The Dan Rayburn Podcast

This week, I discuss Comcast's plans to split its media and technology businesses, spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate publicly traded company. I questioned why it didn't happen sooner, since for years we've seen from its balance sheet and stock price that combining its content and distribution pipelines hasn't added value. Also related to Comcast, I cover the news that ITV has agreed to sell its Media and Entertainment division, covering the ITV channels, the ITVX streaming platform, and the advertising business that funds them, to Comcast-owned Sky for up to £1.6 billion. 

I discuss Meta's plans to launch a cloud business to sell AI computing power and why it makes sense, when Meta is spending so much on capex without a clear path to directly monetize it. I also use the example of Meta taking a page from Google's playbook, which successfully diversified revenue beyond just advertising by growing their cloud services over many years. Other Meta news covered is that the company took a patent license covering AV1 and VP9 from the Access Advance VDP Pool. 

Finally, I cover the latest news from Netflix, which will add video content from new publishers, ranging from 3 to 20 minutes in length, and why this is not a sign that Netflix is trying to be YouTube.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This month, Eric Black and Dan Rayburn discuss World Cup viewership, breaking down the numbers between linear and streaming and the problems posed by the lack of a standard measurement. They also cover World Cup latency, including on airplanes, and ask whether viewers would pay more for Dolby Vision HDR, Atmos surround sound, and lower latency. Or, similar to customers gravitating to ad-supported subs for a lower cost, would they do the same for less interactivity? 

They also cover other live streams, including the Tour de France, WNBA, Wimbledon and MLB and debate how these leagues can elevate their visibility during competing top-tier events. They also discussed the price increase for Apple TV, now priced at $199, making it unlikely to grow in the market, since less than 5% of live streams already go to Apple TV hardware. Finally, they covered the news that Fubo CEO and co-founder David Gandler is leaving the company and why the upcoming UFC Conor McGregor fight on Paramount+ might see the largest viewership on the platform, outside of NFL games.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we discuss the launch of TF1 Groupe programs and live TV channels on Netflix in France, the first such deal for Netflix. We detail the available content and explain why we think TF1 dramas, reality shows, news and sports could help limit churn among existing Netflix subscribers. We also cover viewership numbers for Paramount's UFC Freedom 250 event at The White House, review the latest World Cup viewership stats, and discuss Snap's plans to spin off an internal team that was working on AI-powered generative video into a separate company. 

Finally, we cover news from Meta that AV1 is now enabled on the majority of mobile devices in Meta Real-Time Communication (RTC) applications, Apple raising the price of the Apple TV to $199, and debunk some of the latest rumors of the announced Fox and Roku deal.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we separate facts from opinions on the news that Fox Corporation has agreed to acquire Roku. We break down all the numbers, the impact on Tubi and The Roku Channel, Roku's hardware business, and all the other details you need to know. We also cover World Cup TV and streaming viewership stats released by Fox Sports, ITV, NBC Sports, STV, and others. We detail the revenue and profit numbers from Bending Spoons' SEC filing, which plans to go public this year. Finally, we go through the latest codec and protocol news, including Apple's HTTP Live Streaming enhancements, the Alliance for Open Media publishing AV2 specs, and the impact on OTT services from current codec and ABR patent suits.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

Sports streaming is kind of a big deal. So, Eric Black and I have teamed up to record a new monthly podcast breaking down the Business and Technology of Sports Streaming. Giving listeners insight into the latest content deals, viewership numbers, user experiences and technical workflows, without any hype.

In episode one, Eric and I talk about the World Cup's streaming quality, latency, piracy, free trials across OTT services and discuss the streaming rollout across FOX, ZEE5, Peacock, and FIFA+ on DAZN. We detail the renewed distribution deal between NBCU and Fubo, Fox’s expanded deal with the NFL that will bring games to Mexico, and Disney's new partnership to carry L’équipe’s TV channel in France on Disney+.

We highlight a recent interview with MLS's Commissioner, who admitted that the added paywall and timing weren’t right for the market, as well as the impact on MLS within the Apple TV ecosystem. We also discuss the impact of RTL's acquisition of Sky Deutschland on sports content, which combines Sky’s premium sports rights with RTL’s entertainment and news brands, forming the strongest local competitor to Netflix in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 

Finally, we recap comments from those who testified at the congressional hearing on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, and I question why EverPass Media has been so quiet about providing any technical details to businesses or integrators who are still in the dark about how the NFL Sunday Ticket will be rolled out later this year.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, special guest Eric Black and I discuss the upcoming World Cup, detailing streaming and pay TV viewership numbers from the 2022 event and what to expect this year. We also discuss the MLS game that used Apple iPhones for video capture, noting that they were used only as camera sensors and image processors. We review the NFL's 2026-2027 schedule, calling out the newly announced exclusive games on Netflix and Peacock and detail Netflix's newly extended media rights deal with the NFL through the 2029-30 season.

We discuss the growth of Prime Video and Amazon's disclosure that Prime Video, as a stand-alone business, is profitable, without knowing how Amazon accounts for costs to the business. Eric details his recent experience with Peacock's vertical video stream, noting quality differences when the video source is Peacock versus a third party. Finally, we recap some numbers from Netflix on its monthly active viewers for its ad-supported plan, new price increases for DirecTV streaming packages, and a YouTube stat that two billion hours of Shorts are streamed on TVs each month.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we discuss a wild week in infrastructure news, with Akamai, Fastly and Cloudflare reporting earnings, sending all three companies' stock up or down by at least 30%. We detail Cloudflare's announcement that it will lay off over 1,100 employees, Akamai's new $1.8 billion seven-year contract for Cloud Infrastructure Services for AI modeling, and Wall Street's lack of understanding of the CDN business. We highlight reports suggesting that contracts involving Anthropic and OpenAI now ‌account ⁠for more than half of the $2 trillion in backlogs at major cloud providers, and how Google and Amazon reported a surge in profits in their Q1 earnings, based on the valuation of the stock they bought in Anthropic, and not any actual net profit.

We also detail the latest numbers you need to know from WBD, Disney, and Fubo earnings, and how, with WBD no longer breaking out streaming subs and Fubo no longer breaking out Hulu+ Live TV subs, it's now almost impossible to compare DTC service growth quarter to quarter. Finally, we break out the pay TV losses by Optimum and discuss the unconfirmed reports that Netflix will get two additional NFL games starting in the 2026-27 season. Finally, we highlight Sky Sports' announcement that it will remain the exclusive home of Formula 1 in the UK and Ireland until 2034 and in Italy until 2032, which prevents Apple from securing the rights to stream F1 content in those countries.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we detail the numbers you need to know from Q1 earnings from Roku, which, for the first time, separated out revenue for its advertising and subscription business. We also cover earnings from Comcast, the latest Peacock numbers, cord-cutting at Charter, and the massive capex spend in the quarter from Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, with AWS revenue growth at its fastest in 15 quarters.

We detail YouTube's Q1 revenue, which was down from the previous quarter and highlight YouTube TV's launch of a fully customizable multiview, including some device and content limitations. Moving on to NFL news, we also mention a rumored deal between the NFL and YouTube for a long-form contract review of a five-game package, and Comcast dropping the NFL Network and RedZone Channel from its Xfinity service due to a carriage dispute.

We share live sports viewership numbers from April, including the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game and NBA on Amazon Prime, and discuss a hardware failure that caused one of Prime's games to lose video for 20 seconds during gameplay. Finally, we discuss why Amazon’s newly announced Fire TV Stick HD, which runs its Vega operating system, is not good for customers, and how Fire TV's lack of explanation of its Fire OS strategy to the market is bad for developers and consumers.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we recap what we saw and heard at the 2026 NAB Show, covering themes, content, the West Hall exhibit floor, and the speakers at the Streaming Summit. We highlight some of the topics discussed most, including sports, workflow orchestration, MOQ, scaling live events, multiview, UI/UX, and how AI tech is being implemented into the video stack. I also cover what I want to improve at the Streaming Summit next year, what exhibitors can do to improve their messaging and booth presence, and where we both see room for improvement in the attendee experience.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we detail YouTube's upcoming price increase across all U.S. YouTube Premium plans, Sling TV's new $20 monthly plan that includes ESPN, and FOX's announcement that it will shut down the Fox Sports app for smart TVs and connected devices. We also discuss Fubo's newly released set of long-term financial targets, which projects positive free cash flow by fiscal 2027, and why the news that the DOJ is exploring whether the NFL is engaging in anti-competitive tactics isn't a surprise.

Finally, we discuss AI news, including Amazon's newly released revenue data for its AI business, which shows AWS’s AI revenue run rate is over $15 billion. We break down Amazon's plans to double its total power capacity by the end of 2027, its $20 billion in revenue for its chip business, and its stated model of investing disproportionately behind what matters and pulling back when something isn’t working.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media