Quibi wind-up continues
Quibi, which raised $1.75 billion in venture investment, is expected to return about $350 million to investors. Quibi sold many of its original shows to Roku, which developed digital media players with Netflix, for what is believed to be less than $100 million.
The series acquired by Roku will not be aided by the innovative Turnstyle technology which switches from portrait to landscape viewing, depending upon how the smartphone is held. The Turnstyle technology is reportedly subject to legal dispute.
Fragmentation to standalone streaming properties continues
African-American TV network Revolt joined the streaming push by TV conglomerates, Discovery, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia. Revolt plans to launch a free, ad-supported direct-to-consumer streaming app on connected TV platforms, including those of Apple and Roku. The shift beyond traditional TV is aimed at reducing its reliance on pay-TV providers, the businesses of which face uncertainty as the pay-TV subscriber base shrinks, digiday reported.
Revolt’s linear TV channel launched in October 2013 as a music-oriented network, but since the killing of George Floyd, has pivoted to social justice in its editorial strategy.
Motley Fool backs Netflix investment
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) spent around $15 billion on content in 2019, with the bulk of it on original programs. Netflix has been spending more than the online video streaming pioneer earned over the past few years. While the company needs to spend up front during the content creation process, in the long run, creating its own content is less expensive, as the company works directly with the creators and saves on overhead.
Netflix mainly owns the rights to the content produced. However, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) now pose a serious challenge. Motley Fool, reporting on the NASDAQ, asserts Netflix’s big and growing subscriber base should continue to help it in improving revenues as well as margins.
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