursday. Partners include 21st Century Fox Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment, the...
