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Tesla loses its EV quality edge as repair problems…

28 June 2024
by admin

A dog looks out the window from a Tesla electric vehicle charging at a Tesla Supercharger location in Santa Monica, California on May 15, 2024.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Tesla is losing its lead over legacy automakers in the quality of its new all-electric vehicles, according to an annual influential study conducted by J.D. Power.

The 2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study found the quality of Tesla’s battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, and those of traditional carmakers were the same, at 266 problems reported per 100 newly sold or leased vehicles.

Previously, Tesla models had outperformed the electric vehicles of legacy automakers in the annual survey. Last year, the Tesla received a rank of 257 problems per 100 vehicles, compared with 265 problems per 100 vehicles on average for EVs from traditional automakers.

The study attributes Tesla’s growing problems to a negative response from customers after the company removed traditional feature controls, such as turn signals and wiper stalks.

Across the broader industry, not just BEVs, Tesla has consistently ranked toward the bottom in initial quality since J.D. Power began including Tesla in the study in 2022.

Overall, the study, which included repair visits data of franchised dealers for the first time, found electric vehicles such as BEVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), are plagued with more problems than traditional gas- and diesel-powered vehicles with internal combustion engines.

“Owners of cutting edge, tech-filled BEVs and PHEVs are experiencing problems that are of a severity level high enough for them to take their new vehicle into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicle owners,” J.D. Power’s senior director of auto benchmarking, Frank Hanley, said in a news release.

The study found that plug-in vehicles require more repairs than gas-powered vehicles across all repair categories.

BEVs averaged 266 problems per 100 vehicles, 86 points higher than gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, which averaged 180 problems per 100 vehicles, according to the study. A lower score indicates higher vehicle quality.

Top concerns included features, controls and displays as well as wireless smartphone integration, as customers reported frequent difficulties with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The study also reported frustration over false warnings, unnecessary traffic alerts and automatic braking features. Specifically, rear seat reminders contribute 1.7 problems per 100 vehicles across the industry, as owners report receiving signals even when no one is in the rear seat.

“It is not surprising that the introduction of new technology has challenged manufacturers to maintain vehicle quality,” Hanley said.

— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

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Rivian secures up to $5 billion from Volkswagen, shares…

26 June 2024
by admin

Workers assemble second-generation R1 vehicles at electric automaker Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois, on June 21, 2024.

Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters

Volkswagen Group plans to invest up to $5 billion in electric vehicle startup Rivian, starting with an initial investment of $1 billion.

The additional $4 billion is expected by 2026. It includes plans for $1 billion each in 2025 and 2026, followed by $2 billion in 2026 related to an expected joint venture to create electrical architecture and software technology, according to a release by the automakers Tuesday.

Shares of Rivian soared more than 50% during after-hours trading Tuesday, two days ahead of an investor event for Rivian, which has been under pressure from Wall Street due to its cash burn and significant losses. Rivian stock closed Tuesday at $11.96 a share, down roughly 49% in 2024.

The initial $1 billion from Volkswagen will be in the form of a convertible note, which could be converted to Rivian shares on or after Dec. 1, the release said.

The deal will help Rivian on its journey to become cash flow-positive, Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe said Tuesday night during an investor call.

He noted the capital is expected to carry the company through the production ramp-up of its smaller R2 SUVs at its plant in Normal, Illinois, starting in 2026, as well as production of the midsize EV platform at a plant in Georgia, where Rivian paused construction earlier this year.

Volkswagen investing $5 billion in Rivian

“We believe the opportunity ahead is significant. This deal is possible because we’re focused on vertically integrating our network architecture, topology, V-CPUs, and associated software platforms,” he said. “I’ve spoken about the importance of these platforms in the past, and how difficult it is to replicate them.”

Volkswagen is expected to use Rivian’s electrical architecture and software stack for vehicles beginning the second half of the decade, according to Scaringe. He said the joint venture does not include anything with battery technologies, vehicle propulsion platforms, high voltage systems or autonomy and electrical hardware.

Scaringe said the expected joint venture will be led by a “balanced” leadership group, including two co-CEOs, with Rivian appointing the technical leadership and Volkswagen appointing a chief operating officer.

The closing of the joint venture is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Rivian Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough.

A provided image of Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen Group and RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, as the companies announce joint venture plans on June 25, 2024.

Courtesy: Business Wire

Volkswagen will be the second legacy automaker to take a stake in the California-based company. Ford Motor was among Rivian’s largest stakeholders, at roughly 12%, alongside Amazon when Rivian went public in 2021. The Detroit automaker exited Rivian in 2023 after walking back a plan to codevelop EVs with the company.

The Volkswagen-Rivian partnership comes as automakers shift strategies amid slower-than-expected adoption of EVs.

Pietro Zollino, head of VW corporate communications, said the deal with Rivian does not change the German automaker’s plans to build a $2 billion EV plant for its announced Scout Motors trucks and SUVs in South Carolina.

“Our commitment towards Scout has not changed at all,” he said in an email Tuesday night.

Rivian has been on a cost-cutting mission for months. It has trimmed staff, retooled its Illinois plant to increase efficiencies and paused construction of a new multibillion-dollar factory in Georgia. That last measure is expected to save more than $2.25 billion in capital spending, including the impact of starting production of Rivian’s upcoming, less expensive R2 vehicles at its plant in Illinois instead of Georgia during the first half of 2026.

McDonough said Volkswagen’s investment is expected to carry the company through the ramp-up of its new, less expensive R2 vehicles in Illinois as well as the midsize EV platform at its plant in Georgia.

The EV maker reported a loss of $1.45 billion during the first quarter of this year, as it retooled its plant in Normal, Illinois, to launch updated versions of its R1T pickup and R1S SUV EVs ahead of its next-generation vehicles in 2026.

Rivian reported $7.86 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments to end March, with more than $9 billion in total liquidity.

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Science & Environment

SpaceX unveils backpack-sized ‘Starlink Mini’ satellite internet antenna for…

20 June 2024
by admin

Starlink Mini promotional image.

SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.

SpaceX is rolling out a compact version of its Starlink antennas, which the company is advertising as a mobile option for its satellite internet customers.

“Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit that can easily fit in a backpack, designed to provide high-speed, low-latency internet on the go,” according to a customer email sent by SpaceX on Wednesday and viewed by CNBC.

The company is offering a “limited number” of the Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access release. That’s $100 more than the base model “Standard” antenna sold with its Residential service, although the company aspires to reduce the price tag.

“Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable,” SpaceX wrote in the email.

Starlink Mini promotional image.

SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.

In addition to the upfront hardware cost, service for a Starlink Mini is effectively $150 per month — as SpaceX is offering the service for a Mini as an additional $30 per month bundle on top of a $120 per month Residential service. The “Mini Roam” service “can be used anywhere in the United States” but has a cap of 50 gigabytes of data per month, with Starlink charging $1 per gigabyte for additional data.

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The Starlink Mini antenna is about the size and weight of a laptop, at just over two pounds and measuring at about 12 inches by 10 inches by 1.5 inches. It’s roughly half the size and one-third the weight of Starlink’s Standard antenna.

SpaceX’s email said Starlink Mini comes with a built-in WiFi router and “lower power consumption” than its other antennas, yet it still boasts download speeds of over 100 megabits per second.

The email did not specify when Starlink Mini deliveries would begin. In a post on social media, Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls said the company is “ramping production” on Starlink Mini and that it “will be available in international markets soon.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a post Monday that setting up a Starlink Mini took less than five minutes.

“This product will change the world,” Musk declared.

SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offerings since debuting the service in 2020. There are about 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that connect more than 3 million customers in 100 countries, according to the company. SpaceX initially targeted consumer customers, but has expanded into other markets — including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation — and disrupted the existing satellite communications sector.

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Elon Musk's Starlink business has grown quickly and so has its influence

Science & Environment

Fisker files for bankruptcy protection in wave of EV…

18 June 2024
by admin

Henrik Fisker stands with the Fisker Ocean electric vehicle after its unveiling at the Manhattan Beach Pier ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show and AutoMobilityLA in Manhattan Beach, California. on Nov. 16, 2021.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Fisker on Monday became the latest all-electric vehicle startup to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid lackluster consumer demand, significant cash burn and operational and product issues.

For investors, the writing’s been on the wall for some time as Fisker issued a going concern about its ability to continue as a company in February, leading its charismatic founder and CEO Henrik Fisker to disappear from social media and the limelight.

It’s the latest in a series of EV companies to collapse. Other companies backed by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPAC, have also filed for bankruptcy protection. That list includes companies such as Proterra, Lordstown Motors and Electric Last Mile Solutions. Others such as Nikola and Faraday Future remain in business but trade for under $1 per share amid operational challenges, missed targets and broader industry headwinds.

It’s also a bit of déjà vu, as it marks Henrik Fisker’s second car company, both branded under his last name, to file for bankruptcy protection.

The new filing comes after the Fisker company failed to secure an investment from a big automaker to keep afloat. Nearly four years ago, Fisker announced plans to go public through a reverse merger with an Apollo-backed SPAC that valued the company at $2.9 billion. The deal infused Fisker with more than $1 billion in cash.

Fisker, like many other companies at the time, was fueled by low interest rates and a bullishness on Wall Street around EVs following the rise of U.S. electric vehicle leader Tesla.

“They looked at Tesla’s success, and Tesla was more of an anomaly than an example,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.

But consumer adoption for EVs has grown slower than expected, costs have risen and investor interest in EVs other than Tesla has dried up. The company also faced significant issues with its operations as well as the launch of its first product, called the Ocean SUV EV.

Software focus

When going public through a SPAC in 2020, Henrik Fisker compared the company with U.S. EV leader Tesla. He also touted its production relationship with Canadian auto supplier Magna, comparing it with the relationship between Apple and Foxconn.

The automaker, unlike most of its peers, contracted a third-party manufacturer to build the Fisker Ocean crossover. The partnership with Magna was supposed to be an “asset-light” strategy, as Fisker described it, to allow the company to save cash and focus on differentiating technologies, such as software.

Abuelsamid said such a strategy isn’t inherently bad, but he called the management of the company inept and pointed the finger at Geeta Gupta-Fisker, the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Gupta-Fisker is also Henrik Fisker’s wife.

“That approach can be made to work,” he said. “The problem in the case of Fisker that I underestimated was … the incompetency of the senior management.”

The company burned through cash and last month recalled thousands of Ocean SUVs in North America and Europe due to issues with vehicle software.

According to the company’s Chapter 11 filing, it owes millions to software and engineering companies, such as Adobe, SAP America, Manpower Group and Prelude Systems, among others. CNBC parent company NBCUniversal is also listed as a top creditor.

“[The auto industry is] capital intensive. You’re trying to match production, consumer demand and when they have any kind of issue with the vehicle, money has to be allocated to that,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox Automotive Director of Industry Insights. “Also when they don’t have other revenues like [internal combustion engines] to fund it … it makes it very challenging.”

Its operating unit, Fisker Group Inc., estimated assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

At the end of last year, Fisker had $530 million in inventory, as it only sold 4,700 of the more than 10,000 Ocean EVs it had produced in 2023.

Déjà vu

For Henrik Fisker, a renowned automotive designer credited with designing the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9, it’s déjà vu.

His first namesake company – Fisker Automotive – filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013, shortly after he left the company. It later sold its assets to China’s Wanxiang Group for $150 million.

It was supposed to be better the second time around for the founder, who said he had learned from his past mistakes with his former bankrupt company.

“Having done this before, I’m in a unique position to kind of almost take lessons learned, which is very rare especially in the car industry,” he said in 2017, a year after launching the new company.

But the parallels between the two failed companies are hard to ignore.

Both companies were much-hyped, largely by Fisker himself claiming they would revolutionize the industry. They were fueled by “free” money – first federal funds, more recently Wall Street – on the premise that “green,” or electrified, vehicles were the future of the auto industry.

Both also faced significant quality problems that led to recalls. The first Karmas produced by Fisker were recalled for a battery safety issue and fire risk in 2011.

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker discusses the production debut of the electric Ocean SUV

Both companies also changed direction and priorities many times.

After delivering less than half of the more than 10,000 vehicles it produced through a direct-to-consumer approach that resembled Tesla’s model, the second Fisker turned to a dealership-based distribution model in January.

But there was one key difference this time. With the failure of the second Fisker, its investors were left out to dry instead of American taxpayers. While Henrik Fisker’s first company was boosted by a $529 million federal loan — $139 million of which the government lost — the second was funded through Wall Street’s bullishness on SPACs and EVs. Its stock was delisted in April.

A Fisker spokesperson said in a statement early Tuesday that the company is “proud of our achievements” but determined that Chapter 11 was the best option.

“Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently,” the spokesperson said in a release. “After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”

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Science & Environment

Boeing and NASA delay Starliner astronaut return to June…

14 June 2024
by admin

A satellite image shows an overview of the International Space Station with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, June 7, 2024.

Maxar Technologies | Via Reuters

Boeing‘s Starliner capsule “Calypso” will stay at the International Space Station twice as long as the mission originally planned, NASA announced Friday.

This developmental nature of the mission, known as Boeing’s crew flight test, is on display as the company and NASA are performing a variety of tests on Starliner while it is docked with the ISS. The mission represents the first time Starliner carries crew, with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams set to fly the spacecraft back to Earth next week.

Before launching on June 5, Boeing and NASA planned for Starliner to be in space for nine days.

But Calypso’s mission is now expected to return to Earth on June 22, departing the ISS at 11:42 p.m. ET on June 21 before landing roughly six and half hours later, at 6:26 a.m. ET. That means the Starliner crew flight test will now last at least 17 days, about double the original plan, for further spacecraft testing.

NASA said those tests include operating the capsule’s hatch, firing seven of its thrusters and checking the cabin air temperature, all while the program’s managers and astronauts “finalize departure planning and operations.”

The agency also noted that Starliner would “repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing,” but did not explain why that was necessary. A safe haven test is when astronauts on the ISS use a spacecraft for shelter during an emergency. NASA said “the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules,” referencing the possible scenario of an unexpected evacuation of the astronauts off the ISS.

NASA, after publishing an update Friday, deferred CNBC’s request for further clarification until a press conference that will be held Tuesday before the planned departure.

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The crew flight test represents a final major step before NASA certifies Boeing to fly crew on operational, six-month missions. Yet, similar to the previous two spaceflights that were uncrewed, Starliner is running into several problems during the mission.

Before the launch, a single leak in Calypso’s helium propulsion system was identified. The leak was deemed to be stable and not a threat to the capsule’s safety, so the launch moved forward and was successful in delivering Starliner to the ISS.

However, since docking with the ISS, the spacecraft has sprung four additional helium leaks. NASA earlier this week wrote that Calypso “has plenty of margin to support the return trip” based on the current rate of the five leaks, with 10 times the needed capacity of helium in its tanks.

Boeing Starliner's long and grueling road to launching astronauts

While Boeing was guiding Starliner in for docking, another issue — which NASA says is separate from the helium leaks — cropped up with the spacecraft propulsion system. Starliner has 28 jets, known as its reaction control system, or RCS, engines, which help the spacecraft make small movements in orbit.

Five of the 28 thrusters were not operating but after troubleshooting, Boeing recovered four of Starliner’s malfunctioning jets and NASA allowed the spacecraft to dock.

NASA said Friday that it would perform hot fire testing before undocking with seven of the eight thrusters near the spacecraft’s tail. Hot fires are very brief bursts of the thrusters, with Boeing looking to evaluate the thrusters’ performance. NASA did not specify whether any of the seven thrusters that will undergo testing were the same as the five that stopped operating before docking.

Boeing Vice President Mark Nappi said in a statement that despite the mission doubling in length, “We have plenty of margin and time on station” remaining.

Starliner was once seen as a competitor to SpaceX’s Dragon, which has made 12 crewed trips to the ISS over the past four years. However, various setbacks and delays have steadily slipped Starliner into a backup position for NASA, with the agency planning to have SpaceX and Boeing fly astronauts on alternating flights.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule is seen while approaching the International Space Station with two NASA astronauts on board on June 6, 2024.

NASA TV

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the duration of the flight test.

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Bezos’ Blue Origin joins SpaceX, ULA in winning bids…

14 June 2024
by admin

A mass simulator version of a New Glenn rocket is moved for testing in November 2021.

Blue Origin

The Pentagon announced the first winning bidders in its rocket launch contract sweepstakes on Thursday, with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin grabbing a spot for the first time.

Blue Origin’s winning bid came as part of contracts awarded under the Pentagon’s $5.6 billion National Security Space Launch program.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance – also known as ULA, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing – were also awarded contracts as part of the multi-year third phase of the NSSL program.

Blue Origin, SpaceX, and ULA did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.

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Under the program, known as NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1, the trio of companies will be eligible to compete for contracts through mid-2029.

ULA and SpaceX have already been competing for contracts under the previous Phase 2 edition of NSSL: In total, over five years of Phase 2 launch orders, the military assigned ULA with 26 missions worth $3.1 billion, while SpaceX got 22 missions worth $2.5 billion.

Blue Origin, as well as Northrop Grumman, missed out on Phase 2 when the Pentagon selected ULA and SpaceX for the program in August 2020.

A Falcon Heavy rocket launches the USSF-67 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jan. 15, 2023.

SpaceX

But with Phase 3, the U.S. military is raising the stakes — and widening the field — on a high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts. Phase 3 is expected to see 90 rocket launch orders in total, with a split approach of categories Lane 1 and Lane 2 to allow even more companies to bid.

Space Force outlined a “mutual fund” strategy to buying launches from companies under Phase 3: The military branch split the program into two lanes, in order to have one that features three companies fulfilling the most demanding and expensive missions, and the other that

Why Starship is indispensable for the future of SpaceX

Science & Environment

Netflix hunts for a production partner for its Christmas…

13 June 2024
by admin

Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers prepares to take a snap in the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs0 during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Michael Reaves | Getty Images

Netflix is trying to get ready for some football.

The streaming giant has been reaching out to broadcasters this week in the hopes of finding a partner to produce the NFL games it will air on Christmas Day this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix will show two games on Christmas Day this year, followed by at least one matchup in both 2025 and 2026, the company announced last month.

This is Netflix’s first real foray into traditional live sports, driven by the company’s ambitions to grow its advertising tier. The company signed a deal earlier this year with WWE to be the home for its live “Raw” events, but Netflix dubbed that deal as “sports entertainment.” Unlike WWE, Netflix’s deal for Christmas NFL games doesn’t come with a full production team. That’s left the streamer looking for help.

Netflix has been in touch with the broadcasters that currently air NFL games, including Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Paramount Global’s CBS Sports, said the people familiar, who asked not to be named because the discussions have been private. Disney won’t produce the games because it already has college football obligations the same day, two of the people said.

In-depth discussions haven’t begun with the other broadcasters, but Netflix’s options may be somewhat limited.

Fox and CBS Sports already produce various games in different regions each week, which could make taking on additional games for Netflix a burden, some of the people said.

There’s also competition to consider.

Amazon inked a deal with NBCUniversal to produce its NFL games before its first season of “Thursday Night Football” in 2022, but there may be more resistance among current NFL partners to help out Netflix, according to people familiar with the matter. That’s because Netflix could be auditioning as a future long-term media rights partner for NFL games in place of a legacy media company, such as Paramount, Fox or NBC.

The NFL has an out clause in its current media contracts that allows it to select new media partners after the 2029-30 season.

Representatives for Netflix, the NFL, NBCUniversal, CBS, ESPN and Fox declined to comment.

Welcoming Netflix

Netflix announced its entry into the NFL in mid-May ahead of its Upfront presentation, when it tried to woo advertisers for its burgeoning ad-supported platform. Netflix said last month it has reached 40 million global active users for its advertising tier, which costs $6.99 per month in the U.S. and debuted in November 2022.

In May, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told CNBC that the NFL was the right fit for Netflix because it matched the streamer’s event strategy — effectively allowing Netflix to own the day. Netflix will pay the NFL roughly $75 million per game, CNBC previously reported.

For the NFL, Netflix represents the chance to reach a global, younger audience. There’s also the potential to lay the groundwork for Netflix to become a future bidder on a larger package of games.

The NFL signed long-term deals in 2021 with Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Fox and Amazon for its five primary packages of games.

While there is some trepidation among current media partners to produce games for a potential rival, pressure from the league — and a hefty paycheck from Netflix — could convince broadcasters to strike a deal, according to people familiar with the matter.

“There aren’t that many players in the space who are capable of doing this at a level that you would want to trust when you’re launching as a new partner with a league as important as the NBA or the NFL,” said Shirin Malkani, co-chair of the sports industry group at law firm Perkins Coie, adding that the production side “can be a big hole for streaming partners.”

Netflix and the league are looking to mirror the partnership that Amazon’s Prime Video lined up with Comcast’s NBC Sports for “Thursday Night Football” games.

While NBC Sports’ Fred Gaudelli produced the 2022 season of “Thursday Night Football,” Amazon appointed Mark Teitelman, one of its own employees, to the role of lead game producer in 2023.

Amazon produces all of its pregame, halftime and postgame coverage, but NBC Sports handles the extensive production work that goes into an NFL game, and employs the vast majority of those workers.

Netflix is interested in finding a similar partner, according to people familiar with its plans.

If a deal can’t be made with one of the incumbents, Netflix could find other options with third-party producers. Endeavor Group Holdings’ IMG is the production partner for Major League Soccer, which is offered through Apple.

“It’s not easy to do an NFL game at a level that people are used to watching, which is a very high level and well produced,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investment. “But there’s a number of options out there that can pull it together without [Netflix] having a fully staffed sports division.”

Shifting to streaming

Amazon Prime Video was the first streamer to obtain exclusive rights to NFL games as the league pushed to broaden its media partners and have more streaming offerings to widen its audience.

Amazon reached its deal to carry “Thursday Night Football” in 2021 in conjunction with the rest of the media rights deals for the NFL — an 11-year media rights agreement worth over $100 billion, with an opt out clause at the seven-year mark.

Given the recent NBA media rights negotiations, which are beckoning top dollar from various media companies, many in and around the industry expect the NFL to exercise the clause and look for new partners.

Since the NFL has inked its deal, streaming services for Comcast, ESPN and Paramount have begun to simultaneously stream games, and in some cases, hosted games exclusively. Alphabet’s YouTube TV is also the new home of the “Sunday Ticket” package of games.

Sports, particularly the NFL, have been the glue holding the traditional TV bundle together — and have also proved to be a boost to streaming. NBCUniversal said in April its exclusive NFL wild-card game on Peacock helped to add, and then retain, more customers than expected.

The league has been vocal in its push to add more streaming partners in an effort to widen its audience.

That was the thinking behind the deal with Netflix to stream these Christmas Day games.

When the “Sunday Ticket” rights negotiations were underway, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC the longtime package offered only by DirecTV would move to streaming.

“I think that’s best for consumers at this stage,” Goodell said at the time.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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Science & Environment

Nadella, Narayen among tech CEOs investing in cricket’s American…

8 June 2024
by admin

Team USA upsets Pakistan in historic cricket World Cup victory

Cricket may not be as popular a sport in the U.S. as elsewhere in the world, but some high-profile CEOs and investors are trying to change that.

As the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by the U.S. for the first time, ramps up, investors have pumped nearly a billion dollars into their American ambition.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen are among the executives investing in the new U.S. professional league, Major League Cricket. Other cricket investors include Iconic Ventures, Madrona Venture Group and executives from Google.

“What gets me excited is seeing if cricket can become a mainstream sport in the U.S.,” said Soma Somasegar, venture capitalist and managing director at Madrona.

Somasegar and Nadella are among the key owners of Seattle’s cricket team, named the Orcas. They’re also investors in the overall league.

“Satya [Nadella] and I have been talking about bringing cricket to America for many years,” Somasegar told CNBC.

Nadella is such a die-hard cricket fan that Microsoft has a cricket field at its campus in Bellevue, Washington.

Monank Patel of the U.S. national cricket team celebrates his half century (50 runs) during the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup match between the U.S. and Pakistan at Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas on June 6, 2024.

Matt Roberts | ICC | Getty Images

“A lot of us immigrants grew up with this sport. We’d study and watch cricket — on repeat,” said Somasegar.

In total, nearly $850 million is currently in the process of being invested in building a viable cricket league in the U.S., people familiar with the funding said. The people asked not to be named because the funding information is private.

Currently, there are six professional teams in Major League Cricket, with each team expected to spend between roughly $75 million and $100 million over the coming years. That includes the cost of putting together a team, hiring the right talent and building stadiums where live cricket matches can be played.

Adding to the fanfare is the T20 World Cup, which is being held at three locations in the U.S. and several in the West Indies throughout June.

On Thursday, in a stunning blow, the U.S. team beat Pakistan in a match held near Dallas. Fans are now counting down to the highly anticipated India vs. Pakistan match Sunday at the newly developed Nassau County stadium in New York.

The last time India and Pakistan matched up, more than 300 million people in India tuned in to watch the game, according to The New York Times.

Ticket reseller StubHub said the average price of tickets for Sunday’s rivalry match is $1,300. The average price for the other 54 matches of the tournament is $120, the company said.

Venture capitalist Anurag Jain, part owner of Major League Cricket team the San Francisco Unicorns, said the U.S. national team is primarily made up of players in the league.

“The goal is to make cricket a mainstream sport,” said Satyan Gajwani, the vice chairman of Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India. He heads up Willow TV, which has the exclusive streaming rights for cricket in North America, including the T20 World Cup.

Gajwani is also one of the investors in the U.S. league. He said his group is going after the incredibly loyal fans from South Asia who live in the U.S.

“You essentially have five million really hard-core fans that love cricket,” Gajwani told CNBC, referring to the South Asian diaspora in the U.S.

He added that expats from the U.K. and Australia who live in the U.S. are also big consumers of cricket.

South Asians on average have the highest gross income of any ethnic group in the U.S., according to research from Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of Indian leaders around the world.

“That leaves a lot of discretionary income that is available to be spent on sports and entertainment,” said M.R. Rangaswami, founder and chairman of Indiaspora.

Rangaswami, who said he will be at the match Sunday, acknowledged that the U.S. sports scene is tough to crack, with Americans consumed by basketball and football. He said a potential entry point could be through fans of baseball, which has some resemblance to cricket.

— CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.

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Science & Environment

Boeing Starliner docks with ISS, delivering its first NASA…

6 June 2024
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Boeing’s Starliner capsule is seen while approaching the International Space Station with two NASA astronauts on board on June 6, 2024.

NASA TV

Fixing the propulsion problem

NASA flight controllers called off a previously scheduled approach to resolve issues with Starliner’s propulsion system. Starliner has 28 jets, known as its reaction control system, or RCS, engines, that help the spacecraft make small movements in orbit.

The crew on Starliner, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were told by NASA capsule communicator, or CAPCOM, Neal Nagata, that the 12:15 p.m. docking attempt had to be called off to resolve the spacecraft’s propulsion issue. CAPCOM Nagata noted that the ISS has a zero fault tolerance for a spacecraft control problem.

The agency and Boeing had to troubleshoot five of the RCS jets that were not operating. Four of Starliner’s malfunctioning jets were recovered after Wilmore and Williams worked with flight controllers to test fire the thrusters.

CAPCOM Nagata had the astronauts hold the spacecraft beyond the “keep out sphere,” an invisible boundary around the ISS that serves as a safety measure, while diagnosing the problematic thrusters.

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Boeing successfully launches Starliner, gives NASA options for future flights

Science & Environment

AI cancer screening programs are booming, but you’ll likely…

31 May 2024
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Artificial intelligence for cancer screening has taken off.

Yet most of those new programs aren’t covered by Medicare or private insurers, which creates headwinds for companies looking to boost adoption and for patients who could benefit from the new technology.

“Traditionally, for medical devices it takes up to seven years after a product that’s approved by the FDA to get reimbursed. So, it is quite a challenge,” said Brittany Berry-Pusey, co-founder and COO of AI screening startup Avenda Health.

As AI capabilities accelerate, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized 882 AI and machine learning-enabled devices and programs. Nearly 600 of them have been radiology AI applications approved in the last five years. Most do not yet have billing codes that would allow them to get reimbursement and prevent patients from paying out of pocket.

While some tools have shown early promise in helping to improve diagnosis and care for cancer patients, more data may be needed to determine whether they are more effective than conventional screening before major insurers will be willing to cover them.

A medical robot of French start up SquareMind, designed to facilitate cancer screening using artificial intelligence is displayed during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on May 22, 2024.

Julien De Rosa | Afp | Getty Images

One of Avenda’s products illustrates the complex process that has to take place before insurers cover AI tools.

The company’s Unfold AI prostate cancer platform helps urologists find more cancer cells than traditional MRI screenings. It can aid in identifying the best treatment to reduce the risk of prostate cancer surgery side effects like incontinence and impotence.

The FDA approved the program for medical decision support last year. Just as important, the American Medical Association designated a provisional billing code for it — which most AI radiology products have not yet received.

Now, Avenda is working on getting Medicare and insurers to provide coverage, which can take years in many cases.

“If there’s no payment, that means patients have to pay out of pocket, which can be challenging … especially for our patients. This is an older patient population,” said Berry-Pusey.

Hurdles to reimbursement

The American Medical Association, the medical professional organization that assigns the Current Procedural Terminology codes that allow reimbursement, issued guidelines for establishing AI CPT codes last fall. The group said different medical specialties should help determine the standards for use in their fields.

The lack of reimbursement is hindering adoption of new AI programs for cancer screening, especially for smaller hospitals and physician practices, said Dr. William Thorwarth, CEO of the American College of Radiology, which represents thousands of professionals in the field. Yet, in a letter to a congressional committee assessing the use of AI in health care, he cautioned against moving too quickly.

Thorwarth wrote that AI reimbursement is complex and establishing billing codes for every approved AI tool is “problematic.” He added that it is “unclear” whether the AI platforms currently covered are “adding value to patients or the health system.”

Medicare and private health insurers have expressed similar caution. A spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told CNBC that the agency takes CPT codes into account for reimbursement and “continually assesses opportunities to leverage new, innovative strategies and technologies safely and responsibly, including Artificial Intelligence.”

Part of that caution may stem from an earlier experience with computer-aided mammography in the late 1990s. Doctors since have said it led to false positives and unnecessary biopsies.

Independence Blue Cross Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rodrigo Cerda said the verdict is still out on the effectiveness of the newest programs.

“The evidence hasn’t quite met the bar to say it clearly makes a benefit of positive difference for our members and doesn’t introduce other risks that might be false positives or sort of gives confidence to the false negatives,” Cerda said.

Charging patients out of pocket

Without insurance reimbursement, radiology provider RadNet has resorted to charging patients a fee for its proprietary Enhanced Breast Cancer Detection AI screening, which was launched in 2022. RadNet has published data indicating the tool helps to improve cancer detection.

The company recently cut the price of the test from $59 to $40. It said its AI digital health revenue more than doubled in the first quarter from a year ago, and patient adoption of AI screening increased from around 25% to 39% of mammogram patients.

RadNet’s executives compare the process with AI screening to the radiology industry’s experience with digital breast Tomosynthesis, known as 3D mammography. It was approved by the FDA in 2011, and women were initially offered the screening for an out-of-pocket fee. By the end of the decade, it was widely covered by insurers.

“The question is, can we eventually get the [insurers] to step up for that? And I think driving the adoption and the value propositions of finding more cancers, I think will eventually convince them,” said Dr. Greg Sorensen, RadNet’s chief science officer.

Sorensen said RadNet has enrolled an employer in New Jersey, which will start covering the breast cancer scans for its workers.

The company will also soon launch an AI-enhanced prostate MRI screening for $250. But at that price, it may pose a bigger barrier to adoption — and access for patients who can’t afford it.

Concerns about access

UCLA neurology professor Josh Trachtenberg was willing to pay for an AI prostate cancer screening, which he feels made a world of difference to his own care.

Trachtenburg says when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, several doctors told him he would need to have his prostate removed, a procedure that would have left him with incontinence and impotence problems.

He turned to a urologist at the UCLA medical school who was using Avenda Health’s Unfold AI program. The program more accurately measured the scope of his tumor, which allowed the doctor to get at the cancer cells in surgery while preserving healthy tissue.

Trachtenberg worries that patients who can’t afford the extra costs for certain AI tools will pay the price with poorer outcomes.

“I think most men who aren’t faculty in a medical school … are just put through the meat grinder because that’s what insurance covers and that’s the ‘go to’ procedure,” he said.

Avenda Health’s Berry-Pusey worries that patients will lose out on new technologies altogether because the uncertainty of reimbursement could stymie funding for innovation.

“As a startup, we’re always looking for investors, and so making sure that there is a clear path to revenue — it’s important for us to survive,” she said.

Investors are backing health-care AI developers despite the payment hurdles. Alex Morgan, a partner at Khosla Ventures, is upbeat about the sector, and recently participated in large funding round for a radiology AI firm.

“If you just have a human do a bunch of activities, and then you stick AI on … you’re not getting any efficiency gains,” Morgan said, adding that the key to getting paid is to “provide differentiated, powerful outcomes.”

He said that in the end, the technology that improves the quality of care and outcomes for patients will win out.

Correction: Brittany Berry-Pusey is the COO of Avenda Health. An earlier version misstated her position.