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HBO Max, With How Many Ads?

Charlotte Henry ·

The branding around HBO Max is all a bit confused. It might be getting even messier as MediaPost suggests that a Peacock-style ad-supported version is on the way.

Those HBO-centric TV shows, movies and other content, run no advertising. So “Game of Thrones” and “The Sopranos” can continue to run in their unedited pure form. Again, shows many advertisers might avoid. Still, advertising might appear before and after — not during a TV episode. However, in other content — such as those TV shows linked to longtime WarnerMedia Turner ad-supported networks — TNT, TBS, truTV, and CNN — they could continue to have advertising during a show, just like they did when airing on traditional, linear TV networks. Viewers would expect that. But when it comes to movies running on ad-free channels — such as TCM, the longtime, ad-free Turner classic movie channel, some paid messaging could also appear, according to reports. Overall, it’s not surprising advertising inventory will be similar to most slimmed-down premium TV platforms — around four minutes per hour of commercials, but perhaps only two minutes at other times

Cool Stuff Found

Card Adventure Game ‘Terafyn’ Launches September 24

Andrew Orr ·

A new game called Terafyn is coming out next Thursday, September 24. It’s billed as a “card adventure game” where battles are won and lost with rune cards and a spinner mechanism. The game’s story is text-based and set against a backdrop of beautiful, hand-drawn art. “The story begins in a small fishing village, Brittlemire. You and your father are gathering venterwort in a nearby forest to cure recently ailing villagers. If only this was a simple story! It will take more than magical herbs to face what lies in wait … in the woods.”

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Amazon Music Introduces Podcasts

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon Music launched podcasts for customers in the U.S. UK., Germany and Japan on Wednesday. It will include a range of popular existing shows as well as originals, The Verge reported, and increases the pressure on Spotify.

The company issued an update today that brings more than 70,000 shows to the platform, including some major titles, like Serial and Pod Save America, as well as new exclusive deals like a show with DJ Khaled called The First One, where he’ll interview artists about their breakthrough hits and the stories behind them. Disgraceland, a popular show from iHeartMedia, will also become exclusive to the platform starting in February 2021. Podcasts can be listened to through the updated Amazon Music app, on the web, or on Amazon Echo devices. Echo devices will search Amazon Music by default and will remember where listeners left off, regardless of what platform they use to listen. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon will be selling ads for its shows, although it’s unclear if that means DJ Khaled and other hosts will be reading ads and if paid subscribers will hear these ads, similarly to Spotify.

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Apple Gave FBI Access to Rioter’s iCloud Account

Andrew Orr ·

According to court documents, Apple gave the FBI access to a rioter’s iCloud account who was accused of setting police cars on fire in Seattle this summer.

As FBI officers were investigating a Seattle man suspected of setting police cars on fire, they turned to Apple for help […] Apple disclosed the name, email, phone number, and residential address associated with Jackson’s account, then subsequently granted the FBI access to the contents of Jackson’s account in response to a court-ordered search warrant.

Apple was served a lawful subpoena in regards to a lawful investigation, as it does frequently. But the main point is that it contrasts with claims from President Trump and A.G. Barr that Apple hinders investigations because they can’t unlock iPhones. Apple can’t do that, but if a person backs content up to iCloud, then it can be accessed.

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Spotify Doesn’t Like the Apple One Bundle, Calling it Unfair

Andrew Orr ·

Spotify doesn’t like the Apple One bundle, saying that Apple is abusing its dominant market position.

Once again, Apple is using its dominant position and unfair practices to disadvantage competitors and deprive consumers by favoring its own services. We call on competition authorities to act urgently to restrict Apple’s anti-competitive behavior, which if left unchecked, will cause irreparable harm to the developer community and threaten our collective freedoms to listen, learn, create, and connect.

Bundles save people money, therefore bundles are good for customers. As for competitors? At least Apple pays artists more. As for the dominant position claim, as of 2019 Apple Music has more paid subscribers in the U.S., but Spotify has more paid users in the world. As Neil Cybart said, this is just guerilla warfare of companies piling on against Apple because they’re not making as much money. As I say, cutthroat capitalism.