Paralyzed by Choice

OMG! We have this problem:

Stuck between The Rock and “A Quiet Place”? You’re not alone.

Nielsen’s new Total Audience Report found that the average TV viewer takes seven minutes just to pick what to watch.

Chalk it up to too much choice. The proliferation of streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and video-on-demand (VOD) options is leading to “paralysis among consumers,” according to Deadline.

Homes with internet-enabled TV-connected devices spiked from 67 percent to 72 percent — and households with subscription VOD services rose to 70 percent from 65 percent, Broadcasting & Cable reports.

Still, among adult subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) users, only a third of them bother to browse the menu to find content, with 21 percent saying they simply give up watching if they’re unable to make a choice when bombarded with options.

After the Stroocklettes are in bed we come downstairs....and sift through the cornucopia of programing options. Seven minutes, the article says, we can take half an hour. Indeed, sometimes we just give up. 

For years we've tried to find new stuff to watch, to get out of our comfort zone, so to speak. How many times can you see The Caine Mutiny or Rio Bravo? It's dangerous to get stuck like that.*

Which didn't prevent us from watching Return of the Jedi the other night. There is great comfort to be had, after all.

There is no such thing as the 'good old days' we used to tell our students, but sometimes we miss the TV of our youth. Ahhhh Thursday night...say it with us, Gen X: Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court.

*The other night we found Porkchop Hill, which believe it or not, we'd never seen; 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Teddy Roosevelt call your Office

Via St. Drudge, we learn the Justice Department is looking at Amazon for anti-trust violations:

Amazon could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators that puts it under closer watch by the Federal Trade Commission, three people familiar with the matter said.

Ya think?

Over the years Amazon has gobbled up dozens of smaller tech companies. We can give you two examples.

When we started as an indy author a decade ago we published through an independent book publishing service called Book Surge. Somewhere along the line Amazon bought them.

Later we joined an online book review and reader social network called Goodreads, which Amazon also bought.

So Amazon is responsable for the publishing, selling and review of our books.

Of course our training is theological not legal, but it seems to us that Amazon is violating the anti-trust laws.

Is Trump the next great Trust Buster?

The Amazon Cunundrum

Amazon controls the universe, mine anyway.

Every book or eBook I sell goes through Amazon.

I am also a registered vendor with Amazon, meaning that if someone buys something through one of the Amazon links on this blog I get a very small kickback.

A lot of blogs pay their operating costs via the Amazon sellers program, including one we like very much, Legal Insurrection. Well Legal Insurrection tells us that Amazon has cancelled their program with the site:

On Saturday morning, April 28, 2018, I woke up to an email in my inbox from Amazon Associates telling me our participation in the program was terminated, our account closed, that the decision was final and there was no appeal. On top of that, Amazon was holding back any accumulated money it owed us.

We strongly suggest clicking over to read about the saga in its entirety. There's really no good explanation for what Amazon has done. Basically, we think someone at Amazon decided they didn't like LI. Gee wonder how that someone voted?

For myself I really don't care about the seller program, I've made a tiny amount from it.

But the book selling aspect, well, that's my whole business model. Without Amazon I could not do what I do. Amazon has been very, very good to and for me.

If Amazon ever gets mad at me, I'm out of business and looking for a real job.