canukstorm said:

flaneur said:

rogifan_new said:

bdkennedy said:

rogifan_new said:

Apple is monitoring? Why is this a news story? And what exactly are they monitoring? Anyone who thinks Apple should spend billions on a old media conglomerate is a nut. I want Apple to be the platform for all content. Wouldn't owning a content company make it more difficult to do deals with other content providers? Apple should be a neutral platform.

I think perhaps Apple's monitoring is waiting to see what AT&T was going to bid - $85B so Apple can swoop in at the last minute and bid higher.

So you think Apple should bid on this? That is really getting away from Apple's core competencies.

Buying a "content provider" is a proven route to disaster, e.g., Sony and MGM.

The entertainment biz is poison, and it doesn't make people's lives better, it makes them worse. The more the masses are diverted by thrills, the less they know history, or even what's going on in the present. 

I would hate to see Apple making money on stupifying people. And as you say, core competency — tech artists don't have the perverse money-grubbing instincts that's fueled Hollywood and the TV business for a couple of generations, if not from the very beginning. 

"The entertainment biz is poison, and it doesn't make people's lives better, it makes them worse. The more the masses are diverted by thrills, the less they know history, or even what's going on in the present."

Totally agree with this point. But there was a genius by the name of Steve Jobs who made an equally valid point:

“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a
conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But
when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks
are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far
more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot
the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really
in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.”