YouTube Begins New Remotely Filmed DIY Series During Lockdown

Today, YouTube announced the upcoming release of ten scripted, unscripted and live series that will debut from now until early June.

These shows include Money Talks: Taxes, a series produced by Refinery29 about handling the Covid-19 stimulus check and money management. Another show is Stay Home With YungBlud, a weekly episodic series following the artist as he is quarantined with his bandmates and friends. Third is #MoveWithMe, a global dance event to celebrate on International Dance Day on April 29.

Many YouTube original series were disrupted in production delays and shutdowns due to COVID-19, so they chose this route. All of the shows will be available to watch free, with advertisements.

Four Temple Owls Drafted Into The NFL

Shaun Bradley | Chapelle Russell | Harrison Hand | Matt Hennessy

As the 2020 NFL Draft came to a close this evening, four Temple Owls have watched their dreams turn into reality.

As the 78th overall pick in the draft, Hennessy was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. Hennessy bypassed his senior year at Temple to enter the draft as a 6-foot-4 and 307 pound center. In the 2019-2020 season, Hennessy was a third-team Associated Press All-American and a first-team selection in the American Athletic Conference.

As the 169th overall pick in the draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected Harrison Hand. Hand began his collegiate football career at Baylor under former Temple coach Matt Rhule. After two seasons for the Bears, Hand elected to transfer to Temple for his third and final season.

As the 196th overall pick in the draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected linebacker, Shaun Bradley. Bradley’s locker room will be a few steps away from his old one, as he will be playing in the same stadium he played in for his entire collegiate career.

As the 241st pick in the draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Chapelle Russell. Russell suffered from two consecutive ACL tears during his collegiate career, yet made up for his time off during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

In addition to the four draft picks, Dana Levine was signed to the New York Giants and Isaiah Wright was signed to the Washington Redskins.

NBA Suspends Season Due To Coronavirus

Denver Nuggets vs Dallas Mavericks game March 11,2020

The NBA decided to abruptly suspend the rest of the season following all games Wednesday evening after Utah Jazz player, Rudy Gobert, tests positive for COVID-19.

Utah was seconds away from tipping off at their game against the Thunder on Wednesday night when they were notified that the game would be delayed 30 minutes, soon after being completely cancelled. Nobody quite knew what was happening when a member of Thunder’s medical team approached and spoke to the referees on the court. Players immediately returned to their locker rooms.

Utah Jazz later released a statement explaining how an unidentified player tested positive for coronavirus. The player identified himself as Rudy Gobert.

The NBA was already losing money due to conflicts with the Chinese government. In addition to that, playoffs were in the near future – a time where the NBA expects both an increase in viewers and ratings.

The NBA is unsure what will happen in the future with the effects of the virus.

Cacciola, Scott, and Sopan Deb. “N.B.A. Suspends Season After Player Tests Positive for Coronavirus.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/sports/basketball/nba-season-suspended-coronavirus.html.

Disney+ Giving Netflix a Run for Their Money

The intense competition and rapid growth of Disney+ subscriptions has Netflix thinking twice about their prices.

The release of Disney+ and Apple TV+ has Netflix experiencing a slight falloff in subscription growth. The analytics from Netflix’s fourth-quarter earnings report showed they came up short on their projections, yet again. This made it the third quarter in a row that Netflix subscriptions had not been up to par.

Netflix had already been facing a slow down in membership growth last year because of their price raise, along with competitors coming on the rise. However, their competition will only continue to grow with the introduction of newer, more convenient and cheaper media-service providers. Disney+ prices already undercut Netflix’s prices, making them more appealing to consumers from the jump. Disney+ has an option of charging $7 a month or $70 for the year, whereas Netflix’s starting price is $9 a month.

Many believe Netflix needs to realize the price-sensitivity of Americans before they start losing extreme amounts of subscribers. Needham analyst Laura Martin predicted Netflix to lose more than 4 million subscribers in the next year if they do not adjust their prices to even the playing field with their competition. She says, “Netflix must add a second, lower-priced service to compete with Disney+, Apple+, Hulu, CBS All Access and Peacock, each of which have $5–$7/month choices.”

As a whole, Netflix needs to be more affordable if they want to keep their company afloat. Martin suggests a $5-$7 per month tier for users, lessening sharing of passwords and attracting the attention of lower-income consumers.

Sources: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/28/why-netflix-pricing-may-decrease-as-risk-of-subscriber-losses-grows.html