Archive for TV Industry

The News Corp. who owns the Dow Jones and Company which publishes the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s weekly business magazine among many others in the U.S. is considering a company breakup into two entities. It would separate the media giant’s underperforming newspaper business from its lucrative entertainment assets. Approximately 70 percent of the company profits come from television. The new newspaper business could include The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, The New York Post, and as many as other 175 newspapers worldwide. These publishing enterprises contributed $8.8 billion in revenue in 2011. On the other hand, the much more lucrative entertainment enterprises contributed $23.5 billion in revenue in 2011 to the media empire.

Rupert Murdoch who is the Chairman and CEO of the News Corp. built the company from a single newspaper in Adelaide, Australia into a billion dollar multi-media giant. The Murdoch family owns 40 percent of the empire and will continue to handle both parts once separated.

Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is valued at about $53 billion. A recent phone-hacking scandal at its News of the World British tabloid caused it to close the publication. It is faced with enormous financial strain and decline in print advertising revenue.

Written by: Omar Amanat

Summary: Video streaming services are becoming a huge part in everyday life. It’s up to you to decide which service is worth your investment.

Netflix and Amazon Prime are two of the largest players in the movie streaming market today. While both have their pros and cons, this guide is designed to help you cater to your interests and make your investment more worthwhile.

Streaming is the New “TV”

Needless to say, video streaming is now a major part of daily lives, pushing TV services in the depths of solidarity. The convenience of having movies and TV shows at your fingertips at any time of the day allow for users to access it whenever they want. This means no more recording shows, forgetting to watch your favorite series, or even have trouble with reception and service.

The Features

Before diving into the pros and cons, you can experience both services by signing up for a 30-day trial. This is strongly suggested and is also good way to play around with all the features.

Netflix recently changed its stars rating system to a “thumbs up/thumbs down” system. Previously, users were able to rate a show or movie from 1-5 stars. However, Netflix claimed the system was flawed – hence the drastic change. While this isn’t a dealbreaker, it’s worth mentioning as it can take a while to adjust to.

You’re probably already aware of all the basics of both services, but both allow for media streaming on Smart TVs, game consoles, computers and laptops, and mobile devices. Additionally, both streaming services are regularly updated with new shows and movies to watch – you can even check their official website to see what’s releasing.

This is where it gets interesting however. While both services offer unlimited streaming, the variety is significantly different. There are shows that are available exclusively for one network as opposed to the other. It’s recommended that you take a look at both sites and search for a specific genre that you mostly watch. Take a look at the variety of movies and shows that are available and go from there.

Current TV Standards

20Written by Costbuys

TV technology has evolved over the years. There was high-definition at 720p and then 1080p. Recent advancement has come thick and fast and in some cases might even eclipse existing technologies before they mature. Here is a look at the most recent and most prominent technology to hit the TV:

3D

Avatar made 3D popular and was thought be the next big thing in movie theaters and at home. Sadly, not all movies took to 3D and the ones that did were mostly poor uses of the technology. There are several theories on why 3D failed, but the most believe that it will make a comeback when glassless 3D is a possibility. Still, almost all TV’s have 3D support.

4K/8K

This is the next big thing is basically an increase in the number of pixels on the screen. There are various names for the standard but the most popular (aside from 4K) is UHD (for Ultra High Definition). The resolution of a UHD display is 3840×2160. The problem for 4k is both the lack of content and the fact that people are already talking about 8K. As a result, there are plenty of shopping deals for 4K TVs already.

HDR

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and has the ability to display a much wider spectrum of colors. The goal is a much more realistic depiction of real life on screen. It does this by preserving the details in the brightest and darkest parts of the screen. These details are lost in current TV standards. One thing to look out for is the contrast ratio and brightness on the shopping website when buying an HDR TV.

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Costbuys requires customers to think about their pantries and their homes a bit differently when they buy online as they get a discount online when they place orders for larger quantities.

 

Steven Spielberg’s latest installment, Jurassic World, is getting mixed reviews. It is rated PG-13 due to intense sequences of science-fiction violence. It is part action and adventure; part mystery and suspense; part science fiction and part fantasy. It came out for a wider audience on June 12, 2015 for US movie enthusiasts.

Jurassic-Park

Colin Trevorrow directed the movie while characters were created by Michael Crichton. Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa wrote the story for it. The two hour three minute movie is distributed by Universal Pictures.

The plot unravels at the same island as Jurassic Park. Claire is sent to the island with Zach and Gray to have fun. Claire is not the mothering type and soon they face a park that is experiencing technical difficulties that turn to a contained anomaly.

Some say Jurassic World contains more violence and terrifying than the original movie, Jurassic Park. Sustained terror and suspense is more intense and peril due to people have been eaten, torn apart, severely injured and trampled. Some even say the language due to use of certain words is questionable. Heavy use of product placement is also critiqued by some. Even though it is rated PG-13, it may suits more teens than a younger audience.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that Comcast may drop its attempt to grab Time Warner Cable due to regulatory objections coming from governmental agencies. So, still there will be Time Warner, Fox and Disney vying for the coveted supremacy over media.

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Fox is experiencing sluggish ratings lately. Fox has two big hits to its credit; “Empire” and comic book based Warner Bros production “Gotham.” Empire, an American television drama series debuted in January 2015 and is expected to go into its second season later this year and part of next year. Gotham, the American crime drama television series is based on DC Comic series. Fox sports broadcasting also bring in huge revenue from advertisements. Its cable side dominated by Fox News Channel also helps to bring more dollars.

Time Warner, a unit of Turner is also enjoying some success and growth in cable services. It owns CNN, TNT and TBS and enjoying 26 percent operating profit increase lately.

Comcast is a behemoth among media giants and it owns NBCUniversal. Its value exceeds combined value of both Fox and Time Warner.

Disney is diversifying itself and experiencing a hot streak. It owns ABC and ESPN. Its content portfolio includes the infamous Marvel and the Avengers.

The television hit series, Mad Men, recently announced that it will end the show after the scheduled telecast of last episode on May 17, 2015.

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American television drama was created by Mathew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television premiered on July 19, 2007 on AMC cable network. It will be going off the air after seven seasons. Last seven episodes will begin on April 5, 2015 with finale on May 17, 2015.

The story revolves around Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City. “Mad men” is a slang term initiated in 1950s to identify advertising professionals. The character Don Draper is played by Jon Hamm was the creative director of the company and later became the founding father of the renamed company. In addition, other lead characters of the show include Peggy Olson played by Elisabeth Moss, Pete Campbell played by Vincent Kartheiser, Betty Francis (January Jones), Joan Harris played by Christina Hendricks and Roger Sterling (John Slattery). Plot details the advertising business and lives of people involved with it. The show received many awards including 15 Emmys and four Golden Globes. As one of the best television series, Mad Men has been credited for its historic authenticity, visual style, costumes, writing and directing.

Article written by Sid Solomon

Starting with the month of January 2015, the ABC television lineup for Thursday includes more of Shonda Rhimes. Her yet to be trademarked show, ShondaNight, will air three shows back-to-back on Thursdays followed by “Gray’s Anatomy” (8 pm), “Scandal” (9 pm) and “How to Get Away with Murder” (10 pm). This is the 11th season for “Gray’s Anatomy” due to its strong built in audience. “How to Get Away with Murder” is having a monster success according to network officials. Other weekly lineup will continue as planned. “Shark Tank” remains on Fridays due to its killer success. Proven nightly staples “Dancing with the Stars” and “Castle” will stay on Monday nights. However, the favorite comedy “The Goldbergs” will move from Tuesday to Wednesday. One comedy that is not on the lineup is “Trophy wife” and the show has been cancelled by ABC.

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Beyond January, the ABC is introducing several comedies to its daily lineup. “Black-ish” starring Anthony Anderson and “Cristela” are expected to debut in the fall. During the midseason, viewers may see “Fresh Off the Boat”. “Agent Carter” is planned as a bridge programming tool between the fall and winter premiers. Medieval musical “Galavant” is also a possibility for filling the gap.

The award season typically starts with the infamous Golden Globe Awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association honors the best in film and television both domestic and foreign productions with the Golden Globes. The 72nd Golden Globe Awards are scheduled for January 11, 2015 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California where the show was held since 1961. This year’s hosts of the awards ceremony will be Tina Fey and Amy Poehler who are returning for the third time. The awards were first offered in 1944 for productions that took place in 1943. The NBC will carry the awards ceremony live on its television network. Many consider Golden Globes as an indicator of what’s coming at the Academy Awards.

Golden

Awards will be given in 15 motion picture categories and 11 television categories. Some categories offer more than one statuette. Among film categories best motion picture, best director, best actor and best actress are highly regarded by many. Similarly, best drama and best comedy are important for success of each production in terms of ticket sales. Nominees for the 72nd Golden Globe Awards are expected to be announced on December 11, 2014 at the same venue for the gala event.