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Schengen visa delays lead Indian holidaymakers to explore alternative…

19 May 2024
by admin

Schengen visa delays: Indian holidaymakers are increasingly opting for alternative destinations like Georgia, Australia, and Japan due to the persistent Schengen visa appointment delays over the past three years, according to industry executives. These countries have simplified their visa processes for Indian travellers, making them more attractive options for summer vacations.
Georgia’s e-visa facility has been particularly popular, with Thomas Cook (India) reporting a remarkable 600% year-on-year increase in demand for the country.As a result, the travel company has doubled departures in several of its group series to accommodate the growing interest, according to an ET report.
Rajeev Kale, president of holidays at Thomas Cook (India), noted that “In combination with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are also witnessing a significant uptick (around 400%), and we’ve coupled them with Georgia while also offering standalone options.” He added, “Locales like Tashkent, Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) have also witnessed a strong growth of approximately 300% year-on-year.”

Summer Getaways for Indians

Indian nationals can obtain e-visas for Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, while Kazakhstan allows visa-free stays for up to 14 days. The ongoing delays in visa appointments for some Schengen countries, which have been reported by ET since April 24, have contributed to the shift in Indian travellers’ preferences towards these alternative destinations.
MakeMyTrip has observed a significant 57% increase in searches for Japan during the summer season compared to the previous year, according to Saujanya Shrivastava, the company’s chief operating officer for flights, holidays and Gulf. “Among the top cities within Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya are of higher interest, with Tokyo alone accounting for two-thirds of all hotel searches and 80% of all flight searches,” he said.
Agoda CEO Omri Morgenshtern, during his recent visit to India, discussed the impact of relaxed visa policies on travel. “When the visa process is easy and when the flight capacity is there, we see travel increasing. It’s a business of removing friction,” he said, citing the example of Bangkok, which became the most sought-after destination for Indians on Agoda after Thailand introduced a visa waiver.

Recently, Thailand announced an extension of the temporary visa exemption for Indian nationals until November 11, to further boost tourism.
Yatra Online is experiencing a substantial number of last-minute bookings for international destinations, including Thailand, Vietnam, Mauritius, Singapore, Bali, and Sri Lanka, according to Bharatt Malik, senior vice president for flights and hotel business at the travel firm. Additionally, he mentioned, “We have seen a 100% increase in bookings to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan compared to pre-Covid levels.”
Cleartrip’s top international destinations for Indian travelers are Bangkok, Dubai, and Singapore, says Gaurav Patwari, vice president for the air category at the company.
Also Read | Planning to buy a house in Delhi-NCR? Even Rs 5 crore budget may not guarantee home in brand-new project in prime locality
Daniel D’souza, president of leisure travel at SOTC Travel, emphasized that the visa process, including the availability of application slots and processing time, has become a crucial factor in Indian travelers’ decision-making, especially with the shorter booking windows of 50-60 days for long-haul and 30-40 days for short-haul destinations this year.
“Australia’s streamlined electronic visa offers a smooth end-to-end process,” D’souza said, noting that the company experienced a 40-45% year-on-year increase in Indians traveling to Australia as a result.

Science & Environment

Media giants lean on sports as Hollywood strikes still…

18 May 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

Media giants relied on sports last year when they had to woo advertisers during the Upfronts meeting week at a time when a Hollywood strike and cost cutting bit into their content and star power.

This year, while stars once again graced the stages following the end of the strikes, the presentations still leaned more on sports than scripted shows.

The hangover from last year’s work pause meant some media companies had fewer series and movies to highlight during their presentations. Cost cutting from companies including Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t help matters.

Live sports remained the darling of the Upfront meetings, as it still beckons the biggest audiences, and, therefore, the most advertising dollars.

“I think [the companies] benefited in terms of earnings during the strike. And I think there was hesitance to ramp up because of all the issues of trying to understand how content expenditure was really driving return,” said Tom Rogers, Oorbit Gaming and Entertainment executive chairman and former NBC Cable president.

“There used to be this kind of automatic, where you put out a certain amount of programs for the new season and it was relatively formulaic without much sense of being able to understand how content drove profitability,” he added.

He noted two key issues for the traditional media companies: the decline of traditional TV and the increasing fees companies have to pay to air live sports.

“If you’re going to maintain a reduced level of content spending, by definition, that means your entertainment programming has to be reduced,” Rogers said.

Light on entertainment

A scene from Marvel’s Daredevil season 3 on Netflix

Source: Netflix

Disney played up trailers for the upcoming Disney+ series “Agatha All Along” and “Daredevil: Born Again,” but for its cable network FX, only highlighted the next season of the popular series “The Bear,” which also streams on Hulu. The company also announced the “Golden Bachelorette,” the next installment in the popular reality series on broadcast network ABC.

Warner Bros. Discovery put series like “House of the Dragon” and “And Just Like That” — both spinoffs of HBO series — front and center.

“A strong content slate — be it sports or entertainment — is only one piece of the puzzle, however,” said Amy Leifer, chief advertising sales officer at DIRECTV Advertising. “With the explosive growth of [ad-supported streaming], the modern TV experience is as dependent on content as it is on the ads that support it.”

Some films played a big role in the Upfronts, especially after streaming services like NBCUniversal’s Peacock got a boost from blockbusters like “Oppenheimer” recently.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal focused on the upcoming musical film “Wicked,” and the renewal of some Peacock original series.

The summer movie box-office season, which runs from the first weekend in May though Labor Day, is expected to shrink around $800 million this year as the season brings a limited and unsteady stream of blockbuster films. It follows a second quarter that lagged nearly 50% behind ticket sales seen during the same period last year.

The movie calendar is expected to ramp up in the fourth quarter, with major titles like Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie a Deux,” Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” Disney Animation’s “Moana 2” and Universal’s “Wicked” arriving in cinemas. Calendar 2025 and 2026 are slated to have a significant boost in titles, including features from major franchises like Marvel, Star Wars, Batman, Super Mario Bros. and rollover tickets from a third Avatar film.

Meanwhile, tech giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video that recently added cheaper, ad-supported tiers to their streaming platforms entered Upfronts week in full force, showcasing not only sports but also upcoming films and series.

Amazon, which now owns MGM Studios, noted the renewals and upcoming seasons of original series such as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “The Boys,” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Actor Jake Gyllenhaal announced a sequel to “Roadhouse,” and Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon discussed their film, “You’re Cordially Invited.”

Netflix, meanwhile, announced the sequel to Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore,” as well as a slate of other series.

Sports domination

The Olympic Rings being placed in front of the Eiffel Tower in celebration of the French capital won the hosting right for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The NFL once again reigned supreme at most Upfront presentations this year.

Tentpole sports programming from the Summer Olympics to the NBA — which beckon the biggest TV and streaming audiences, and vast amounts of advertising dollars — were also key parts of the presentations.

“We often hear from top clients that the significance of upfront buying has diminished outside of securing placements in live sports,” said Mike Dupree, chief revenue officer at Teads, a global premium publishing platform. “Access to quality content in an on-demand world has reduced the scarcity that historically drove the upfront model. Live sports seems to be the last bastion, as proven through rights renegotiations.”

NBCUniversal dedicated much of its presentation on the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris. The NFL played a role in all presentations, including for the newcomer to the ad-supported streaming landscape, Netflix. It made perhaps the biggest sports splash during Upfronts week, when it was announced hours before its presentation that it reached a deal to air NFL games on Christmas Day over the next three years.

Amazon showcased Thursday Night Football, its second Black Friday game, and an upcoming wild card playoff game in January — the first ever for Prime.

“This year, we saw media giants banking on big bets like “Wicked,” the Olympics, and sports superstars like Jason Kelce to generate buzz,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media activation at digital marketing agency Goodway Group. “There was a lot of excitement around the evolving live sports landscape and leveraging college sports, NFL games, and the Olympics as an omni-platform experience.”

Kelce, who recently retired from the NFL after 13 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, appeared at Disney’s upfront to announce he would be a commentator for ESPN beginning this season. His appearance made headlines — as he and brother Travis Kelce are prone to doing — when he picked up “Abbott Elementary” star and creator Quinta Brunson during the event.

— Sarah Whitten contributed to this article.

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

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Science & Environment

Why is stock market open today, on Saturday May…

18 May 2024
by admin

Stock market today: The election fever continues to keep investors and traders on their toes, with exchanges holding a special trading session today, despite it being a weekend.
The equity cash and derivative markets will operate in two sessions. This marks the third time this year that the market has remained open on a weekend, which is typically a holiday.Similar special trading sessions were held on Saturdays in January and March. In previous years, trading was also conducted from the disaster recovery site in 2016 and 2017.
The special live trading session is being conducted in accordance with Sebi guidelines, which require testing the preparedness for handling unexpected disasters from the main trading centre in Mumbai, says an ET report. The session will be split into two segments: the first part will run from 9:15 am to 10 am for normal trading, while the second session will be conducted from the disaster recovery site from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.
All securities, including those with derivative products, will have a maximum price band of 5%. Securities already in the 2% or lower price band will remain in their respective bands.
Despite the absence of clear momentum, positive global cues and rotational participation from index heavyweights have helped the markets climb higher on Friday. Analysts suggest maintaining a “buy on dips” strategy and focusing on stock selection. However, given the shortened trading hours, trading volumes are expected to be low.

Science & Environment

Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama vote against UAW union membership

17 May 2024
by admin

United Auto Workers (UAW) members and supporters on a picket line outside the ZF Chassis Systems plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.

Andi Rice | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama have voted against union representation by the United Auto Workers, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday.

The results are a blow to the UAW’s organizing efforts a month after the Detroit union won an organizing drive of roughly 4,330 Volkswagen plant workers in Tennessee. Voting started Monday and ended Friday.

Union organizing failed with 56% of the vote, or 2,642 workers, casting ballots against the UAW, according to the NLRB, which oversaw the election. More than 90% of the 5,075 eligible Mercedes-Benz workers voted in the election, according to the results.

The NLRB said 51 ballots were challenged and not counted, but they aren’t determinative to the outcome of the election. There were five void ballots.

The union and company have five business days to file objections to the election, including any alleged interference, according to the NLRB. If no objections are filed, the election result will be certified, and the union will have to wait one year to file for a union election for a similar bargaining unit.

Mercedes-Benz in a statement said company officials “look forward to continuing to work directly with our Team Members to ensure [Mercedes-Benz US International] is not only their employer of choice, but a place they would recommend to friends and family.”

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain (right) and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock (left) lead a march outside Stellantis’ Ram 1500 plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan after the union called a strike at the plant on Oct. 23, 2023.

Michael Wayland / CNBC

The loss is expected to hurt the UAW in an unprecedented organizing drive launched late last year of 13 non-union automakers in the U.S. after securing record contracts with Detroit automakers Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis. Those agreements included significant wage increase, reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments and other benefits.

UAW President Shawn Fain said while the Mercedes-Benz vote was obviously not the result the union wanted, it was a valiant effort, adding the vote “isn’t a failure” but a “bump in the road.”

“While this loss stings, I’ll tell you this, we’re going to keep our heads up, keep our heads up high. These workers have nothing to do but be proud in the effort they put forth and what they’ve done,” he said Friday during a media conference. “We fought the good fight and we’re going to continue on, continue forward. Ultimately, these workers here are going to win.”

The Mercedes-Benz vote was expected to be more challenging for the union than the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, where the union had already established a presence after two failed organizing drives in the past decade and where it faced less opposition from the automaker.

Stephen Silvia, author of “The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-Owned Vehicle Plants,” noted Mercedes-Benz replaced the plant’s leader weeks ahead of the election. He said companies routinely do this, promising workers changes at their facilities in an effort to stave of organizing.

“Companies do anti-union campaigns because they can be effective, and I think this one was effective,” said Silvia, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C. “A common piece of an anti-union campaign is firing the plant manager … That seems to have persuaded enough of the workers to vote against the union.”

Mercedes-Benz Alabama plant votes against unionization

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who was one of six Republican governors to condemn the union’s organizing drive, hailed the outcome of the vote.

“The workers in Vance have spoken, and they have spoken clearly! Alabama is not Michigan, and we are not the Sweet Home to the UAW. We urge the UAW to respect the results of this secret ballot election,” she said.

Workers at Mercedes-Benz’s Tuscaloosa plant, located about 60 miles southwest of Birmingham, have produced more than 4 million vehicles since the plant opened in 1997, including 295,000 vehicles in 2023, according to the plant’s website.

The Alabama plant currently produces vehicles such as the gas-powered GLE and GLS Maybach SUVs as well as the all-electric EQS and EQE SUVs.

The NLRB last week said it continues to process and investigate open unfair labor practice charges filed by the UAW against automakers, including six unfair labor practice charges against Mercedes-Benz since March.

Fain said Friday the union would continue to move forward with those charges. He declined to say whether the union plans to challenge the election results, saying he’d “leave that” to the union’s legal team.

The charges allege that Mercedes-Benz has “disciplined employees for discussing unionization at work, prohibited distribution of union materials and paraphernalia, surveilled employees, discharged union supporters, forced employees to attend captive audience meetings, and made statements suggesting that union activity is futile,” the NLRB said.

The union has filed other charges against automakers Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Rivian, Tesla and Toyota, according to the NLRB.

Science & Environment

Frontier Airlines does away with change fees in budget…

17 May 2024
by admin

A Frontier Airlines plane lands at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Feb. 27, 2020.

Elizabeth Page Brumley | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Frontier Airlines said it will stop charging customers a fee to change their flights, taking a page from larger competitors as the Biden administration issues stricter rules targeting so-called “junk fees.”

The change is part of an overhaul announced on Friday of the budget airline’s longtime pricing model, which brings customers in the door with eye-catching low base fares but charges a fee for everything else such as seating assignments and carry-on baggage. That model is shared by fellow discounter Spirit Airlines.

Frontier said it will start offering packages that include some of those add-ons, among others, such as early boarding. While some fares will still allow travelers to add on options a la carte, “we expect that option to be a minority of customers,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle told CNBC.

A new “economy” bundle that comes with a carry-on and a seat assignment will start at $30 more than a basic fare, while a “premium” bundle that offers those perks plus earlier boarding will be $50 more than the basic fare. For at least $100 more than a basic fare, “business” bundle travelers will also be able to check two bags and get a seat at the front of the plane with more room.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule that requires airlines to tell customers about fees, including those for checked or carry-on baggage, up front, a change the DOT said would save travelers more than half a billion dollars a year.

Frontier currently charges up to $99 to change flights if the change is made within a week of the trip, according to the airline’s website. Larger rivals Delta, American and United scrapped change fees during the Covid-19 pandemic for travelers who were booked in standard economy class and above. Southwest Airlines does not charge customers to change their tickets.

“The truth is the big four [U.S. airlines] all have no change fees on the majority of their products, so we were not as desirable,” Biffle said. He said change fees were a “top complaint” of travelers. Travelers who buy the cheapest option on Frontier will still have to pay to change their flights.

Frontier also said flight credits would be valid for 12 months, up from three months, starting with tickets issued on Friday, and that it will reintroduce live phone support for travelers flying within 24 hours or to elite members of its frequent flyer program.

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The NBA is picking its TV partners — and…

17 May 2024
by admin

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media during a press conference as part of the 2022 All-Star Weekend at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 19, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Jason Miller | Getty Images

Whether it’s two people in a marriage or a company and a sports league, it’s not easy to break up a 40-year partnership.

The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery‘s Turner Sports have been in business together for nearly four decades. The relationship is now in jeopardy, as Comcast‘s NBCUniversal is attempting to steal away its package of games with a $2.5 billion per-year offer, as CNBC has previously reported.

The league ended its exclusive window to renew a deal with its two current media partners, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, on April 22. Since then, the league has set a framework to renew with Disney, bring in Amazon as a new third partner, and sell its other package to either Warner Bros. Discovery or NBCUniversal, according to people familiar with the matter. The league stands to triple the total value of a new deal from about $24 billion to $76 billion or more.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to have discussions with the NBA about keeping the rights, according to people familiar with the matter. The league could still decide to simply renew with its incumbent partner, but it’s not likely, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

The more probable path would be for the league to sign papers with NBCUniversal, formally securing its bid. That would trigger a contractual option for Warner Bros. Discovery to match the offer.

This is where things might get thorny.

Both the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery have begun poring over legal language to determine if the league can reject a potential match, the people said. The contractual wording is vague, and it’s unclear if the NBA has full discretion to walk away from Warner Bros. Discovery if it matches the bid, said the people.

If Warner Bros. Discovery decides to match, and the NBA moves to choose NBCUniversal’s offer, the sides may be headed for a lawsuit. Warner Bros. Discovery believes it’s fairly well protected by the contractual language, one of the people said.

Still, that remains hypothetical at this point. It’s possible Warner Bros. Discovery won’t match NBCUniversal’s bid, which would avoid potential conflict.

Some league officials are worried Warner Bros. Discovery’s balance sheet can’t handle spending $2.5 billion a year on the NBA, according to people familiar with the matter. Warner Bros. Discovery has a market valuation of about $20 billion and an enterprise value of about $60 billion, including $43.2 billion of gross debt, as of the end of the company’s fiscal first quarter. The company had a leverage ratio (net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 4.1.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has both publicly and privately preached the importance of financial discipline for the company.

NBCUniversal parent Comcast has a market capitalization of about $154 billion and an enterprise value of $244 billion. Comcast’s leverage ratio is about 2.5.

NBA officials are more comfortable Comcast can pay what would amount to more than double the previous price for the package, according to the people familiar to the matter.

Warner Bros. Discovery had been paying $1.2 billion per year to air NBA games. The new package also includes fewer games than the current one because the NBA is likely to introduce a third partner — most likely to be Amazon.

Spokespeople for Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA declined to comment.

The fate of Venu

Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox announced Thursday they plan to name their new sports streaming platform Venu, taking inspiration from where live sports are played. The new joint venture, one-third owned by each media company, will offer a bundle of sports networks and ESPN+ at a still to be determined price that’s less expensive than traditional cable. CNBC reported earlier this year the price could be around $45 or $50 a month. The service will debut in the fall, the companies have said.

The three companies haven’t yet formally signed paperwork on the venture as they await regulatory approval. If Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, that will diminish the value of the service for consumers, as NBCUniversal and Amazon aren’t partners in the product.

Warner Bros. Discovery licenses the rights to other sports leagues and groups, including MLB, the NHL and the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness. The company will also have the NBA next year no matter what, as the new rights deal doesn’t kick in until the end of the 2024-25 season.

There’s been no discussion about shutting down the venture before it launches if Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, without the NBA, Disney and Fox would be contributing the lion’s share of sports content for the service. Disney’s ESPN and Fox own both college football and NFL packages, unlike Warner Bros. Discovery. The three companies plan to split revenue commensurate with the affiliate fees associated with their linear networks.

Warner Bros. Discovery could use the money it saves from not obtaining NBA rights to spend on other sports, such as more MLB games or bidding for UFC, which will likely begin renewal discussions with media companies in early 2025.

ESPN plans to launch its own “flagship” streaming service in the fall of 2025.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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Science & Environment

Paytm retail and MF investors say ‘Paytm Karo’; stock…

16 May 2024
by admin

NEW DELHI: One97 Communications, which operates the popular fintech brand Paytm, has been included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index.
According to the fintech company, this inclusion reflected the increasing confidence of both domestic and international investors in Paytm, as seen by the significant stake increases from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), domestic investors, and leading Mutual Funds like Mirae and Nippon India Mutual Fund.
Paytm is one of 29 stocks included in the MSCI Small Cap Index, likely driving USD 273 million inflows, crucial for benchmarking Indian companies internationally.
The inclusion is part of MSCI’s routine review aligning with evolving market conditions, set for May 31, 2024. MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) is a global leader in equity, fixed-income, and hedge fund indices.
According to Paytm, Indian mutual funds increased their holdings in Paytm during the March quarter of 2023-24. Specifically, Mirae Mutual Funds increased their shareholding to 2.39 crore shares (3.76 per cent), while Nippon Mutual Funds raised their stake to 1.66 per cent from 1.05 per cent over the same period. As a result, domestic institutional investors (DII) witnessed an increase in stake to 6.86 per cent from 6.06 per cent.
According to the shareholding pattern available with the stock exchanges, Paytm said domestic mutual funds raised their stake in Paytm by 1.77 per cent, reaching 6.15 per cent from 4.99 per cent at the end of the December quarter of the fiscal year.
Retail investors’ shareholding also went up from 12.85 per cent to 14.53 per cent sequentially while Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) also saw an increase from 0.67 per cent to 0.85 per cent, it said.
Meanwhile, FPI shareholding in Paytm rose by 2.49 per cent to 20.19 per cent in Q4-2023-24 as new investors including Tiger Pacific Capital, Societe Generale and Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global invested in the stock.
In February this year, Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte. – ODI purchased 50 lakh shares of Paytm worth Rs 243.6 crore in a bulk deal, the company said.
Abhilash Pagaria, head, of Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research, remains extremely bullish on India, especially with active participation from mutual funds and HNI/retailers in the Indian equity markets. Paytm has 60.4 per cent holdings by FIIs as of the March quarter of 2023-24.
Following NPCI’s approval on March 14, 2024, to onboard OCL as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) on the Multi Payment Service Provider API Model, Paytm has expedited the integration with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), and YES Bank.
All four banks are now operational on the TPAP, streamlining the process for Paytm to shift user accounts to these PSP banks.
The fintech company is now focusing on UPI Lite wallet to move the users who prefer wallets for low-value everyday payments. Paytm UPI Lite acts as an on-device wallet, allowing users to store funds and make payments on the go. It offers lightning-fast payments that never fail with no pin requirement.

Science & Environment

Netflix to stream Christmas Day NFL games for three…

15 May 2024
by admin

Netflix will stream Christmas Day National Football League games for the next three years, in its first true step into live sports.

The streaming platform will show two games on Christmas Day this year, followed by at least one matchup in both 2025 and 2026, the league announced Wednesday. The games will continue to be available on broadcast TV in local team markets and on the NFL+ mobile app.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but people familiar with the matter said Netflix will pay in the ballpark of $75 million per game. Spokespeople for the NFL and Netflix declined to comment.

The streamer will hire its own announcers for the games and partner with existing production companies. Sarandos told CNBC he felt the NFL was the right fit because it matched the streamer’s event strategy, allowing Netflix to effectively own the day.

Netflix has drawn large audiences with sports programming, from the “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” documentary to its “Quarterback” series following NFL signal callers. While the company took major strides into live programming with a deal to stream the WWE’s “Raw” and a boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, the company suggested it had not found a live sports rights strategy that worked for it.

“We have not seen a profit path to renting big sports,” Sarandos said in December 2022.

“We’re not anti-sports, we’re just pro-profit,” Sarandos said.

Now, Netflix will stream games for the most-watched U.S. sports league, at a time when it is trying to boost profits by raising subscription prices, pushing users toward an ad-tier membership and cracking down on password sharing.

The games could give Netflix a major draw for advertisers. The three Christmas Day NFL games averaged 28.68 million viewers last year, according to Sports Media Watch.

The Christmas Day matchups can function as a marketing ramp up for Netflix before it starts airing “Raw” in January.

The streaming giant’s forays into live events have not come without issues. Its live reunion event for the hit reality TV show “Love Is Blind” in April 2023 had a technical bug that delayed the stream for more than an hour, at which point the show was no longer live.

The announcement comes as streamers across the industry show increasing interest in live sports programming, particularly the NFL.

In January, NBCUniversal’s Peacock showed an NFL Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins, marking the first time a playoff game was broadcast exclusively on a streaming service. Amazon‘s Prime Video has already snatched the exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game next season.

Amazon also signed a media rights deal with the NFL in 2021, where it agreed to pay about $1 billion per year to have exclusive Thursday Night Football rights for 10 years, starting with the 2023 season. The deal was the first time a streaming service carried a full package of games exclusively.

Netflix could be looking to branch out into basketball, as well. CNBC reported last year that Netflix, along with Amazon, Apple, YouTube TV and Comcast’s NBCUniversal/Peacock, have all had preliminary conversations with the National Basketball Association about possible interest in media rights when the league’s deal with Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery comes to an end after next season.

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

— CNBC’s Alex Sherman and Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report

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Science & Environment

Gold outperforms Nifty over a 5 year time frame:…

15 May 2024
by admin

Gold holds a special place in the hearts of Indians, cherished not only for its cultural significance but also as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Recent trends indicate that this affinity for gold is not just confined to individuals but is increasingly shared by central banks worldwide. Gold is seen as a strategic asset class for investors to diversify portfolios.
In a column in ET, Amrita Farmahan, the CEO of Ambit Global Private Client says that gold has shown steady returns of mid to high teens over the last 1, 3, 5, and 7 years. Over the past 5 years, gold has even outperformed the Nifty 50, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 18%. It has matched Nifty returns in the last five years.

Several global trends further bolster the investment thesis for gold. Central banks, including those of China, India, and Russia, are steadily increasing their gold reserves. According to Farmahan, the trust in dollar assets was shaken when the U.S. froze dollar assets due to sanctions on Russia. Without another currency option, central banks from various countries like China, India, and Russia are actively increasing their gold reserves. Gold is becoming the preferred choice for central banks, and their buying reduces the gold available in the market.
ALSO READ | What is 24 karat gold? Know difference between 999 vs 995 fineness gold

Another factor pushing up the value of gold is the significant quantitative easing (QE) measures, along with increasing debt and interest burdens in the U.S. and Europe, she says.. Last year, U.S. debt increased by $3.1 trillion, while government revenue stood at around $4.5 trillion annually. Interest payments on debt reached approximately $870 million. Over the past 20 years, U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP has risen sharply from 55% to 122%. Additionally, the practice of money printing is expected to persist. Gold serves as a safe haven asset amid concerns of currency debasement, she adds.
In the past, gold prices surged when the Fed funds rate peaked in 2000, 2006, and 2019. These peaks in interest rates signaled economic weakness and prompted the implementation of QE. Given the expected peak in the Fed funds rate and current signs of weakening U.S. data, another round of QE seems likely. If this happens, gold prices are likely to rise once more, she says.
One more small trend is Chinese retail investors moving their money from real estate and stocks to gold. It’s expected that U.S. retail investors will do the same eventually. Currently, assets in U.S. Gold ETFs are down by a third from their highest point. Critics may question gold’s lack of regular income like cash flows or dividends. However, gold has been valued for thousands of years, indicating its enduring appeal. This suggests that the risk-reward balance for investing in gold is appealing, she adds.

Gold broke out of its usual trading range in early March. This breakout marks the fourth significant breakout since 1971, with the previous ones occurring in 1971, 1978, 2004, and 2019. Each of these breakouts has resulted in rewarding returns for investors.

In 2002 and 2019, gold saw increases due to expectations of quantitative easing. Similarly, current movements in gold prices reflect concerns about debt, quantitative easing, and the vulnerability of the U.S. dollar. Additionally, gold serves as a valuable hedge in portfolios against equities, as it typically performs well when stocks decline, providing investors with strong returns during bear markets, she says.
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Farmahan is of the view that having gold in your portfolio decreases volatility while offering appealing returns. For example, during the financial crisis of 2008, gold surged by 26% while stocks plummeted. Similarly, in 2011, gold rose by 31.7% amidst a bear market for equities. Even in 2020, amid struggles in the stock market, gold increased by 28.0%. Over the 2000s, while the S&P 500 experienced a slight annual decline of 1%, gold saw an average annual increase of 14%. These instances demonstrate gold’s track record of delivering strong returns and suggest it may continue to do so in the future.

When it comes to allocating assets, the best portfolio includes a mix of investments that don’t move in sync. It’s even better if they move in opposite directions, so if one, like stocks, isn’t doing well, others can balance it out. Gold fits this strategy perfectly. We recommend a 10% allocation to gold for moderate-risk investors. The preferred way to invest in gold is through Gold ETFs and Sovereign Gold Bond Funds, she concludes.

Science & Environment

SME woes: Sebi flags fraud by 2 companies to…

15 May 2024
by admin

A string of accounting frauds unearthed by Sebi this month poses another risk to the blistering rally in shares of small businesses. Varanium Cloud and Add-Shop E-Retail – both listed on the small and medium enterprises (SME) platform – were found to have manipulated their financial statements to fuel gains in their shares, according to initial orders issued by Sebi.The authorities have banned both companies and their founders from dealing in the capital market.
The crackdown comes after the regulator issued warnings earlier this year of price manipulation in tiny IPOs. Analysts say the development presages greater regulatory action, which may temper further gains in the BSE SME IPO Index of micro listings that has soared more than 5,000% since the start of 2021.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ambareesh Baliga, a market expert. “Fewer regulations were meant to attract good quality SMEs to the market… instead it has attracted the wrong ones.”
Technology firm Varanium Cloud was found to have misused funds raised from its public offering in 2022, and “manipulated its financial statements by recording fictitious sales and purchases”, Sebi said in its order dated May 10.