'What Are You Hoping To Accomplish?' And Other Mailbag Questions

Some of you have questions. I have a few answers.

This was a week in which I received a ton of questions that I wasn’t able to tackle in the daily newsletter.

I appreciate them all and as a reminder, while anyone can ask me a question through the newsletter comments or via email at rick@allyourscreens.com, only paid subscribers get to read all of the answers.

I don’t mean to sound rude, but what are you hoping to accomplish with your newsletter? Obviously, you enjoy hearing your own voice, but are you trying to make money? Are you looking for a better job at a big outlet? Why are you doing this every day?

Not to come off snarky, but for someone who doesn’t want to sound rude, you certainly come pretty close.

Obviously, making a living is important. This newsletter and my web site are my primary sources of income.

However, I’m not looking for a job somewhere else. In part because there aren’t many entertainment news/media reporter jobs left these days. I started the web site and newsletter because I had been laid off from three traditional journalism jobs in less than two years and I decided I needed to control my own destiny.

I don’t want to sound egotistical, but I think I provide a very unique take on the television and media industries. I have deep knowledge of big media, but I also live and work outside the industry echo chambers. And since I have been at it so long, I believe I’ve built up a lot of credibility inside the business and with readers.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind making an occasional appearance on cable TV news or in bigger news outlets. Just getting my journalism in front of more people is often my biggest challenge.

But I do this because I enjoy it. I find the act of writing relaxing, which probably isn’t always healthy. However, I have never had a job I enjoyed more (other than maybe doing talk radio).

I read some of the coverage of last week’s Netflix’s earnings announcement and I am confused. I thought they had insisted for years they weren’t interested in streaming live sports. But it sounds as if they are looking at adding more events. Did they change their minds at some point, or were they just lying to investors back then?

I’ve received variations of this question from a few people this week and I looked back on what Netflix executives have said in the past about live sports.

From what I can tell, they never said they weren’t interested in live sports. What they said is that it didn’t interest them because of the costs of the media rights. And while they have begun adding some live sports events, you might notice that they are very cost-conscious when it comes to deciding which events might work for the streamer.

The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers, including my recommendation for a smaller streamer many people are sleeping on. As well as the show I am most looking forward to watching this week.