PanthersATL

Continuing from a Sunday Ticket thread conversation about Amazon anti-trust stuff with @LinvilleGorge, so as not to muck up the main forum with a divergence into a different topic. And when that investigation came out (and focused specifically on Amazon), my thought was this: "What exactly is Amazon's business? What do they sell?" It's not books, movies, CDs. It's not computer services, or 50lb bags of dogfood delivered next day. Amazon is selling convenience. That is their #1 primary product and focus. How can they make whatever it is that a consumer or business would want to buy a more convenient transaction? People don't flock to Amazon to buy things anymore because Amazon has the cheapest prices. They use Amazon because AMZN has built the absolute most convenience/easiest way to make that purchase and get it into your hands. Other businesses (Wal-Mart in particular) have tried, but what stops people from buying The Exact Same Product at Wal-Mart's online shop vs buying it via Amazon? If you've tried to use either app or website, the answer is probably staring you in the face -- Amazon's interface and shopping flow is just easier. Their return policy is easier. Same holds true for AWS vs AZURE (backend services). Having used both -- and they both do the same things -- I find working with AWS to be easier overall vs AZURE. There's nothing stopping Wal-Mart or Microsoft or any other tiny upstart business from redesigning their product offerings to be easier to use, or to offer more desirable products than Amazon does. As for being anti-competitive, I'll equate that to things where a consumer is forced to use a specific vendor rather than have a choice. Because consumers can choose to buy The Exact Same Things from companies other than Amazon, Amazon can defend themselves by saying that their is legit competition. Ditto using Google as a search engine (use Bing, or duckduckgo, or Ask Jeeves, or whatever), or Microsoft for a computer OS. As long as there are options and choices available, I can't see how Amazon could be *forced* to split up their consumer business from their AWS business or whatever. Plus, considering Amazon makes more money from the non-commerce services now, I don't see how a breakup would lead to anything worthwhile in general. It's all about convenience. Make a simpler mousetrap, and people will flock to it. (It's been Apple's mantra for a while, too...)

I think they'll do both -- make it an add-on, available only to Prime members, but at a cost point that really makes it a no-brainer to tack it on (and cheaper than what DirecTV was charging. Especially if they make it available as team-specific games for an additional $50 vs Get All The Games for $100, folks will pony up. Add on whatever advertising they can muster along the way... and it'll be a cash cow. Plus, considering the number of people who are already Prime members, I could see the NFL looking at this as a way to practically eliminate* illegal streaming. Once legit music streaming services came out, that pretty much ended the majority of the illegal music pirating world I could see the same happening here: the more/easier it is to get what you want legitimately at a reasonable or accessible price, the harder it is to justify using an illegal service.

It's been avail for at least a year, yup. https://www.verizon.com/entertainment/ Disney+ Hulu ESPN+ Discovery+ AMC+ Discounted SLING Apple Arcade Google Play Pass Discounted Apple Music There might be more.... Keep in mind AT&T and T-Mobile have their own deals. Tmobile supports free AppleTV+, Paramount+, Netflix AT&T does free HBOMax

Looks like Viacom is putting INSIDE THE NFL exclusively on Paramount+ this season, which means we have to put up with the crappy Paramount+ interface to FF through the segments to get to the pieces that we want to view. The whole production seems to have gone a bit downhill in terms of the way the content has been presented since its move from HBO over to Showtime - but that may be just my opinion. That being said, Phil Sims said this week that the Panthers are one of his two teams to watch to make it to the playoffs. So for now, I'm a Phil Sims fan.

Verizon is actively advertising all the free subscriptions that they offer to customers, including Disney, ESPN, Hulu, and more.

Please expand on your thoughts on trust-busting with regards to Amazon. Lots of other companies do online commerce/sales. There's nothing stopping people from utilizing Walmart or other organization's online services where you can buy the same items. Lots of other companies do backend services. Nothing stopping companies from utilizing Microsoft's Azure or Google Cloud services for their backend. Lots of other companies are bidding for the NFL package. Netflix has a larger streaming base than Amazon has. How does Amazon getting this deal lead to trust-busting?

Amazon appears to be the frontrunner to pick up Sunday Ticket. Allegedly, the NFL is looking for $2.5b *per year* for the deal. The current DirecTV product will end after the 2022-2023 season. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/amazon-likely-front-runner-for-multi-year-nfl-sunday-ticket-deal-sources.html

DWTS is mostly wholesome family entertainment. It used to be a laugh riot with Erin Andrews as co-host with Tom Bergeron, but sadly they were relieved of their duties. As Tom would often say: mock everything about the show that you want (the costumes, theming, dance choices, etc) , but not the effort put in by the performers.

Taco Bell wants their customers to MAIL back their used ... or extra... hot sauce packets instead of throwing them away to go to a landfill. The theory is to help cut down on the 8 billion pounds of used sauce packets that go into US landfills every year. Customers sign up for a TerraCycle account collect empty sauce packets into a recyclable container print a free shipping label from TerraCycle's website ship the box back via UPS. What could go wrong? https://abc7.com/taco-bell-sauce-packets-recycling/11011216/

If you have SirusXM, then they carry the audio but you need the upgraded package. The Panthers app (or WBT's app, the radio flagship) may also work -- although you MAY need to get a mobile VPN to reset your geolocation.

New update, for those of you on Verizon cellphones who were able to stream the NFL for free: =-=- Verizon had carried NFL games live on mobile in the U.S. since 2010, and under its pact with the league in 2017 had relinquished exclusive mobile streaming rights. Now it’s ending that piece of the NFL deal. https://variety.com/2021/biz/news/verizon-nfl-marketing-tech-partnership-10-year-1235059764/

Cast announced this morning: Jimmie Allen (country singer) Melanie C (SPICE GIRL!) Christine Chiu (something something plastic surgery) Melora Hardin ("Jan" from The Office) Olivia Jade (parents have been in jail) Matt James (Bachelor) Amanda Kloots (former Rockette, and on The Talk) Martin Kove (karate kid) Suni Lee (olympian) The Miz (The Miz) Kenya Moore (Real Housewives) Cody Rigsby (professional stationary bike rider) Brian Austin Green (dates lots of women) JoJo Siwa (ponytail aficionado) Iman Shumpert (NBA)

True: Doritos were invented at Disneyland. (You're welcome)

Sign out of the app. Clear the Hulu app memory/cache settings via the System menu Uninstall the Hulu app Restart the FireStick Verify you have the latest Firestick updates. If you needed any, then restart the Firestick again Reload the Hulu app Sign back in again (and yes, if you have limited memory space on that Stick, then try deleting some of the lesser-used apps from the FireStick as well to clear up some avail memory.)

I don't hate this concept: chocolate churro Pop Tarts https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pop-tarts-launches-limited-edition-dia-de-muertos-box-inspired-by-cultural-tradition-301364862.html

I realize that it's not the same as watching the game on TV, but there have been times I haven't been able to watch where I've resorted to the radio broadcast and keeping an eye on the play-by-play graphics on the Panthers app or NFL.COM for casual details.

HULU is raising their prices in October. https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/hulu-price-increase-streaming-plans-1235057717/ On Tuesday, Hulu began notifying subscribers that as of Oct. 8, the price of Hulu’s two on-demand plans — with ads and without commercials — will increase by $1 for both current and new subscribers. Hulu with ads will increase from $5.99 to $6.99 per month and Hulu (No Ads) will increase from $11.99 to $12.99.

You're lucky. CBS Atlanta is supposedly showing Texans/Jags. You'd think that they'd at least want to show something in-conference if given a chance. Then again, maybe this is a mistake in their listings too. One can only hope.

And... confirmed -- this is NOT an option for the Cherokee NC casinos, despite Harrah's Cherokee marketing of this national promotion Their marketing team will look into adding some disclaimers to their marketing so as to to mislead their customers.

Keep in mind that the various TV guide providers may display different information, depending on when/how they receive their updates from the station or the network and when they push those updates out to subscribers/clients/providers. Wouldn't be the first time a specific listing wasn't accurate vs info from other sources. Where I am, a local channel was showing a very specific local program (they advertised it on the air and they promoted it for a week). But the guide continued to mention "Paid Programming" in the timeslot and on the DVR recording metadata. The recorded program was correct - it definitely was not "Paid Programming" as would have been aired normally. In this case, I just chalk it up to someone at the station didn't submit their program change to all the proper entities OR the guide staff didn't push the update down the line. In these cases, I just shrug and go "oh well". I know, not helpful for your situation.

Something tells me this may not be valid in North Carolina at the Harrah's Cherokee locations. NC is definitely not mentioned in the "official rules". But, if this is your thing: bet $100 in September, get a $150 credit for NFL Shop to buy a jersey. Details: https://www.williamhill.com/us/nfl-opt-in

Curious whether any Panthers execs were part of the survey, and where THEY ranked us.

Enjoying it as well, but it's not the "laugh riot" that a series with Martin and Short (and Nathan Lane) would suggest it could be. I expected more madcap silliness, but it has more poignant moments than I personally would like.

Well, looks like LoCast may not be around for much longer, maybe. Today, the US court of Appeals ruled that Locast may be violating broadcasters' "no retransmission" copyright. Because Locast wasn't charging anything - it merely asked for donations - they felt that they didn't have to ask permission from the stations that they were rebroadcasting. The EFF (fighting on behalf of Locast) claims that Locast is a non-profit AND helping to ensure that "every American has access to their local broadcast stations". Locast says that their 3m users either can't afford cable or get the local station via OTA means, so this ruling is akin to cutting those 3m users off from local news and info during a pandemic. =-=-= Counterpoint: The "cut from local news and info during a pandemic" line may not fly much these days, as every local station has some manner of making their news information available online, whether it be streaming off their own website or via some authorized third party distributor such as Amazon Fire's news app, Roku, or others. Same holds true for the national broadcast content (Hulu, Paramount+, etc)