News Information and Media Site: Byers Market: Mark Zuckerberg bets on AR; Hans Vestberg kills the bundle

January 10, 2020 | Hollywood

Good morning. 🏈 Happy playoff weekend. The NFL divisional games kick off tomorrow with Vikings vs. 49ers in Santa Clara (1:35 p.m. PT, NBC). Seahawks vs. Packers is Sunday (3:40 p.m. PT, FOX).

💼 Sideline to C-Suite: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has apparently been giving corporate training sessions to tech executives and Fortune 500 employees, per NYT's Matthew Futterman.

Join the Market.

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Facebook 2030

Mark Zuckerberg's AR bet

Moving the Market: Mark Zuckerberg says the creation of "breakthrough augmented reality glasses" is a top priority for Facebook in the next decade, reflecting his belief that AR — or the overlaying of data onto the real world — will be the next revolutionary computing platform after mobile.

• In a new post outlining his priorities for the decade, the Facebook chief predicted that "at some point in the 2020s, we will get breakthrough augmented reality glasses that will redefine our relationship with technology."

• He also predicted that AR glasses would give people "the ability to be 'present' anywhere" and work remotely, alleviating issues like "ballooning housing costs and inequality of opportunity by geography."

The big picture: The rise of a new computing platform such as AR would give Facebook a chance to move aggressively into the hardware space, which is currently dominated by Apple and Google.

• As The Information's Alex Heath has noted, Zuckerberg's interest in owning hardware "reflects an underlying paranoia about the risks of depending on tech platforms controlled by other companies."

• To date, "Apple and Google have called the shots in the tech industry as custodians of the two dominant mobile operating systems, giving them extraordinary power over companies like Facebook," Heath writes.

What's next: The AR race. Facebook plans to release its first AR glasses in 2023. Apple, which is working on several AR hardware projects, has also set 2023 as the target date for its glasses.

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Future of Facebook, con't.

Moving Menlo: The Facebook chief also outlined other ambitions he has for himself and his company in the decade ahead, from more intimate forms of communication to new opportunities in commerce and payments.

• Communication: "Our digital social environments will feel very different over the next 5+ years, re-emphasizing private interactions and helping us build the smaller communities we all need in our lives."

• Commerce: "Over the next decade, we hope to build the commerce and payments tools so that every small business has easy access to the same technology that previously only big companies have had."

Big in the Beltway: Zuckerberg also touched on regulation, reiterating his belief that Facebook should be regulated and should not make independent decisions "that touch on fundamental democratic values."

• He also noted that Facebook will soon have an independent oversight board that will allow users to appeal Facebook's decisions regarding content.

🇺🇸 Talk of the Trail 🇺🇸

Bloomberg Watch: "There is a way that people generally run for president. And there is whatever Mr. Bloomberg is doing," NYT's Matt Flegenheimer writes, after spending 17 hours on the trail with the media mogul.

• The big picture: "Bloomberg has risen to about fifth place in the national polls, consistently trailing the front-runners but outpacing several hopefuls who have been hustling for much of the last year."

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Verizon Horizon

Hans Vestberg kills the bundle

Talk of the Telcos: "Verizon Communications is eliminating traditional cable bundles and the handcuffs that often came with them, making it easier for households to switch video packages in the hopes they won't cut the cord entirely," WSJ's Sarah Krouse reports.

• "The telecommunications company will allow Fios customers to select their home internet speeds and television packages separately, at preset rates."

• "Rather than locking customers into one- or two-year contracts, customers will be able to change either service monthly, if they wish."

• "Under the new pricing plans, Verizon will sell three tiers of internet speeds, ranging from $55 to $80 a month, including router costs."

The big picture: "The new structure offers Verizon an opportunity to gain incremental revenue from a pay-TV business that has suffered customer defections as more consumers have embraced streaming services."

Market Links

• Michael Rapino faces pressure from Justice Dept. (WSJ)

• Harvey Weinstein loses effort to recuse his judge (CNN)

• Mike Reed prepares to make big cuts at Gannett (BI Prime)

• Jimmy Pitaro bets on Instagram guru Omar Raja (Variety)

• Karey Burke forgoes an Oscars host, again (NYT)

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The Gold Rush

John Landgraf on 'Peak TV'

Talk of Tinseltown: FX chairman John Landgraf says there were 532 scripted series in 2019, a 7 percent year-over-year increase. Landgraf predicts the number will increase "substantially" in 2020, NYT's John Koblin reports.

• The big picture: "In 2015, Mr. Landgraf argued there was 'simply too much television' and coined the term 'Peak TV.' He predicted that an inevitable decline was likely to set in soon. Instead, the growth has seemed endless."

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Fox Populi

Megyn Kelly talks 'Bombshell'

Moving Midtown: Megyn Kelly has posted a 30-minute YouTube video in which she and other former Fox News journalists who said they were sexually harassed at the network talk about "Bombshell," the dramatic film about the takedown of Roger Ailes.

• The video shows Kelly and the other women, as well as Kelly's husband Douglas Brunt, watching "Bombshell" at a private screening before discussing what the film got right and what it got wrong.

The big picture: The women all share chilling stories about their experiences being harassed or resisting harassment, as well as the consequences they paid for speaking out or refusing advances.

• While they all agree that the film gets a lot right, they also suggest that it let Ailes off too easy. Ailes repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Ailes passed away in 2017.

Oh/and: The women also hit Irena Briganti, the network's veteran PR chief, for planting hit pieces on Kelly and other Fox News talent at Ailes' behest. Fox has denied that accusation.