WEBVTT - Inside HBOMax's Streaming Strategy with WarnerMedia CTO Jeremy Legg 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.560 Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:11.879 which we speak with some of the brightest minds working 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:15.880 in media today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety. We are 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:18.680 months away from the launch of HBO Max, but you 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.079 better believe my next guest is already plenty busy. He's 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.360 Jeremy leg chief technology officer at Warner Media. He's the 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.680 one who will make sure HBO Max is streaming into 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.120 your home seamlessly, with all the bells and whistles of 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.040 the product functioning. Thanks for coming in, Jeremy, Thanks for 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:36.519 having me, and it's great to be one of the 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:40.560 brightest minds. My staff is an elite, elite group of people. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.680 That's awesome. UM So we're sitting here talking in early December. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.680 The launch at this point is months away. I don't 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:52.640 think you guys have said we're public about that, and 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.240 so even though we're here in December, I'm just curious 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.360 in the process of ensuring this thing goes off without 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.520 a hitch. Where are you Well, So we're we're basically 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.240 at our first beta. Um So. We just launched an 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.800 internal beta recently um and brought in a lot of 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.720 the content from Turner and HBO and Warner Brothers um 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.600 and so we've expanded the HBO Now and Go application 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.560 as consumers might think of it, and rebranded it as 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.360 HBO Max and made it a multi tenant technology platform 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.240 that can support not just the HBO brand, but all 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.800 of the brands of the broader company. So we're it's 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.080 internal right now, we haven't released it out to the 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.920 broader consumer base, but there's an app there and it 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.160 works and when you press when you press play, the 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.039 video plays. Got it. And I assume there's you know, 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.560 plenty of meetings with with the the Green Blacks and 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.080 Riley's of the world. I'm talking about the gentleman who 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.400 we are running the content side of this. Do they 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:51.840 leave you to do your own thing? Or is it 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.440 all everyone's getting in each other's businesses, regardless regardless of 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.200 whether it's content or distribution. Well, I asked Bob and 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.640 Kevin to write code for me regularly, but they but 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.920 they but they have so far declined that honor. But 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.600 we work very closely with them, right So they're obviously, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.919 you know, building the content, selecting the content, and then 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.400 we work collectively on how that content is going to 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.800 be featured in merchandise inside of the application, and also 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:18.640 a lot of the product features associated with what we're building. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.240 So it's it's a you know, this is a this 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.600 is truly a corporate wide effort um involving you know, 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.280 both the leadership as well as the working teams across 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.239 many organizations, and so we work very closely with them 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.560 on all of this. And you're not starting from scratch. 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:35.840 It's not as if the HBO or Turner brands are 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.840 new to streaming. You mentioned, you know, HBO Go and HBO. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:43.040 Now how much of a leg up does that give 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.040 you or from an infrastructure perspective, is it like a 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.720 clean slate? It gives us a pretty significant leg up. 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.119 I mean, there's some downsides to it, but I'll talk 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.920 about the positives first. On on the on the positive 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.560 side of the ledger, you know, we have a scaled platform. 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.320 That platform delivered Am of Thrones. We did four point 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.239 six four point seven million concurrent streams on the final 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.520 episode and millions more before that, and so we know 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.720 it can handle large video loads. We know it can 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.040 handle lots of consumers coming into the application, and uh, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.160 you know it's a brand that you know, millions of 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.400 consumers have access to today and use the application today, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.680 So you know, we're starting from a strong foundation, and 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.320 so we're working now on how do you merchandise more 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.280 brands inside of that application than just Hbo because obviously 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.320 this becomes everything from DC Comics to you know, Turner 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.800 Properties and other components or other content brands across the 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.600 broader company on the other side of the fence. And 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.960 the part that's a little bit more of a challenge is, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.960 you know, you've got millions of people using HBO going now, 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.480 and they're going to start using HBO Max. So how 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:53.160 do you get seamless consumer transitions from those legacy applications 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.600 into um HBO max for example, UM how do you 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.360 translate all of their personalizations and recommendations into the new app? 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.800 How far do you go with that? And so you know, 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:04.960 those are things you wouldn't otherwise have to work through 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:06.960 if you had a clean slate and you were launching 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.000 the app for the first time. But I'll take those problems. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.160 I'll take the problems of having millions of people using 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.839 your application and working through that rather than starting at zero. Yeah, 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.520 it's a nice standing start. Does that mean that brands 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.600 like HBO Now will continue in the HBO Max era. Yeah, 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.279 it does. I mean the HBO Now and Go brands 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.280 are not going away. HBO as a brand, more importantly 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.440 is not going away. It's you know, a central brand 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.760 for the broader company. Um. The challenge for us is 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.040 how do you maintain HBO as a brand and a 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.159 product separate apart from HBO Max, but then also take 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.680 HBO Max and make it a broader brand umbrella for 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.400 the other properties of the company. So it's a you know, 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.520 this is something we talked with with Kevin and Bob 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.760 about regularly, Andy Forcel and Tony Consalves on the on 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.880 the product side is how do we build the technology 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.039 in such a way that the publishing and editorial teams 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.720 can feature these applications in such a way that they 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.080 maintain their brand identities. And so it's it's a you know, 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.880 when I talk about sort of multi tenant, that's really 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.120 what I mean is, you know, how do you have 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.320 HBO live in there, but how do you also have 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.240 DC Comics live in there? How do you also how 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.400 do you also have the other brand properties of the 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.360 company living there. It's it's an interesting challenge for us. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.320 You know, CNN is going to be in this application, um, 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.520 and so you've got a lot of brands that normally 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.000 people don't think about sort of coexisting together. And so 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.320 you have to bring all that into one application and 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.360 create a way for people to find that content, personalize 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.279 that content, recommend that content, and navigate around the application 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.840 in a coherent way. I guess I I never stopped 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.960 to think of the as you put it, the multi 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.640 tendency as as an issue because I just assumed you're 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.480 grabbing a bunch of content. It all has different labels, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.279 network brands, and you dump them into the streaming service. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.400 I know I'm making this ridiculously simplistic, but are you 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.520 somehow SI justesting that even though we're kind of moving 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:06.440 away from the traditional linear system in this streaming world, 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:11.599 that these brands maintain some kind of distinct presence. Yes, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.560 I mean, uh, you know there will be capabilities to 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.640 cut across brand so as you you know, as you 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.400 do search right, as you look at genres or things 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.160 like that, those aren't brands specific. But some of these 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.080 brands are very strong. They have um, you know, cult 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.880 followings and fan followings, and we don't want to diminish that. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.800 So we want areas of the application to feature those 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.760 brands and allow consumers to dive deep inside of those 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.200 brands to discover things around Batman or Superman. I mean, 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.560 these are iconic kinds of things, and so we don't 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.560 want to simply merchandise things and just sort of throw 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.600 it all into one funnel and say, go find your content. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.880 So they'll be you know, curated components of this. They'll 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.320 be brand areas associated with this, you know, much of 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.320 which we showed, for example, during Investor Day. But then 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.400 they'll also be ways for consumers to navigate to specific 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.400 content that they may want. So you know, you can 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.919 go into the search bar and it is not brand specific, 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.080 so you can go and find any content that you 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.880 want in that way. From a product perspective, is there 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.520 something about HBO max is a streaming service that you 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.520 think will set it apart from some of the others 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.239 in this space. Is there some sort of strategic tech 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.720 that you guys are taking in terms of u X 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.440 or infrastructure. Well, I think there's I think there's a 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:28.400 couple of things that we're doing. One. I'll start on 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.640 the product side and then another I'll talk on the 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.400 tech side. On on the product side, Yes, we want 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:38.960 there to be computer driven algorithms associated with personalization and recommendation, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.200 and we'll build those things. Those are valuable things, um. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.160 But what we also want to do is is add 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.239 an element of curation to this that we don't really 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.800 think exists in the spot space at the at the 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.320 degree to which we have or to degree to which 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.320 we're building into the product. So as you think about, 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.960 you know, the sort of endless scrolls of tiles that 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.440 exist across most of the spots us is they're largely 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.080 just driven by an algorithm. We want sections in there 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:09.160 where we can actually curate and publish content specifically by 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.720 humans and have that capability there so that if we 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.760 want to merchandise or feature certain things around you know, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.720 Batman or Superman or classic movies or whatever, it might 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.400 be that they're publishing capabilities where you can feature things. 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.200 So akin to if you think about the way you 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.160 know Turner Classic Movies does thirty days of Oscar or 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.880 thirty days of James Bond, those are human curated kinds 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.280 of capabilities. We want those capabilities as well as algorithmic 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:40.920 capabilities to deliver consumers at different experience. Okay, I'm curious 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:45.680 also as we talk about HBO Max and launching into 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.880 the teeth of the so called streaming wars, do you 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.280 look around at the competitors. Are you kind of studying 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.960 them Disney Plus obviously in the market now, Apple TV 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.720 Plus in the market now or is it more like, 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.839 you know, we just keep our head down and create 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.480 the product we're going to create. Well, I mean, I 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.040 hate to maybe a non answer answer, but the answers yes. Um, 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.480 of course, we look at what the competitors are doing, 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.200 and we look inside of their applications and the features 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.840 that are there. The consumers have clearly decided they like, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.959 and we have to make value based decisions about, you know, 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:20.679 whether we're gonna put that in our app or not 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.959 put that in our app. Um. But with all that said, 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.960 at the end of the day, you know, we can't 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.240 spend all of our time worrying about what Disney does 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.960 or what you know NBC does, or what Netflix does. 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:32.720 We have an app we have to build, and we 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.560 have to believe in the product that we're building. And 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.439 so while we pay attention to it and we look 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.800 up over the horizon and and certainly note the things 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.440 that they're doing. Um, you know, we obviously went in 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.840 and looked at the Disney Plus application when it launched. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:48.679 At the same time, we've got a roadmap that we're 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.520 trying to deliver against. We've got a value proposition we're 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:53.800 trying um to deliver against, which we think is a 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.920 bit differentiated from our competitors. And we don't have time 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.680 to worry about it. We we've got to launch an 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.360 app and you know, five six months and there's a 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.520 lot of work to do. Do you have like those 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:09.240 next six months, uh six months you know sketched out 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:11.920 within an inch of itself? And in other words, is 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.400 there you just know everything that needs to happen operationally 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:17.720 at this point and it's all sort of mapped out 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.560 more or less. Yeah, I mean they're you know, we've 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.760 got all of our scrum teams, you know, assigned work 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.959 right up until the launch. We know when we're going 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.640 into QA, we know when we're going into code freezes 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.199 and all that. You know. With that said, there's always 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.440 requirements that pop up here and there via discussions with 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.559 the studio side of the house, the product side of 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.680 the house, or the distribution side of the house, and 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:43.720 so there are new things that pop up, and we 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.880 we have to make prioritization decisions about squeezing one thing 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.040 out and moving it to a subsequent release. But for 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.960 the most part, the roadmaps pretty baked. I mean, uh, 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.199 if to launch something of this scale, um, you can't 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.600 be making it up at this age of the game. 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.400 You need to kind of have your ducks in a row. 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.160 I would imagine something like this. You know, in any company, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.600 you get a sense of what are priorities, what perhaps 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.880 takes the oxygen away from other things. Is this kind 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.960 of like an all hands, all consuming thing that to 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.440 some degree presents a challenge in terms of balancing the 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.640 resources there versus you know, keeping the lights on in 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.480 other areas of the company. Yes, I mean, uh, certainly. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.720 You know, I think one of the challenges that our 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:30.400 company has had, and I think a lot of media 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.320 companies have had, is that you know, if you look 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.360 at a Netflix or or you know, a spot service 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.960 out there, um, and they you know, they do a 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.080 great job with their product, and you know, consumers have 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.160 clearly decided that they like it, but they have thousands 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.720 of people that work on one app UM, and historically 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.160 most of the major media companies really haven't done that. 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.840 You know, we're supporting dozens of applications and broadcast plants 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.080 and all those kinds of things. I think one of 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.360 the big things that's really changed in in the roll 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.720 out of HBO Max, and I would suspect it similar 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.320 at some of our media appears, is that people are 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.080 taking this much more seriously than they have in the past. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:13.400 They're throwing significant content resources against it and technology resources 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.720 against it. And so does it UM, you know, mean 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:21.920 that the sort of capital distribution across the technology organizations 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.200 is slanting towards HBO Max. The answer is yes, UM. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.600 What I would also say with that is it should 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.560 you know it. We are at a moment in time, 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.640 I think, in our business model and cycle where we 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.920 have to start throwing more of the capital against UM, 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.079 both the innovations that we're doing in the streaming space 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.079 as well as as well as the product side of 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:49.000 the house. And that doesn't mean no other brands receive capital, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.960 but it does mean that that you know, we're we 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.520 are really putting our shoulder behind doing this. It sounds 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.600 like a lot of plaque pressure too. It is, but 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.280 you know, this is actually the fun stuff, you know. 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.079 I mean, yes, it's pressure, and and if it doesn't work, 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.240 there may be a new CTU of Warner Media at 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:11.000 some point. But but you know, you're building things, you know, 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.480 I mean, you're you're you're playing offense, um, and you're 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.360 gonna release a product, honestly that the company I think 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.600 will be very proud of. And I think that even 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.440 though people are working very hard, they're excited about what 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.920 they're doing because it will not only be a significant 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:28.600 event for the company, but we think it will be 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.160 something that resonates in the marketplace. UM. So that's sort 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.520 of the good pressure. There's other things that are bad pressure. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.440 But but you know, I don't enjoy doing budgets all 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.120 the time, and I don't you know, enjoy, you know, 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.480 doing cost reductions. But you know, you have to do 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.800 some of those things in order to free up capital 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.319 to do things you know, where you're playing offense. And 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.400 as long as as long as you know, look, we're 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.480 gonna have three swings at the plate on this and 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.480 and I feel good about our batting average. Well when 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.040 Disney Plus stepped up to the plate, as I'm sure 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.120 you saw tremendous demand, but then some technical problems that 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.480 came with that. Do moments like that give you pause 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:06.920 that you say, oh my god, I hope we don't 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.800 have to deal with that, or uh, what can you 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.360 really do even to to take precautions? Yeah, I'd say 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.319 that there is an unwritten code amongst c C t 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.320 O s where you feel for the other person. That's 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.520 that's going through it because anyone who's you know, run 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:27.120 large organizations or or you know how direct to consumer products, 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.280 you know, you've had stumbles and that's what technology. Uh, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.640 that is unfortunately a reality of building scale technology. So 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:35.680 you know, I feel for my peers on the other 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.560 side of the world, and that's certainly not something that 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.760 they wanted to have to have happened. With that said, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.280 you know, there are learnings associated with with UM. You 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.600 know all these things, and a lot of them are 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.600 around scale UM and how much scale you build in 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.520 the public cloud, not just for streaming, but for authentication 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.600 systems and entitlement systems and building systems. And you've got 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.480 to run through a pretty robust set of use cases, 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.840 both in terms of human banging on this and testing it, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.280 but also automated scripting and automated testing to do load 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.360 balancing across all of these different areas so that you 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.200 feel like you're releasing an app that um is pretty 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.640 battle tested. I don't know exactly what happened on the 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.320 Disney application, but at the same time, they had enormous 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.200 demand for it out of the gates. So if if 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.640 you had to pick a reason that something failed, too 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.800 many people trying to get in, it is probably probably 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.520 problem of a high class problem. And you know, if 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.200 I I hope we don't have any technology failures, but 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.120 if we do, I hope it's because the demand so 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.760 high that that uh that UM, you know, we're we're 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.280 trying to meet the demand. UM, not for other reasons. 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.320 But is the nature of this kind of product, you know, 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:51.120 streaming software based the years, is it really no different 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.320 than say, back in the fifties when the television picture. 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:56.600 We'll have all sorts of problems. Is it the kind 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.480 of thing where these kind of problems you just have 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.480 to say okay for a technology in its infancy, this 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.280 kind of comes with the territory. Yeah, I think, UM, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.040 to a degree, that's true. UM, you know the you know, 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.240 I run the broadcast side, for example, of the company 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:18.359 as well, and those you know, deliveries to a television 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:23.320 set today and largely historically have been in closed ecosystems. 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.640 You know, the technology is largely wholly owned by the 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:32.040 programmer and the distributor, and so you have a higher 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.880 degree of confidence that when you deliver a video bit 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.920 from point A to point B, that it's going to 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.280 make it there because there aren't as many ways for 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:44.120 it to be interfered with. This is Internet distribution, and 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.440 you know, you you don't own the end to end 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.080 way that video is delivered. You don't own the device, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.960 you don't own the operating system on the device, you 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.800 don't own the browser on the device. You own the 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.000 app on the device, but it's built for that specific 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.600 operating system. And the way video actually makes its way 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.920 down through a CDN, or through the web, or through 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.520 you know, the various other methods that video goes down 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.800 to a device, you don't generally own those either. So 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.919 you're building software that sits on top of all of 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.000 these other things, and so the number of places where 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.840 you can have problems that you don't control U are 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.359 just broader than they are on the broadcast side of 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:30.400 the fence. Consumers don't care. Right. The consumer expectation is 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.080 is that this is going to work as well as 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.520 it does when I turn on my TV set, exactly right, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:36.679 And so they don't care about all the sausage and 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.600 how it's made on the back end. Um, I have 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.520 to do that. And so you know, we we for 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.520 the way videos delivered over the Internet, are going to 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.040 take our lumps around how we deliver this, whether it's 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.600 on demand video or live video, which is even a 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.640 completely separate challenge on the Internet. Um, until we get 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.800 it right. And it's certainly vastly improved than it was 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.840 ten years ago. Um, but it's not all the way 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.680 to where it needs to be relative to meeting consumer 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.240 expectations about the way traditional television was delivered. And I 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.680 guess in taking your lumps, you learn, you figure out 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.200 where the problems the vulnerabilities are and you're better off 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.280 for it. Or is that just kind of well you 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.600 you do and and you know, look there's this and 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.880 I think it's just this interesting trade off right now 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.040 is that on traditional television, for the most part, the 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.639 video works when you turn it on, but the consumer 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.760 experience around the video isn't great, you know, if it's 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.119 a traditional set top box, whatever it might be, And 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.000 consumers have clearly said, I don't really like the way 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.359 that this video is delivered to me, even though it 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.359 comes on right away when I turn on my TV 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.880 or I changed the channel. On the Internet side, it's 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.879 feature rich, it's software based, in the set of capabilities 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.720 and ways you can watch video is vastly better than 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:57.720 it is on traditional television. But the video delivery ecosystem 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.439 that sits behind that, uh, is not wholly owned and 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.520 it's not a closed system. So yes, I mean, the 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.320 short answer to your question is is you do have 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.480 to learn about all these different mechanisms and figure out 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.880 methods that you can use in order to smooth things over. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:18.680 So you know, here here's just a simple example. The 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:23.840 reason primarily that live video when it travels over the 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.600 Internet lags the delivery time associated with television, right, and 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.320 your notes it's seven or ten seconds behind on you know, 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.760 in some cases will be up to fifteen seconds behind 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.080 on live video streaming over over the open Internet is 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.720 so that you can fix video problems upstream before they 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.160 ever hit the consumer device, right, and so you can 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:47.040 fix video bit problems along along the video river that's 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.320 going down to the device. Um, and so lots of 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.679 that kind of stuff happens, and there's a little checkpoints 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.159 along the way for the way video is delivered that 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.760 enable people to fix it before the consumer ever sees it. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:02.480 Over time, that will prove over time you will get 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.520 to low latency video feeding, low latency video feeds all 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:10.480 the way down to the device. Um. But today, uh, 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.200 it's harder to do that because the tech stacks are heterogeneous. 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.280 So the more heterogeneous the end in tech stack is, 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.280 the harder it is to do those types of things. 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.320 You've been at Warner Media long time before it was 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.480 called Warner Media, back at the time Warner days Turner. Um, 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.640 I'm the last I think A O L refugee that's still. Yeah, 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.600 there's there's only I know that everyone they wanted only, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.959 but there's not many of us left. Yeah, I actually 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.800 originally started at A O L. So it's uh, there's 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:42.480 a few of us hiding out with our A o 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.480 L T shirts on. Well, the thing I was wondering 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.879 about and it's it's actually this question I think becomes 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.600 more interesting by your A o L background as well. 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:57.679 Is is there something about launching this massive streaming software 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:03.119