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A confession, I grew up on the WWF and Hulk Hogan.  So I’ve been a fan most of my life.  It’s the male version of a soap opera and with their change over the past few years to a PG13 model, it is even family friendly.  Monday night Raw is the white noise on my computer on Monday nights.

Monday February 24th is the start of something big and it comes from an unlikely source.  Vince McMahon and the WWE.  As much as Netflix changed the game with their streaming, I believe this is the next move in that world.  A company streaming a major source of their revenue via an affordable monthly fee.

As a side note, here is also a good write up I found when trying to look up the numbers behind this move.

For many years the WWE has been trying to secure a deal with cable providers to launch their own network.  Cable providers have balked at those attempts.  Reports, the validity of which can’t be really verified, claim that the best offer the WWE got was for 25 cent per subscriber.  So the WWE would get next to nothing on the airing of their vast video library, while the cable networks would charge folks $10 or so a month for the service. 

The WWE took a route that if successful will turn the way things happen with larger organizations such as the NFL, NBA, MLB and other major sports. 

They launched their own online network and gave it access to all of their pay per views.  They will charge $9.99 a month and keep a large chunk of that.  Plus all advertising they sell stays with them.  If you ordered just WrestleMania each year (a common occurrence in my house) you pay for nearly 60% of the yearly cost of the WWE Network, plus you get access to 1500 hours of the WWE’s vast video library.  If you order two pay per views a year (has never happened in my house) you pay for the cost of the entire year. 

My very rough math, and I erred on the side of being way low is that WWE PPV’s do about 160 million in revenue each year.  The vast majority of that stayed with the cable companies as the WWE is just a 117 million dollar a year company.

Lets say the WWE gets one million in subscribers to their network and they earn just $5 per month on those subscriber it would mean $60 million in revenue and this doesn’t include a dime of advertisement revenue. I don’t see how they lose on this deal because I do believe that one million subscribers is the floor, and that is nearly a break even amount of money before they sell advertisements.

If the WWE is successful I could see the major sports teams go the same route and skip the middle man when it comes to advertisement sales.  Especially when the amount of people cutting the cord is doing nothing but growing each year.  In fact the ONLY reason I haven’t cut the cord is because my wife and son love the Cincinnati Reds.  I’d pay a decent amount if I could stream all Reds games via the web if that meant I could drop the cable company.

In the long run I think the savings for cutting the cord will decrease, but consumers will get what they truly want.. pay for what you want, not the other 300 channels they give you. 

Hard to believe that the world of wrestling entertainment is leading the way on this front. 

On another blog I wrote about a company I worked for many years ago going out of business.  It was a manufacturing company.  I wrote it about the time of all the bailouts and questioned the legitimacy of the thought that some companies were ‘too big to fail’.  We live in a Capitalistic country, the very foundation of capitalism is creative destruction.  The process of companies dying due to the creativity of other companies. 

On the way into work today I heard about Hollywood Video closing 800 stores.  Attributed to Netflix and Red Box.  Anybody reading this blog knows what Netflix is.  Red Box could be a bit more unknown.  At many locations are DVD rental kiosk, these are Red Box.  For $1 a day you can rent a  DVD. You don’t have to go out of your way to shop their product, you can do it when you go to buy Milk.  You usually don’t have to race the clock because they are located in 24 hour stores. 

Blockbuster isn’t much better off.  They are losing customers at a pace that they can’t reallocate their business model.  Even if they did reallocate their business model, the new business model of Kiosk and mail order movies actually erodes their own customer base and they have to close stores and lay people off.

I haven’t use a movie rental place outside of Red Box and Neflix in years.  My wife has hit the local movie rental, not to rent movies, but to buy used ones at a fraction of the price.  I am an avid Netflix user.  We have the two DVD plan, and I LOVE the streaming. 

Creative destruction is the foundation of business in America.  Nobody is too big to fail and nobody should be propped up by the government.  Let capitalism work, the outcome is companies like Microsoft and Google.  Netflix and Red Box. Even Walmart.  I grew up when K-Mart was king, now they are nothing but an after-thought.  I actually wonder what damage is being done to our future economy due to the government propping up failing companies.  What innovation will never come to fruition because GM was too big to fail?

Being a pretty devout Christian man certain anti-social behaviors in the technical industry hit a nerve with me.  The two that stick out to me the most are pretty obvious, course language and something that I am having a hard time putting into words.  Sexism seems a bit to strong of a word, but it hits on the overall thought that I have. 

Let me also make this clear in that I am allowing for a separation from personal life actions and professional life actions.  If it is your personal time, then do what you want. Who am I to judge?  However when you are in a professional setting I don’t think it is to much to ask for a bit of professionalism.  I wish I could say this is a limited problem, but its not.  Far to many of those in the technical field will drop the F-bomb in a heart beat.  Yes, I didn’t use the word.  I don’t cuss (see the devout Christian man part…).  That word makes me cringe, but lets be honest in a professional setting there aren’t many curse words that make me comfortable. 

While I won’t call the presenter out publically here, there was one time I was at a presentation and before hand I heard the presenter lamenting about not being an MVP.  He didn’t know why.  Technically he was very sound and skilled.  However his language was pretty poor.  I even took the time to email him personally about it.  Never got a reply, but I hope he takes it into consideration.  Then you have the guys at DotNetRocks who have their twice-weekly podcast.  What we generally get is a cleaned up version.  Though they do drop the F-Bomb on occasion and one time they forgot to scrub the podcast before posting on the web.  It was loaded with the F-Bomb. For me a professional setting should remain professional.  Especially when you are in mixed company.  If you know all involved and know their comfort level, that is one thing.  But if you are presenting to a room of strangers, you should keep your mouth in check. 

Then we get to the second part, sexism.  We are the industry that took the porn industry to the next level.  This topic is usually brought up in very subtle comments, however recently a fellow by the name of Matt Aimonetti took it to the next level.  He recently gave a presentation on the Ruby technology titled,(WARNING… graphic images) CouchDB: Perform like a pr0n star.  Just an initial glance at his power point presentation would give most folks a very uneasy feeling.  I really don’t know how this ever seemed like a good idea to Mr. Aimonetti.  He did address the topic publically. 

What I think is the root of the issue is the makeup of the men in the technology sector.  We were/are the geeks in life.  We were the outcast and failed to really build great social interactions with people.  Most people grow out of that lack of relationship building at some point, but since we are around like minded folks we push this envelope without giving it a second thought.   Or as some of the commenter's put it, ‘still living in their mom’s basement at 35 years old’. 

Can’t we all just grow up a little?

So I am publishing this on the day that digital TV was supposed to become official.  But our government decided we should wait.  Now before this was going down I emailed both of my senator’s to let them know that they should let the change go on as expected.  That there would always be people not prepared to make the switch.  We still have people using Internet Explorer 5.5, how in the world do they expect everybody to be ready for a switch of digital TV.  Here is the reply I got from Sherrod Brown, one of my senators.  George Voinovich, my other senator, is a bit of a waste and always takes weeks to reply.

Dear Mr. Klopfstein:

Thank you for expressing your views on efforts to delay the DTV transition date.

It is absolutely essential that no viewers are left in the dark when analog broadcasts are turned off. In 2005, during committee consideration of legislation setting standards for the transition, I supported efforts to provide complete funding for every household to be able to purchase two set-top converter boxes. Unfortunately, this amendment did not pass the committee.

The legislation that did pass was designed to partially subsidize consumer purchases of converter boxes. The bill set up guidelines to provide two forty-dollar coupons to requesting U.S. households. Coupons were to be issued between January 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, with a provision that individuals must use their coupons within three months after issuance.

However, the NTIA recently announced that because of funding issues, those requesting coupons would be placed on a "waiting list" and coupons would be mailed out on a first-come-first-served basis, as funds from expired coupons become available.

In response to these developments, President Obama urged lawmakers to postpone the February 17th deadline for the DTV transition. The President also requested that Congress craft legislation that would provide additional funding for the coupon program and devise new accounting rules so that all those who request converter box coupons can receive them.

Bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Congress would delay the switchover date until June 12th, 2009. However, some television stations may be permitted to switch to digital before June 12th with the approval of the Federal Communication Commission. Additionally, the legislation also includes a provision allowing consumers with expired coupons to re-apply for replacements.

In these tough economic times, I am very concerned about the costs that consumers, particularly low-income households, could incur during the switch to digital television. I support President Obama and Congress’s efforts to ensure that all Americans receive DTV coupons and that everyone is prepared for these changes.

Thank you again for being in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown

Understand the burden he put out here.  That NO viewer be left behind.  Just rubbish.

OK, this isn’t political. A few years back a lot of folks implemented a ‘google bomb’ to tie George Bush’s White House profile with the term ‘miserable failure’.  Turns out with the change of a website, this bomb now ties to Barack Obama.

The old saying to treat others as you want to be treated comes to mind.

However Obama has something that Bush doesn’t.  Friends in Google.  Took them 4 years to fix it for Bush.  Took them DAYS! to fix it for Obama.

My friend Microsoft gets a lot of flack for being ‘evil’, yet Google has gotten a pass for far to long. 

My local phone company recently requested that they be able to no longer send phone books to customers automatically.  They would still provide them on demand, but they wanted to stop being forced to do it.

Personally I think this is a brilliant idea.  Being a man focused on software development I haven’t used a phonebook in years.  So at a timely moment my wife was cleaning up the house and I saw the perfect picture opportunity. 

Unbelievably, the comments on the article were mixed.  When was the last time you used a physical phone book?

“Why don’t you guys leave me alone -- why is this important?”

What an ignorant statement from Steve Jobs.  32,000 employee’s world wide are reliant on Apple.  Apple’s identity has been tied to Steve Jobs, even more so than Microsoft and Bill Gates.  He built that relation in identity, then he wonders why people are concerned?

How about because the stock of Apple has already fallen 57% over the past year? 

Mr. Jobs, you matter to the health and well being of Apple.  Don’t act surprised when people ask.

Here is another good article on the topic.

On a personal note, I hope for the best for his health. 

Here is the deal, a friend had their house burn down.  Lots of stuff damaged unsure of whether or not it is repairable.  Can you help?

Girl - Age - 6:
Clothes Size 7/8 
Shoe size 1

Boy – Age - 4: 
Clothes Size 5
Shoe Size 11

Girl – Age 1 1/2:
Clothes Size 18 months
Shoe size 11 1/6

Mom
10 or 12 pants med or large shirts
Shoe Size 9

Dad
34/34 pants XL or L shirt
Shoe Size 11 1/5

Other needs requested:
People to call Walmart for donations.
People to call dry cleaners for donations
Pet supplies: Litter boxes, food for dogs, crates and beds for dogs.
Cash:  Will need a way to move into their next home…

Having been in a house fire when I was 3, losing my dad, I know the damage and setbacks one of these can do to a family.  If you can help, let me know via the contact form.

So the news out of Wall Street is that they are disappointed about Microsoft's financial numbers.

You read the article and they try to blame it on new pc sales.

I've got news for them, its all because of Vista... dummy.  I am a huge M$ supporter.  They have treated me very well in life.  The M$ technologies have made my professional life very good.  I love XP.  I even loved my Vista Business edition, but the bottom line is that Vista is a HUGE failure.  A failure similar to Windows ME and XP pre-SP1. 

I'm hesitant to buy a new PC with Vista on it.  I'd NEVER upgrade a PC to Vista.    I'd be more likely install Windows Server 2008 or 2003 before I'd even think about installing Vista.

Hopefully the next version of Windows is done right, M$ generally needs periods like this to get their game on.  And what I get from the community of Microsoft Developers is a huge turn around in how they do business in regards to developer tools, and the better the developers tools the better the operating system and applications that run on it.