Episode 109: EchoStar and DirecTV Deal; Paramount Drops Nielsen; Netflix and Prime Video's Ad Business

This week, we discuss what could happen to DTC services Sling TV and DIRECTV STREAM if the planned deal for EchoStar to sell Dish to DirecTV gets approved. We also highlight news that Skydance is in talks with the NFL to purchase the NFL Network, and the latest on Diamond Sports Group's decision to release all but one of its MLB contracts in hopes of securing approval for its bankruptcy reorganization plan. We detail Paramount Global’s decision to drop Nielsen as its main viewer-measurement currency in certain instances, with Paramount saying that, in some cases, Nielsen's fees already exceed the total advertising revenue of the network being measured.We detail the misconceptions about Netflix and Amazon’s advertising businesses and discuss why Prime Video is expected to add more ad inventory while not changing its plans to have fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers meaningfully. Finally, we share some numbers tied to the news that Comcast will deploy Qwilt’s open caching platform within its network at hundreds of locations over the course of the rollout, with the first locations going live in the next 1-2 months.Thanks to this week's podcast sponsor: Integrated Digital SolutionsPodcast produced by Security Halt Media