2B z FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019 z USA TODAY MONEY
Buy a new iPhone, iPad or Apple
computer and you get the new Apple TV
Plus streaming service for free, for one
year.
Sign up with Verizon Wireless for
phone service, and you’re entitled to
one free year of the new Disney Plus
streaming service.
And keep subscribing to or add the
HBO Now app to your phone and you get
a bonus – a free version of the newHBO
Max streamer as well.
Welcome to the 2019 edition of the
Streaming Wars, kicking off in earnest
Friday with the launch of Apple’s TV
Plus entertainment service. It’s a bid by
the iPhone maker to expand beyond
sagging gadget sales and move to big
media’s new favorite way of making a
dollar – with recurringmonthly pay-
ments that don’t have to be split with
distributors.
Nov. 12 is the date for Disney, which is
well established in cable with ESPN, the
Disney Channel, Freeform and several
networks new to the fold from the 2018
21st Century Fox acquisition, such as FX
and National Geographic. WarnerMe-
dia’s HBO Max follows in May, with
NBC’s Peacock also set for spring.
“Nobody knows how this will shake
out,” says Daniel Ives, an analyst with
Wedbush Securities. “But the idea of
subscription fatigue is real. People will
not pay for all of them.”
Indeed, notes Andrew Funderburg,
who runs a Portland, Oregon-based
software firm. He’s not motivated to buy
any of the new entrants. “I’m on stream-
ing service overload. Netflix, (Amazon)
Prime and Hulu are enough.”
Netflix is the current industry leader,
with 160 million subscribers, followed
by Amazon Prime Video’s 100 million
and Hulu’s 28 million.
But most people pay $119 yearly to
Prime for the expedited shipping. The
entertainment (and now free grocery
delivery) are bonuses. Hulu, which be-
gan as a consortium of network TV in-
terests (NBC, Fox and ABC) is now
owned by Disney, which has added the
service of network TV shows, movies
and originals as a bundle with Disney
Plus and ESPN Plus for $12.99 monthly,
a move expected to greatly grow Hulu’s
numbers.
The streaming wars began as a re-
sponse to the cutting-the-cord move-
ment. Cable operators have been report-
ing losses for the last few years, thanks
to the ease of connecting new, antennas
for local channels and eliminating the
cost of not just monthly service but
costly equipment rentals for cable boxes
and DVRs. (Some 3 million cut the cord
in 2018, according to Leichtman Re-
search.)
Many viewers have found they could
live with just Netflix and Hulu streamed
through their TVs. If they wanted more,
like their favorite channels, new, cable
TV alternatives from YouTube TV, Hulu
TV, Sling TV and AT&T have popped up
to serve them.
Meanwhile, as Netflix began generat-
ing massive revenue from streaming –
over $5 billion in the most recent earn-
ings report – big media started remov-
ing shows from Netflix and planning to
get a piece of the action.
Apple needs to replace sagging
iPhone sales, Disney to compensate for
the losses in cable and look to the future
and AT&T to find a way to justify its huge
2018 $85-billion acquisition of Time
Warner and help pay down debt.
And if more people cut the cord and
step away from cable to just have the
new streaming services, “It’s kill or be
killed in these great streaming wars,”
says Peter Csathy, the president of CRE-
ATV, an industry consultancy. “In a
sense, it would rather cannibalize itself
instead of being cannibalized by oth-
ers.”The programming:
zDisney Plus is offering access to its
classic library of animated films, plus
everything from the Pixar and Star Wars
libraries, most of the Marvel superhero
lineup, the complete episodes of the
Simpsons, new takes on Lizzie McGuire
and the Lady and the Tramp plus origi-
nal series and movies.
zApple TV Plus has a small assort-
ment of original series, headlined by
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Wither-
spoon in a backstage TV drama, “The
Morning Show,” the return of Oprah
Winfrey’s Book Club and a new sci-fi se-
ries called “See,” with “Aquaman’s” Ja-
son Momoa.
zHBO Max has some 10,000 hours of
content, new and old fare from the li-
braries of Warner Bros., HBO, CNN,
TNT, TBS, the Cartoon Network, Adult
Swim, Turner Classic Movies and DC
Comics. There’s reruns of “Friends” and
“he West Wing,” a prequel to HBO’s
“Game of Thrones,” new movies with
Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep,
revivals of the classic Looney Tunes
(Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig) cartoons and a
new series featuring the Hanna Barbera
characters (The Flintstones, Jetsons,
Yogi Bear, Mr. Jinx) called “Jellystone.”
zFrom NBC’s Peacock, debuting inApril, the company says it will offer re-
runs of “The Office,” which used to be
available on Netflix and “Parks and Rec-
reation,” and offer reboots on classic
older NBC series like “Punky Brewster”
and “Saved by the Bell.”
For now, consumers are weighing
their options, trying to decide whether
they should ditch Netflix, Hulu or an-
other service for the new ones.
We asked TV viewers on Facebook
and Twitter how they were faring. Spoil-
er alert: Of the ones looking to add to
their portfolio, it was Disney Plus, hands
down.
“Disney for sure!” noted Hillary Lyle,
an Akron, Ohio, mom. Having small kids
at home makes the Disney Plus pur-
chase a given, and she’s considering
HBO Max because of the library shows it
will offer, like “Friends” and “West
Wing.” “Apple shows look terrible and
they’re not offering enough value; no go
on Apple.”
And because of “The Mandalorian,” a
live-action take from the Star Wars uni-
verse, “Disney+ was a must,” says Zach
Heath, who runs a Providence, Rhode
Island-based marketing firm. “We slow-
ly rolled over our Disney VHS library
into DVDs, and now those are entirely
unnecessary until the next storm when
the internet goes out for days.”
“The newcomer to content creation
was also appealing. “Apple because it’s
free for the first year with my phone pur-
chase,” noted Monika Thormann from
Bloomington, Illinois. “Disney because
it looks like quality content vs. quanti-
ty.”
She’s not going to sign up for HBO
Max because she won’t have to. As a
HBO subscriber, she’ll get it free.
However, the challenge for Big Media
will be holding on to subscribers. Unlike
cable, which generally requires calling
in a visit from a technician, adding and
subtracting a streaming service can be
done via a click of a mouse.
“In much of the work that I have been
doing with consumers lately, they talk
about signing up with a streaming ser-
vice for certain hit shows, only to plan
on churning out after watching them,”
notes Marshall Cohen, the president of
Marshall Cohen Associates, a media re-
search firm. “My prediction is very high
churn metrics as consumers go away
and come back.”
And once they go away, rivals will be
all over them to swoop them back in.
With another sweetheart deal.Subscribers caught amid Streaming Wars
Apple and Disney vie
for customers with deals
Jefferson Graham
USA TODAY
Jennifer Aniston, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Reese Witherspoon at the premiere
of “The Morning Show,” one of the programs offered on Apple TV Plus. APPLE“The idea of subscriptionfatigue is real. People willnot pay for all of them.”
Daniel Ivesanalyst, Wedbush Securitiesing its mission is to help make neighbor-
hoods safer, including the free app tool
that connects communities and their lo-
cal law enforcement agencies.
“We have taken care to design these
features in a way that keeps users in
control and protects their privacy. The
Neighbors app has strict community
guidelines, trained moderators, user
flagging capabilities and other tools in
place to create a safe place for all mem-
bers of the community to talk about
what’s happening in their neighbor-
hoods,” Ring said.
“We take this very seriously and have
invested many resources, tools, and hu-
man power to ensure we uphold a stan-
dard of trust and civility,” Ring said.
More than 400 law enforcement
agencies across the country have joined
the app as partners.
Ring launched the Neighbors app in
May 2018, and anyone can download
and use it. Law enforcement can join,
too, and view comments or videos that
users post inside and outside their juris-
diction.
Law enforcement goes through
Ring to make a video request and must
reference a relevant case and videos
within a limited time and area. Ring
doesn’t provide information about us-
ers unless a user chooses to share
video with police. Then, the user’s
email and address are disclosed.
Users can say no and opt out of fu-
ture requests. Police said they don’t
have direct access to a user’s system.
The Free Press couldn’t find exam-
ples of law enforcement using a war-
rant to obtain video, but would likely
have the legal right to do so.
The Detroit Police Department
signed an agreement, “but that doesn’t
mean the officers have the authority to
use it,” Deputy Chief Grant Ha said.
Ha said some people have been
trained on how to use the appand the
department is developing policies and
standard operating procedures.
“It not the investigative tool, but an
investigative tool,” Ha said.
At the Livonia Police Department,
Taig said, the partnership has been
“nothing but successful for us.”
“If I’m a crime victim, there’s at
least a chance to get this person be-
cause we have them on video,” he said.
“It’s probably not for everybody.”Ring
Continued from Page 1B
Law enforcement goes through Ring to request video and must reference a
case within a limited time. KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/USA TODAY NETWORK
than two-thirds of U.S. economic ac-
tivity, remains a pillar of domestic
growth as other areas of the economy
waver and global growth slows.
“It’s unprecedented for there to be
this much negative sentiment at the
same time as stocks are hitting new
highs,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio
manager at GLOBALT Investments. “A
strong consumer has helped softenthe
blow.”Holiday shopping season is keyNow investors are looking ahead of
the crucial holiday shopping season as
Wall Street continues to grapple with
signs of a diverging U.S. economy. The
manufacturing sector has struggled
with headwinds related to the trade
dispute between the U.S. and China.
Meanwhile, the labor market con-
tinues to grow, but the pace of hiring
has slowed from last year.
A strong consumer, lower rates and
optimism about the tariff spat be-
tween Washington and Beijing could
give stocks more room to run in the fi-
nal months of the year, some analysts
say. .Stocks could also benefit from the
Federal Reserve, which signaled
Wednesday that it would monitor the
economy to assess future interestrate
decisions.What retirees and
millennials should doWith stocks poised to march higher
through the end of the year, that
means a potential boost to your retire-
ment savings. One thing is clear
among financial advisors: Don’t back
down from contributions to retirement
plans. In fact, if the market dips, you
should be allocating more, they said.
“No one knows when this market
will end or a recession will hit,” said Bill
Van Sant, senior vice president and
managing director at Girard. “But in
the end, an allocation towardinvest-
ments in stocks and bonds will give
you the better chance of generating areturn that will allow you to live off your
nest egg longer.”
He said if the market starts raising
red flags and the economy heads toward
a recession, “that’s when you want to be
boosting your contributions to those ve-
hicles so that you’re acquiring more of
these assets at a cheaper price.”
For those approaching retirement,
Van Sant recommends that clients allo-
cate about 60% of their portfolio toward
stocks and 40% toward fixed income,
which is perceived as more conserva-
tive. If they are ten years into retire-
ment, he suggests allocating about half
of their investments in stocks and the
other half in bonds.
When it comes to millennials, he sug-
gests being fully invested in the market
since they have a longer investment
time horizon and can take on more risk.What could derail this market?Some risks remain. Concerns about a
breakdown in trade talks, coupled with
the potential for a further slowdown in
corporateprofit growth could pose a
threat for stocks in the near term, some
analysts cautioned. Any signs of weak-
ness in consumer spending could also
lead to more risk thatthe market could
fall, they said.
Recent signs point to continued
strength for the economy. The pace of
U.S. economic growth slowed slightly in
the third quarter, but robust consumer
spending and a firming housing market
kept the economy humming along.
With that in mind, even though
stocks are back at records and up
strongly this year, the market is still lit-
tle changed from where it was in early- Stocks have battled multiple bouts
of volatility over the past 18 months,
suffering bruising downturns at the be-
ginning and end of 2018 on global
growth fears, only to rebound. But major
indexes have struggled to break out of a
narrow trading range.
Investors are looking ahead to Fri-
day’s jobs report for further clues on the
direction of the economy.
“If there are any signs of weakness in
consumer spending and an uptick in
unemployment in the coming months,
that would lead to more downside risks
for the market,” Buchanan said.
StocksContinued from Page 1B