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The media landscape changes again. Any thoughts of what Verizon really wanted in this $4.4B deal?
"Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform," McAdam said. "This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience."
I literally laughed out loud when I read the corporate-speak quip, "global multiscreen network platform". I've been using technology products for decades and I honestly have no idea what that phrase might mean.
Of course I do remember the AOL experience back in the day of dial-up Internet access for a few dollars per month. AOL did have a portal that even a grandparent could understand, navigate, get stock quotes, chat, find forums, play games and read the news. Once web browsers and web sites took off, the appeal of AOL instantly vaporized for me, and I never considered going back to AOL once I installed broadband Internet.
Just for fun I visited AOL - News, Sports, Weather, Entertainment, Local & Lifestyle for the first time in many years, and it appears to be a cross between CNN and Entertainment Tonight. Amazing that they are still relevant to the tune of $4.4B. I recall that AOL was valued at some $166B back in 2000 when Time Warner and AOL merged.
I think they want to be more than just a digital pipe. Almost unnoticed, cellphone plans are all about data and they throw in the calls and texts for free. It used to be all about how many call minutes you got, but these days I rarely make a call compared to texting. I recently updated my voicemail message to say that I'd much rather you sent me a text than left a message.
Here are a couple of other changes that I think are significant:
Netflix making House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. The only way you get to see them is to get Netflix. Sort of like the only way you could get The Sopranos back in the day was to have cable and HBO.
But now HBO has HBO Now which gives you HBO even if you don't have cable. You can watch on your Apple TV box or Roku or many BlueRay players. Not that I've watched a disk in ages.
I recently canceled my Comcast cable except for internet (which turned out despite what you read on the internet to have been a painless experience). I was offered $0 for local service to continue (I think it is legal obligation) but not in HD. Or for $5/month I could have all my local service in HD plus HBO thrown in too. Which means effectively I have HBO Now for $5/month instead of $15/month that HBO wants.
I told my kids I'd canceled cable and they said "Oh, so you've joined the millennials". They never had cable (or a non-mobile-phone for that matter).
And here is a funny thing. Look at your phone. At least on iPhone, the symbol for the phone (to make a call) is an old wired handset of a design that hasn't been seen in decades. I heard a story of someone showing their kid a floppy disk: "Oh, it is like a 3D model of the save symbol"
Thanks for the data, it's a total surprise to me that the AOL sites were so popular. The number of eyeballs certainly equates to opportunity, so maybe the $4.4B price tag is acceptable.
