Netflix proves tough act for copycats

Video-streaming service programming binge pays off Web inventor on privacy threats

SAN FRANCISCO, April 17, (Agencies): Netflix’s video-streaming service has been thriving for so long that other companies are striving to duplicate its success in other kinds of digital entertainment and content.

Spotify’s music-streaming service has emerged as the most celebrated of the aspiring clones, despite significant challenges that will make it difficult to keep growing at the same pace as Netflix has been in video streaming.

The biggest difference between Netflix and Spotify boils down to their ability to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Netflix has firmly established its service as a staple in tens of millions of households around the world by pouring billions of dollars into a slate of original programming that can’t be watched anywhere else.

Popular shows such as “Stranger Things,” “House of Cards,” and “Black Mirror” have enabled Netflix to keep attracting millions more subscribers each year while cultivating enough customer loyalty to be able to gradually raise its prices. That leverage allows Netflix to spend more to acquire the rights to TV series and films while also remaining profitable.

In contrast, Spotify is selling consumers access to an extensive catalog of digital music that is largely the same as the libraries available at the same $10 monthly price on rival music streaming services from Apple, Google and Amazon, three larger companies with far more resources.

Netflix demonstrated how well its formula works again Monday with the release of its first-quarter earnings. The Los Gatos, California, company added another 7.4 million video-streaming subscribers during the first three months of the year, ending March with 125 million throughout the world, including nearly 57 million in the US.

The performance exceeded management and analyst projections to the delight of investors. Netflix’s stock climbed more than 5 percent to $324.10 in extended trading.

Spotify eventually could build a unique collection of content too, but there is no clear path for the Swedish company to do that because major recording labels so far are licensing all their music to any service willing to pay

sparing emotional intensity of his lyrics, is “an outsize personality, dark crooner, guru and poet,” the organisers said.

He is joined on the marquee by SAN FRANCISCO, April 17, (AP): Tim Berners-Lee gave away the technology that he used to invent the World Wide Web, so it’s not surprising that he’s worried about the current state of the internet as Google, Facebook and Amazon become increasingly dominant in the digital world.

When the web turned 29 years old in March, Berners-Lee shared some of his concerns in an annual letter that he writes as a director for the World Wide Web Foundation, an organization he founded to ensure the internet remains accessible to everyone. He expanded on why we should be worried about digital monopolies in an interview with The Associated Press.

The interview was conducted a few weeks before Facebook’s current privacy scandal, one triggered by revelations that its social networking service allowed a political data-mining firm to gain access to the information of millions of its users.

Question:

them. Even if a recording label offered exclusive rights to some of its popular songs, Spotify would have trouble outbidding its far wealthier levels.

The similarities among the major music-streaming libraries already appear to be undermining Spotify. The company’s average revenue per paid subscriber fell to $5.32 per month last year, down from an average of $6.84 per month in 2015, according to an analysis by consumer research firm ValuePenguin .

The decline primarily stemmed from discounts that Spotify gave for its family packages and students, helping to increase its paid subscribers from 28 million in 2015 to 71 million at the end of last year — nearly twice as many as Apple Music, its biggest rival.

The decrease in Spotify’s average price per subscriber will make it more difficult to turn a profit, something that

other music industry giants performing at Montreux for the first time, including US industrial band Nine Inch Nails and Jack White, of the White Stripes, who will be

concerns about the internet?

Bullying and fake news are getting worse. (And) a monopoly messes up a market, it tends to hit innovation. I think there are some people that are worried about the fact that there is a monopoly in search, social... And in commerce? Pretty much .... It is really hard for people to think about how to make progress to design new systems without involving the incumbent.

Answer: Q: A:

Q: Do we need regulations imposed on Google, Facebook, and Amazon because of the power of their networks?

A: I think that is too broad a question. You might look at regulations for antitrust or monopoly, there might be regulations about privacy, there might be regulations for search engines (and) whether they should be declared a public good and therefore have a duty to provide fair answers. You have to see every case independently.

the company has never done since its inception in 2007.

Meanwhile, Netflix has raised its US streaming prices twice since 2014. In the first quarter of this year, Netflix’s average revenue per paying subscriber worldwide stood at $10.10 per month, up 14 percent from $8.89 per month at the same time last year.

“You have to earn it first by having spectacular content that everybody wants to see,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said Monday during a discussion of the company’s first-quarter results. “But if you do that you can get people to pay a little bit more.”

The pricing upturn is one reason Netflix’s first-quarter earnings climbed 63 percent from last year to $290 million, or 64 cents per share.

Many investors still believe Spotify has a chance to become the Netflix of video streaming.

performing solo.

Billy Idol, Iggy Pop and Van Morrison also figure on this year’s programme, as does Hollywood megastar Johnny Depp, who will be performing with his band Hollywood Vampires, which also counts Alice Cooper and Joe Perry as members. (AFP)

LOS ANGELES:

Celina Jade, star of “Wolf Warrior II,” is set as the lead in “Hello, Mrs. Money,” a big-budget Chinese comedy set to release in a prime period later this year.

It is produced by Mahua FunAge, a company that is China’s market leader in live comedy. Mahua FunAge made a successful transition into film with 2015 hit “Goodbye Mr. Loser,” which grossed $218 million, and followed that with “Mr. Donkey” in 2016 and “Never Say Die” in 2017. Sports comedy “Never Say Die” was released during the Chinese National Day holiday period and grossed $340 million.

The new film, which is now in postproduction after a location shoot in Langkawi, Malaysia, is directed by Wu Yuhan, and co-stars Huang Cailun and “Goodbye Mr Loser” star Chang Yuan. Mahua plans to release it on Sept. 30, again hitting the National Day holiday and Golden Week period.

The story involves mistaken identities, wedding plans and the surprise participation of a man’s wealthy aunt (Jade) at his engagement party. (RTRS)