21st Century Fox President & COO Chase Carey yesterday said that the company "is being 'disciplined' about its options when considering streaming video offerings that bypass cable and satellite subscriptions." He said, "We believe the traditional bundle offers great value to consumers and will be the primary consumer package for years to come." REUTERS' Saba & Maan noted Carey's comments come on the heels of "several big media companies," notably Time Warner and CBS, announcing products that "stream TV programs and movies over the Internet without a cable subscription" (REUTERS, 11/4).
JOHNNY OUTRAGE: In California, Larry Bohannan, citing the uproar when Golf Digest put models like Kate Upton and Paulina Gretzky on its cover, asks, "What the heck is Johnny Manziel ... doing on the cover of the next Golf Digest?" Will there "be outrage from PGA Tour or European Tour players wondering why a football player is on a golf magazine cover?" The cover "is just the latest example of how golf is now and always has been willing to blur the lines between the professional golf and the entertainment value of the game" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 11/5).
RUNNING LATE: In Salt Lake City, Scott Pierce notes when the Univ. of Oregon visits Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday to play Utah, it will be Utah's "fifth game this season on a major cable or broadcast network." It also will "be the fifth consecutive Utah game that has kicked off" at 8:00pm MT or later. For Utah fans living on the East Coast, last weekend's 11:00pm ET kick of the Utah-Arizona State game was "beyond annoying." But there is "more than one way to look at these games." ESPN and Fox "are actually thinking about viewers in the Western half of the country." Pierce: "These 8, 8:30 and 9 p.m. games are in prime time in the Pacific and (to a lesser degree) Mountain Time Zones" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 11/5).
KUDOS FOR THE CAPTAIN: AD AGE's Alexander Jutkowitz wrote Derek Jeter's The Players' Tribune is a "noble cause, but the site also has business ambitions, as Jeter's publishing team has said it eventually will host branded content." If the site "sustains its current quality and momentum, Jeter may turn out to be as good a marketer as he was a baseball player." He "understands the disintermediation of traditional media that is driving the rapid growth of content marketing." Jeter's website shows that celebrities managing their personal brands "crave direct contact with audiences just as much as corporations do" (ADAGE.com, 11/4).
