WEBVTT - David Zaslav: Why Brands and IP Matter More Than Channels 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:09.880 H M. Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's podcast featuring conversations 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:14.000 with industry leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton, 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.560 Managing editor of Television for Variety Today. My guest in 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.720 New York is Discovery Inc. President CEO David Zaslov. Zaslov 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.960 has long been known as one of the cable industry's 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.840 biggest booster. He sits atop a large portfolio of lifestyle 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.840 channels that grew this year with the acquisition of Script's networks, Interactive, 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.920 the home of Food Network, h G t V, and 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.760 other blue chip TV brands. What's interesting about this interview 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.760 is the degree to which Zaslov admits that the linear 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.680 channel's business is in slow decline. Discovery is now going 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.559 along in the I P business. Zaslov wants to amass 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.960 content and brands with global appeal that can be sliced 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:57.040 and diced in many ways for consumers linear and screaming. 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.200 Zaslov offers details about the Script steal and recent investments 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.520 in professional golf and Olympics outside the US. He gives 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.480 a candid look at how his mindset shifted about five 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.600 years ago after he was challenged by none other than 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:15.120 John Malone, a major Discovery shareholder, to answer the question 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.480 how well would we do if people could watch whatever 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:25.600 they wanted? David Zaslov, CEO of Discovery, Inc. Thank you 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.440 so much for joining us today. Thank you, Cynthia was 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.520 looking forward to it so as we as two thousand 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:36.039 eighteen winds down, I look at Discovery, I look at 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.080 your stock has had an incredible run this year, and 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.320 I look at a company that is very different as 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.920 we close out than when you began. Of course, you 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.880 had a big acquisition. You completed the acquisition of Scripts 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.320 Network Interactive, which brought you a lot of great brands 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.880 and talent and channels to put under your big roof. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.280 You've done a lot of deals, a lot of activity 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:03.240 overseas in the sport and O T T space, and 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:04.920 I know you have a lot of you know, you 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.400 have a lot of plans to come for the domestic market. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.280 Right now, in media, there seems to be a there's 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.520 a there's a pressure on traditional media giants to transform, 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:18.520 to diversify and transform. Do you feel the pressure to 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.600 transform the business that has been so successful for Discovery 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:27.560 for the past years, No question, Um, you know, media 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.799 right now is a it's a street fight, and I'm 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.400 a fighter. I love it. I love the business. Well, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.400 you've got to look for every opportunity to train, You've 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.800 got to look for every opportunity to create some winds 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.160 and momentum. Um. It's been a great, great year for us. 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:49.560 But when you talk about traditional media, we really, uh, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.680 we were having quite a run as a traditional media company. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.480 When I say we were more cable and free to 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.720 air around the world. Um. I've been here for twelve years, 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.200 and for the first seven years we had a you know, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.080 an extraordinary run both in the market and grow growth 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.520 around the world and here in the US. Um. But 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.320 I remember a conversation I had with John Malone five 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.200 years ago. Our channels were growing double digit around the 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:21.280 world in terms of viewership and uh, and our performance 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.800 was strong. Our company had grown, stock had grown from 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.720 about twelve dollars to eighty or eighty five dollars, So 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.360 we really felt like we were in stride. And John 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:37.240 and I talked about the future and uh. He turned 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.040 to me and he said, Okay, we've grown all of 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.320 our share. Um, how well would we do if people 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:49.600 could watch anything? And I thought for a moment, and 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.040 I said, Uh, we made a lot of progress in 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.520 the last seven years. We went from five percent of 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.440 viewership in the US to thirteen and I said, I 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.640 think we'd probably be back to five because a lot 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.600 of our content, it's great quality content, but it's second 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.160 choice a lot of it, and our brands aren't strong enough. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.720 And so it was that day five years ago that 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.640 we began the fight to change ourselves from a traditional 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.560 media company to end a global I P company, and 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.240 we started to change the kind of content that we 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.240 bought produced, and we changed the way we looked at 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:33.239 our brands. And Uh. That journey got us into sports 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:37.200 in Europe, where we bought Eurosport two to three sports channels. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.080 It was one of the reasons we bought the Olympics. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.240 In each case, the question was not how would this 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.280 do at eight o'clock at night, but as this content 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.719 that people would watch if they could watch anything. And 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:53.240 in the last year or two it's gotten really a 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.840 more a tougher question, which is will people pay for 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.160 this content before they'll pay for dinner. That's why we 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:05.359 bought the rights to the PGA Tour. Everywhere in the 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.960 world outside the us. Uh. That's why we bought most 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.320 of the cycling in Europe and most and all the 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:15.200 majors in Tennis, and that's why we're doubling down and 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.240 continuing to invest aggressively with Oprah and candidly that's why 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.599 we bought Scripts and this has been a great growth here. 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.320 But we were a misunderstood company because when we bought Scripts, 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.040 people thought we bought Scripts to get more linear channels 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.640 and to get synergy. We saw Scripts as an I 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:37.280 P company that hadn't been really uh, that hadn't been 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.839 taken advantage of globally. So we saw it as food, home, cooking, 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:47.240 travel and and uh and do it yourself. They owned 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.760 all that content and hadn't been used globally. But but 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.679 not just as a linear play but in the new world, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.039 when you look at food, when you look at home, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.040 aren't people going to want to consume content around on 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.920 those genres everywhere in the world on all devices and 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.400 so um, it's been five years and we got a 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.720 long way to go and a lot to learn, but 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:16.120 we are in We we made a real I think uh, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.040 we've had some some real acceleration in in changing the 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.320 way our company is seen and saying and the way 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.279 our content is consumed here in the US and around 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.479 the world. And that's why I think Ostagas has has 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.720 really improved. What would you say, what do you think 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.600 was the impetus five years ago? Was it the rise 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:40.839 of Netflix, the rise of these on demand streaming services. No, 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.680 at the time, it really was the screen on the phone, 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.960 and it was the idea that we were really fighting 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.520 over for the real estate of the TV set. And 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.200 that's why we had such a hell of a business 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.479 we had. You know, we had gone from having four 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.360 to five channels in a hundred and fifty countries to 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.440 ten to twelve channels in over two hundred countries. And 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.200 that was like beach front real estate. So if you 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.200 put the TV set on in Italy and there's fifty channels, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.440 we have twelve. And you know, that was that concept. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.160 It existed, you know, everywhere in the world, and we 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.320 were probably the most international media company um and we 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.080 had boots on the ground and so we had a 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:25.480 great gig. And because we were in a uh, this 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.320 kind of walled garden. If you wanted to consume content, 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.920 there's only fifty channels. It really it encouraged this idea 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.720 of well, we got twelve of the channels, so we 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:37.200 don't have to make each of them great. We could 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.119 make them pretty good and people will be clicking around, 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.120 they'll run into it. And it was the screen that 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.640 got got John and I on our board saying people 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.120 are starting to consume video content. It's not that far away, 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:50.840 and in the end, people are gonna be able to 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.360 choose to watch anything they want on this screen. Plus, 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.120 you know, more and more people were moving towards the 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.440 DVR on television, and then you had to be geinnings 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.640 of Netflix, and so there were more choices and there 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.520 was more of ability to choose and to say what 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.240 do I really want to watch right now versus what's 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.520 the best of what's on And so that was kind 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.920 of the beginning of this. Really it was a philosophical change, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.000 but it changed everything in terms of the way that 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.280 we look at i P and then the way that 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.280 we acquire i P and the kind of assets that 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.320 we would acquire within Discovery. And you clearly have bet 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.920 big in many markets on sports. Eurosport in Europe, I 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.120 know is a huge priority for you. The p G 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:35.120 A deal. Can you talk a little bit more about 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.880 how the PGA deal came about. Did you approach them, 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.160 did they approach you? You have broad rights to all 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.280 the PGA golf events in markets, if I'm not mistaken, 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:50.120 everywhere but North America. Everywhere but the US, So we 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.680 have Canada, we have South America. UM Sports came about 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.800 because we just looked at the way people consume content 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.840 and if toward De frances On and you love cycling, 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.040 you have to see it. So it was this question 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:08.040 and if you couldn't, would you pay for it before 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.320 you pay for dinner? And are we were just guessing, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.280 but our sense was yes, in the same way they 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.800 are super fans for Oprah and for for Discovery and 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.560 for a crime, that that the super fans around sport 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:22.480 was going to be a really good bet for us. 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.400 And so that's one of the reasons why we pushed 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:30.680 aggressively into eurosport. And then we we built a player 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.319 with BAM. We built a direct consumer product over the 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.000 last four years and on there you can get the 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:40.040 cycling and the tennis and some of the football, with soccer, handball, 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.520 Olympic sports UM and we started we learned a lot. 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.400 In fact, we sat in this conference room made a 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:48.200 list of the ten things we thought we knew for 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.040 sure about the director consumer business, and eight of them 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.480 were wrong because the way people consume content on a 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.480 phone or on a device is a lot different than 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.320 the way they consume content on a TV. And that's 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:04.520 what led us to the p g A. The The 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.240 euro Sport Player has been quite successful for us and 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:09.880 we think we could take it to the next level. 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.079 But it's like a buffet. We we have a group 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.200 of sports and for ten dollars a month you can 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:17.600 you can get all that stuff. So you're watching the 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.840 French Open, and then the next month you're watching Toward 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.040 de France, and then you're watching the Diving Championships and 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.760 people like it. But the churn was high and we 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.720 started to talk to people about it and they said 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.040 they like the Eurosport Player, but often one of the 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.760 reasons that they churn or leave is that they came 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.800 for the tennis and there was in tennis for another 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.880 three months, where they came for the cycling and the 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.280 cycling season is six months and now they can you know, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.480 they like the other sports, but they'll they'll subscribe again 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.040 when the cycling starts, and so we found that one 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.719 you need if you if you can have all of 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.200 a sport, it's pretty compelling because it's almost like a 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.199 magazine for people that loved golf or love tennis. They 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.120 want to sume it all the time. They're real super fans, 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:04.960 and you have to have a lot of it. We 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.840 also saw what Adam Silver did with basketball in baseball 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.000 very successful because you have a hundred hundreds of games, 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.319 and so we looked at golf Um and we said, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.480 it's every week, there's multiple tours, there's live content all 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.400 the time. It's a very good demo and more than 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.600 half the people on the PGA Tour are from outside 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.200 the US and it's the premier tour everywhere in the world. 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:33.400 So I approached j um Monahan, who's the commissioner of 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.240 the p g a UM, but he had already been 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.200 studying us because he was looking at how the fact 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.640 that Discovery is the most global company in the world, 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.800 and we have because we have ten channels in every 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:49.199 country and with the leader in sports in Europe, we 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.920 have an ability to promote to our two consumers products 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.760 that we have and we can create content in fifty 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.280 two languages, and so when I went to see j Um, 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:05.840 we talked about our ambition to take golf globally and 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.160 Jay talked about why his ambition was. It needs to 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.080 be in every language, It needs to be promoted, and 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.720 the characters need to be promoted on traditional platforms as well. 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.079 You need to let people know about it, You need 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.199 channels to tell people you should sign up for this, 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.360 And so we were really like a perfect match. It 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.840 sounds like the PJ felt like their rights were under 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.960 exploited outside the US, that they really needed to raise 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.319 that profile and they needed to go with a company 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.280 that already had experience going direct to consumer um and 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.760 believed in it um. And for us, you know, we 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.400 were already all in with this idea that you know, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.240 the p g a globally and we're gonna make some 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.440 announcements in the next couple of weeks. We will add 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:51.000 to that. We think creating a whole ecosystem around a sport, 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.720 or creating a whole ecosystem about around food or around 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:58.720 home or around cooking, that's the way to go. And golf, 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.079 I think just gives us a great opportunity to do that. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.240 And we're also you know, one of the things that 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.440 differentiates us from everyone else is that we own almost 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.439 all of our content everywhere in the world on every platform. 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.400 So most media companies own the US right, so they 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.600 own the linear rights. So if Arizon offers the NFL 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.280 on mobile, they get it from Roger Goodell. They don't 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.839 buy it from from one of the uh the networks 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.679 that own rights that it's not a sub licensing kind 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:30.360 of thing. And so our philosophy is we're a global 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.360 IP company, and the more great i P that we 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.320 could aggregate globally, it gives us a chance to do 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:43.560 what Facebook and Apple and Google and Amazon and Netflix 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:49.079 have done, which has created so much leverage and wealth creation, 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.320 is that they go above the globe. They're able to 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.400 take i P and essentially go everywhere in the world 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.280 and say, if you love this content, it's it's like 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.840 it's up there in a cloud. Anywhere you are in 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.600 the world, you can you can hit your button on 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.400 your phone and you can watch this. It's completely different 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.440 from the way our business started with local franchises, and 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.640 so with the p g A, with the exception of 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.240 the US, were above the globe and with all of 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.560 almost all of our other content, food, home, science, crime. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:26.120 Where above the globe philosophically and the above the globe 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.880 allows you to amortize these incredibly expensive rights, whether it's 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.280 for content or sports or is that I mean, that's 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.680 the calculation because the Netflix example is great, but we 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.960 all know Netflix isn't making money. How are you going 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.200 to make these really turn these into businesses. One of 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.800 the things is that we're really in a different business 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.360 than most companies and media because most media is in 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.640 scripted series and scripted movies. So if if our business 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.960 was a soccer field, and it was and I was 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.560 going to my my my son's game when he was young, 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.720 you know, scripted series and scripted movies would be the 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.080 ball and almost everybody would be surrounding that ball and 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.760 fighting over the ball. Where the rest of the field, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.320 And so, you know, our cost of content is a 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:20.600 tenth to our average cost of content is four thousand 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.160 an hour. The average cost of content for scripted is 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.600 you know, five, five or ten million. And and they're 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:32.840 all competing for scripted content, in scripted movies and series 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:38.320 to build you know, an HBO, a competitive HBO, Showtime, Netflix, 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:43.400 all of these stars, all these very compelling director. Consumer 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.960 offerings are starting to look very similar their scripted series 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.360 and their scripted movies. But if you're a consumer and 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.520 you want to consume content, if it's scripted series and 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.160 scripted movies, you have ten choices for between ten and 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.960 fifteen dollars. But if you want to consume something else 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.280 that's quality that you love, what's the rest of the stuff. 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.480 And that's what we see. That's our field. So if 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.680 you love science and natural history, you can get that 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.920 from us. If you love Oprah, you can get that 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:12.720 from us. This is in the long term. If you 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.880 love food or home, if you love golf, if you 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.800 love cycling, and so we see ourselves almost as like 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:22.800 a magazine rack, whereas you know, the most of the 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.240 rest of the industry, they're kind of Entertainment weekly or 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.960 their Time magazine or the kind of broad platforms that 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.360 give you a little a fair amount of entertainment in 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.600 the scripted area. And and and so we're about quality 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.040 brands that have super fans that we hope we're gonna 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:43.440 pull us your bonappetite and town and country and like 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.760 Golf Digest, you know, World Open Magazine, and that you know, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.720 those magazine. Most magazines are gonna go away, and people 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.560 are gonna be having they're going to be consuming content 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.000 and they'll get up in the morning. And you know, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.040 we think with Golf TV, they'll get up in the 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.440 morning and they'll hit the off TV app, they'll read 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.920 about golf, maybe they'll book a teatime somewhere. They'll they'll 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.080 in the afternoon, they'll pull it down and there'll be 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.240 more articles about what's coming up this weekend, or about 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.920 about which players are hot. Uh, they'll be instructional video 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.080 if you want to work on your putting, and then 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.120 on the weekend you'll be able to choose what tour 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:20.639 you want to watch and you can watch it on 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.399 your phone or you can watch it on any device. 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.600 And um, So we think the possibilities by owning this 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:31.520 i P is the compelling possibility is that we can 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.040 now go direct to consumer with this. But we also 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.280 have the optionality that if Apple wanted to go, they're 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.440 already above the globe. They're already in business with five 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.200 million people that they have credit cards and they're selling 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.080 them products. If they want to sell i P two 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.680 people everywhere globally, you know what company could sell them 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:55.200 content with characters they know, brands they trust, uh and 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.760 and stories that they that they would want to watch, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.560 you know, in in all these day for an areas 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.600 and you could choose. And so whether it's Apple or 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:09.000 Facebook or Google um there, you know, or us doing 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.200 regional deals. You know, I was with um with with 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.439 the Hans the other day from Verizon. They have a 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.160 hundred and ten million phones randall. You know, these are 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:22.320 two great executives between the two. Between the two of them, 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:29.440 they have two uh million homes I mean devices uh screens, 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.760 And so how do we get our stuff on those screens? 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.480 And so we can do it ourselves or we can 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:40.480 sell to all the regional players or the global fan companies, 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.399 you know, depending over the next couple of years what 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.200 they feel that they need. But we're starting to see 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.600 now for the first time that a lot of the 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.840 big cable, satellite, and mobile companies, as well as the 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:59.240 fan companies, are more and more feeling like they maybe 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:03.760 need some I to either help their platform or decommoditize 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.640 their platform. Are you having those conversations with the Apples 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.520 and the Amazons that do seem such a fit for 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.760 various reasons, with your lifestyle centric channels. We're I mean, 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:16.840 we're talking to everybody. You know. We'd like to be 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.960 on every Horizon phone in America, T Mobile phone, a 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.560 T and T phone. We'd like to be all across 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.560 Europe on Deutsche Telecom and Voda Phone. We're a little early, 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.920 you know, I think, um philosophically, you know, we've made 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.480 the decision to go I P long, So we do 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.359 we sell very little of our content, uh to other distributors. 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.919 Were holding all of it because we think someday, you know, 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.080 the ability to go sit down with Amazon and do 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.560 a deal around food and cooking in the kitchen with 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:49.720 Alexa globally. And if we did that and they said 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.240 to us, okay, well, how much of your stuff, your 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.679 recipes and your short form and your long form content, 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.640 can can we get day one, we would say all 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.240 of it. And it's already in you know, X number 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.920 of languages, and so we haven't been selling it. There 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.600 are other media companies and these are this is also 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.199 a good model, which is create the content, hold it 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.240 for your linear platform, and then sell it off everywhere 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.439 in the world. But so we're I P long and 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:19.960 we think in the long term you know, being an 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:24.640 I P company will will UH will create a lot 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.680 of shareholder value and also make us a sustainable growth company. 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:34.680 Because if we're right, then the mobile companies, satellite companies, 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.080 and the fan companies over the next couple of years, 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:41.200 A're gonna say I need some more good stuff, really 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.360 good content of great stories that people love. And they'll 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.840 look around. They'll say, let's talk to Discovery. They have 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.800 all this great women's content or great lifestyle content or 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:54.199 great sport content. And and at that point it'll, you know, 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.040 our whole company will look different because our content will 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.720 be we won't be just we won't we won't have 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.600 just a growth company. By putting our content on free 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:06.920 to air channels and cable companies, our content will be 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.479 on the billions of screens and they'll be they'll be 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.160 pushed by the regional players or the big fan companies 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.480 because they'll want that content in order to UH to 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.160 delight their customers. It sounds like the scenario sketching out 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:27.560 sounds like the fang companies become a next generation Comcast 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:33.879 or cable vision that they become Netflix. UM is that 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.600 kind of that is your sense of their ambition in 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.000 the video space is to kind of become those aggregators. 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.600 It's it's it's clear that the platform companies, those that 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:50.680 are built broadband and phone and cable, um, when they compete, 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:53.720 they look very much alike, and so more and more 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:57.760 they're looking to have I P to decommoditize their platform. 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:00.959 In Europe, a lot of the mobile companies bought the football, 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.199 bought the soccer in order to to differentiate. So if 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:07.359 you bought BTEE, then you've got all this great football. Um, 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.520 you have T Mobile giving away uh Netflix to customers. 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.040 You have Randall doing a T and T now a 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:16.720 bunch of free stuff to the best users. So if 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.680 that trend continues, I think we see it on both tracks. 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:24.000 We see the big platform companies in Europe, Latin America, Asia, 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.879 the US that have invested in building broadband, phone and cable, 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.240 they're gonna need some special stuff for the broadband users 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.439 or the phone or their mobile users and will have 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.160 a full menu to say, you know, in language, what 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.639 do you think would help you? We're open for business. 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:44.280 And the fan companies are more and more trying to 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:46.760 get people to spend more time on their platforms or 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:49.480 to love them and you know, wanted to give me 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:52.240 hard at times it's hard, you know, right, and and 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.679 and and maybe because of what's going on now, having 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:59.480