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C-SPAN said Wednesday that it had reached a deal to have its three channels air on YouTube TV and Hulu’s live television feed, ending a dispute that had led to a revenue squeeze for the public affairs network in the cord-cutting era. The network said the streaming services would pay the same fee as cable and satellite companies, roughly 87 cents a year per subscriber, and that C-SPAN would continue its no-advertising policy on television. Congress involved itself in the issue, passing a resolution this spring calling on the services’ parent companies Alphabet for YouTube and Disney for Hulu to add C-SPAN to their programming mix. Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN’s programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal. At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was seen in some 100 million homes with television. The number of homes paying for TV has since dropped to some 70 million, with roughly 20 million of those consumers now getting television through services like YouTube and Hulu, and they weren’t showing C-SPAN. C-SPAN said its revenues had dropped from nearly $64 million in 2019 to $45.4 million in 2023. We are proud that this agreement will give millions more Americans access to our unfiltered coverage of the nation’s political process, said Sam Feist, C-SPAN’s CEO. David Bauder, AP media writer
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E-Commerce
Macy’s is coming up for air, topping earnings estimates and delivering the best comparable sales jump in 12 consecutive quarters. With $4.8 billion in net sales, the retail company exceeded the company’s guidance, raising its full-year financial guidance after cutting it earlier this year, the company announced in its second quarter earnings report. In addition to is namesake brand, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, both owned by Macy’s, also saw comparable sales growth for a 4th and 18th consecutive quarter respectively. Our performance highlights the advantages of being a multi-brand, multi-category, omni-channel retailer,” Macy’s Inc. chairman and CEO Tony Spring said of the report. Macy’s sales announcement is already well received among investors, with the company’s shares seeing a 13% uptick in premarket trading, and is still up by 17.% at the time of publishing. Macy’s ‘Bold New Chapter’ is working Facing years of slipping sales, Macys rolled out a turnaround blueprint last February designed to steady the retailer by focusing on store closures and modernizing existing operations. The turnover plan included the announced closure of 150 “unproductive” Macy’s locations, and the expansion of the Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury brands through 45 new locations, both to be completed through 2026. Since the announcement, Macy’s has already shut down 64 stores. Our teams achieved better than expected top- and bottom-line results during the second quarter, driven by our strongest comparable sales growth in 12 quarters, reflecting the strong performance in Macys Reimagine 125 locations, Bloomingdales and Bluemercury, Spring said. The company’s raised guidance is betting on the Bold New Chapter initiative to “continue to gain traction” as it has already benefitted the retailer. “The substantive, enterprise-wide improvements across our business, with a strong focus on customer experience, give us further confidence that our Bold New Chapter initiatives can drive sustainable, long-term profitable growth, Spring added. Not out of the woods yet While the $4.3-billion company appears to be coming up for air, the hard economic landscape is still on the horizon. With tariff fears still looming and an uncertain economy, buyers are expected to be more weary this holiday season, with Macy’s expecting to see a negative impact in its fourth quarter. Still, the company stated it “is confident that its strong financial position, diverse brand and category offerings, and range from off-price to luxury provide flexibility to adapt to the evolving environment.”
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E-Commerce
Google dodged a bullet Tuesday when a federal judge ruled the company does not need to sell off the Chrome browser or Android as part of the landmark antitrust case against it. While Google faces penalties meant to boost competition, it avoided the most severe outcomeand that reprieve is giving hope to other Big Tech players. Google is the only tech giant with a judgment so far, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) still has cases pending against others. Meta went on trial earlier this year in a case that could force it to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. (The judge is weighing that decision now.) The suit, which was filed in 2020, alleges Meta overpaid for the two apps to preserve its dominance in social networking. Amazon, meanwhile, is set to face trial in October 2026 for the FTC’s antitrust suit. And Apple isnt in the clear either: the Justice Department and 16 state and district attorneys general sued the company last March, accusing it of monopolizing the smartphone market. The Google penalty should give allow all of those companies to take a collective breath, as Judge Amit Mehta accepted in full Googles proposed remedies, only tacking on a few modifications, while largely ignoring the governments suggestions. In fact, Mehta called the proposal to divest Chrome or Android an overreach on the part of the government. As part of his 226-page decision, Mehta wrote the rise of generative AI has changed the course of this case, acknowledging that services like ChatGPT have upended the tech world. That line could be key in upcoming antitrust cases. If the case seems to be leaning against Big Tech, invoking AI and changing market conditions could be the corporate equivalent of a get out of jail free card. Amazon, for example, could argue AI shopping agents drive consumers to the lowest prices, boosting competition. It also doesn’t hurt that Amazon’s competitors are showing gains: Walmarts online sales jumped 22% last year and rose again in the second quarter, while Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop are also chipping away at market share. Meta, which is in the process of increasing its emphasis on AI, could make a similar argument. The company argues that todays social media looks very different than it did when it acquired rivals. Its recent addition of a friends-only tab on Facebooka way to restore a clean feed from people you actually knowreflects how much the industry has changed. Still, some experts worry regulators are missing the bigger picture. By focusing narrowly on search or social dominance, they risk overlooking broader forms of platform power. My concern with the Justice Department is do they know how to measure the power of these platforms beyond as a service? I dont think so, Ram Chellappa, Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Emory Universitys Goizueta Business School told Fast Company. After all, this week’s precedent aside, the AI argument does seem to have some holes. Google remains the clear leader in search, despite advances from AI companies. Amazon still controls just under 40 percent of the U.S. ecommerce market and has a vast network of third-party sellers. And Meta remains a social media giant.
Category:
E-Commerce
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