Blog Post #1

Michael Millus 
Professor Brent Smith-Casanueva
CCS 313


             
           Television has paved the way in how we view media. Often changing our thoughts and views by the way of changing the content we view. Netflix has brought us to this conclusion by selecting what shows and movies we can watch from its library. From the once expansive internet and cable networks we used to view TV from to the selective choice of only a couple programs has left us with limited views because we want everything conveniently packaged and bundled for us. This wanting of bundled media has been apparent as Netflix has 44.4-million subscribers and counting according to Simon Houpt of the Globe and Mail who wrote  "The Netflix effect: Why distracted consumers are bundling up".

            With so much money being earned and the huge success of Netflix many other media conglomerates have collaborated to bring other forms of media to the public in bundled packages. In order to make money as McChesney said "media giants employ joint ventures with their competitors to an extraordinary extent" (28). With television and movies having been bundled together. Other media is now being brought together for the lazy consumer. Next-Issue is a magazine app that is based on Netflix and has a monthly subscription fee. And in order to pull this off Next-Issue  is "backed by some of the most powerful content companies on the planet. The normally cutthroat competitors Hearst, Condé Nast, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc. came together to develop Next Issue" ( Houpt). And with so many people going towards these bundled packages over finding what they like on their own they allow these media titans to choose what they want the public to view therefore limiting there freedom to pick what they want to read or watch. They can get away with this because consumers are to lazy to go out on there own to find the media they want to spend there time viewing, "They want someone else to do the hard slog of curating. They don’t want to hunt and gather; they just want to eat" (Houpt). 
            Television, our laziness and corporate greed has led to our restriction of choice. Apps and services that are believed to make our lives easier have made our lives more constricted because of media conglomerates constantly analyzing and simplifying how we view media.



Sources 

Houpt, Simon. "The Netflix Effect: Why Distracted Consumers Are Bundling up." The Globe and Mail. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

McChesney,Robert W. "US media at the Dwn of the twenty first century"