@alexgoetz

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen on AMC’s digital distribution strategy (via PaidContent):

“One of the things that programmers have done is they’ve devalued their programming content by making it available in multiple outlets,” Ergen said. “Our customers are not really saying ‘we want to pay more money,’ they’re saying ‘we want more flexibility in our programming and we don’t want to pay more.’

“From a timing perspective that is just a contract that we can change,” Ergen added. “We believe the product has been devalued, not that there are not some good programs, but it’s been devalued because you can get it multiple ways and customers have more flexibility to get the programming. It’s not quite the same as if something were exclusive.”

You know how I started watching Mad Men?  Netflix.  How I caught up with the current season?  iTunes.  How I watch it now?  Live TV.  Sure seems like they added a viewer (and therefore, value) by making it widely available.  

Oh and if it wasn’t available through those outlets?  Probably piracy.

It really doesn’t seem like cable providers will ever get it.

via The Verge:

Numbers for Facebook’s mobile service have already proved that it’s popular, but new reports from comScore show that people are actually spending more time on mobile devices than on the desktop site, at least in the US. According to the Mobile Metrix 2.0 report released yesterday, people who use the mobile app or site spent an average of 441 minutes (about 7 hours and 20 minutes) using it in the month of March. By contrast, US users who accessed it from a computer spent 391 minutes (about 6 hours and 30 minutes) on Facebook.

Part of me is surprised, since Facebook’s mobile app is such a poor experience to use.  But I guess high school girls need something to do on their phones when they arn’t texting one another.  

Oh, also growth of mobile and whatnot.

Paul Miller from The Verge is quitting the internet:

In my wild fantasies, leaving the internet will make me better with my time, vastly more creative, a better friend, a better son and brother… a better Paul. In reality, I’ll still be the same person, just with a huge professional and personal handicap. The things I’ll miss most, like playing StarCraft with my friend from high school who lives in another state, or sharing Rdio and long read links with a co-worker at the next desk over, I hope to replace with more direct interactions, and more “meaningful” activities - whatever that means. The worst case scenario is that a year from now I’ll be found wandering in the woods somewhere, muttering URLs to myself.

It has a bit of a ‘bazooka to kill a bee’ feel to it.  It seems that much of what he claims to be trying to achieve could be done with a bit of focus and self-control, but I suspect he is doing it as an interesting conversation point as much as anything.  It’ll be an interesting experiment, at the very least.  

via The Verge:

By Google’s math, customers would pay $9.99 a month for unlimited data — to subsidize the reduce cost, the company would forgo the commission it earned from T-Mobile for referring Android buyers to its online store. Google figured that its own services — Gmail, search, and so on — would consume about 15MB a month, a figure likely estimated to be far lower in 2006 than it is today.

Think about how huge this would be if Google (or Microsoft) pursued something like this today.  Especially for families with 3+ phones, phone data can be a huge expense.  I’m sure it would cost more then their commission to make something like this happen now, but if Google or Microsoft had some specialized devices (maybe locked down to use specific partner services) paired with a data package like that, it could be an interesting way to buy some market share.  

I personally would never buy into that and hate the idea, but I’m sure a number of consumers would jump all over that.

Obama:

And we were lucky to land good jobs with a steady income. But we only finished paying off our student loans—check this out, all right, I’m the President of the United States—we only finished paying off our student loans about eight years ago.

Check this out, student loans suck.

Google selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus for $400 directly.  Via Google Mobile Blog

First available in the U.S., Galaxy Nexus costs $399 and arrives at your door unlocked, without a carrier commitment or contract. You can use it on the GSM network of your choice, including T-Mobile and AT&T. It also comes pre-installed with the Google Wallet app which lets you easily make purchases and redeem offers with a tap of your phone. Best of all, we’ll give you a $10 credit to get you started with your new mobile wallet.

Love the unlock.  Love the price.  Like the hardware.  Runs Android?  Eh I’m good.

via The Verge

The bad news for Best Buy continues — the company just reported a $1.7 billion loss in its fiscal fourth quarter 2012 (the quarter ended for Best Buy on March 3rd), compared to net income of $651 million one year ago. Furthermore, the consumer electronics giant announced it has plans to close 50 stores in the US in an effort to improve its business performance.

Its actually not as bad as the headlines make it sound.  The article has the full rundown, but they had to take a few big hits from the Carphone Warehouse buyout and their failed UK experiment.  They did actually increase their year-over quarter performance, which is a plus.  

Either way you want to look at it, closing 50 stores and a major restructuring is not a real good thing.  I don’t doubt that its probably a step in the right direction, but it sure seems like things are going to get a lot worse before they get better for Best Buy.