Business Insider - Insider Today: TV’s new era

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February 8, 2024 • 5 min read

with Dan DeFrancesco

Hello! If you’ve made it this far without getting on the TikTok bandwagon, don’t sweat it. The emphasis on its shop and ads means the app has gotten kind of bad, writes Katie Notopoulos. 

In today’s big story, we’re looking at how a new sports streamer from a trio of media titans is set to change how we all watch TV.

What’s on deck

But first, what channel app is the game on?

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The big story

TV’s new era

The Super Bowl is still a few days away, but something even more impactful to the world of sports is already underway.

ESPN, Warner Bros., and Fox announced plans this week for a new sports streaming service set to launch this fall. The to-be-named streamer could ultimately upend how we all watch TV. 

Live sports have long been TV’s crown jewel. They justify paying for a TV bundle with channels you mostly don’t watch. 

The new streaming service, which includes access to networks like ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, FOX, and FS1, changes that equation by breaking off the most valuable pieces of the bundle. 

That could put an end to cable TV as we know it, Nathan McAlone, Business Insider’s deputy media editor, writes. 

Of course, it’s still early days. (We don’t even know the price, although it will reportedly be around $50 a month.) Ashley Rodriguez, BI’s media editor, has a breakdown of the six biggest questions about this new sports streamer.

Reactions are starting to pour in as pay-TV companies and sports leagues digest news they didn't get much advance notice of, Peter Kafka, BI’s chief correspondent, writes. Peter spoke to industry execs to get their initial thoughts.

Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

So, who are the biggest winners and losers from this deal? (We are talking about sports, after all.)

I initially thought about gambling companies and their live-betting feature. 

Games on YouTubeTV, for example, are noticeably delayed compared to cable TV broadcasts. If this new service has latency issues, will people be less likely to place live wagers? (Although, some view the streamers as a big opportunity.)

I turned to the experts — Peter, Nathan, and Ashley — to get their take on how things could shake out.

Winners

Peter: Media business nerds like myself. We’ve been wondering for a decade what it would take for someone to pull sports out of the pay-tv bundle. Now we get to find out what happens next.

Nathan: Consumers. We can debate how much of a market there is for this new streamer, but choice is generally a great thing — especially when the default is the ever-worsening world of cable TV.

Ashley: Fox. It's a smaller company than ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery and wouldn't make sense for its own streamer. This gives it a chance to bundle with the bigger dogs to reach streaming viewers it probably couldn't have otherwise.

Losers

Peter: NFL fans. Following America's most popular sport already requires fans to navigate four broadcast channels, a couple of cable channels, and Amazon prime video. This new package, which will include about half of the nationally televised games, adds yet another thing to keep track of.

Nathan: Cable news. If this is the start of the long journey of sports splitting off from the cable bundle, TV news has to start figuring out its post-cable future. The clock is ticking!

Ashley: Comcast and Paramount. They were left out and may now face pressure to figure out their own strategies for sports streaming.

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3 things in

Markets

🔔 Before the opening bell: US futures fall in premarket trading after the S&P 500 closed at a record high Wednesday.

Rick Wilking/Reuters

1. Leon Cooperman sounds off on stocks being too expensive, Elon’s salary, and more. The billionaire investor said the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings ratio is too high. He’s not suggesting a full-blown recession, but he does expect stocks to slide this year.

2. NYCB’s stock crash is an example of the risks of growing too fast as a bank. The Long Island-based bank acquired assets from the defunct Signature Bank that pushed it above a threshold that requires more stringent regulations. "The irony is that if it wasn't for the regional banking crisis, New York Community Bancorp may never have triggered the $100 billion asset threshold at all," economist Marc Rubinstein said.

3. China fired its top financial watchdog. Securities Regulatory Commission boss Yi Huiman was ousted after a high-profile meeting with leader Xi Jinping. Beijing is trying to put an end to a stock market rout that’s wiped out over $6 trillion in valuation since the start of 2021.

3 things in

Tech

Jordan Hart/Business Insider

1. Everything you get when you buy the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro. We got our hands on the brand-new mixed-reality device. It comes with seven accessories, a soft cover, and a battery pack, among other things. Here’s what else you can expect from the device.

2. Tech layoffs are way down from last year. Why does it still feel so grim? This year’s cuts are far less than in 2023, which saw more than 20,000 jobs eliminated in a matter of months. Still, there are small, continual layoffs by many tech companies this year, making it feel like a constant stream of bad news. 

3. Microsoft is rolling out a generative AI tool to employees. The tech giant is bringing its workers up to speed with its Microsoft 365 Copilot product, according to an internal message viewed by BI. It’s also hosted a “hackathon” in a bid to get more developers to use AI.

3 things in

Business

Justin Metz for BI

1. Who is behind Litquidity? When Litquidity’s Instagram page launched in 2017, it was just supposed to be a funny meme account. In the years since, the account’s followers and industry influence grew — as did its owner’s ambitions. Now, we finally know who’s behind the account.

2. See how much private-equity employees are making. Business Insider analyzed data from  the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification to determine how much top firms like Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, and Bain Capital are paying their employees. Analysts at KKR, for example, can earn a base salary of up to $150,000.

3. Disney takes a W. Disney posted better-than-expected earnings Wednesday, driving its shares up 7% in premarket trading. The entertainment giant also announced a $1.5 billion bet on ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic Games and an exclusive deal to stream Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. It feels like returning CEO Bob Iger is back on top. 

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The Insider Today team

Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

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