Latest / Connecting the Dots / Connecting the Dots - 5-16-2025

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Connecting the Dots - 5-16-2025 · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Happy Friday, everyone. It is May 16th.
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  2025. In doubt it is. And here in Sacramento,
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  it's just lovely. Sunny, high of 87 degrees expected.
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  Perfect Friday weather. Absolutely. And the markets,
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  they finished the week pretty strong. Dow closed
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  at 423 .67 .23. S &P 500 at 59 .26 .3. Good way
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  to end the week. Definitely. And, you know, it
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  is Friday. Casual Friday. Maybe time to break
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  out the slightly more adventurous socks. Gotta
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  embrace the small freedoms. Exactly. Well, welcome,
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  everyone, to Connecting the Dons. I'm Alex. And
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  I'm Morgan. We're from Snarfle Solutions Group.
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  And today, we're doing a deep dive into three
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  pretty significant tech stories that have been
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  making headlines. We want to unpack them a bit
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  and see what they actually mean for, well, for
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  you. Yeah, we've got YouTube jumping into the
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  podcast chart game, a potentially massive merger
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  in the cable world. the latest twist in that
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  ongoing Apple versus Epic Games saga. OK, let's
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  start with YouTube. So they've just rolled out
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  a weekly top podcast chart specifically for the
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  US. It updates every Wednesday. Right. And this
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  comes, you know, not long after Spotify also
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  announced some new public metrics for podcasts.
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  Seems like measurement is becoming a big focus.
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  It really does. But YouTube's approach here is.
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  Well, it's interesting. Their chart ranks the
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  top 100 shows, but it's based on total watch
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  time. Exactly. Not just clicks or initial views,
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  but how long people are actually sticking around
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  and watching. That's a key distinction. It really
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  could be. I mean, prioritizing watch time, that
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  naturally gives a boost to longer shows or at
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  least shows that. really hold your attention
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  right precisely it might encourage creators to
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  focus less on say quick hits and more on that
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  deeper engagement and their rules to To even
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  be eligible, the content has to be specifically
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  marked as a podcast when it's uploaded. Yeah,
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  so just putting up clips or shorts, that won't
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  count towards this chart. They're clearly carving
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  out podcasts as a specific thing. Which makes
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  sense, given the numbers. YouTube apparently
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  has over a billion monthly active podcast viewers.
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  That's huge. And Edison Research actually says
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  YouTube is the most used podcast service in the
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  US right now. Wow. Okay, so this chart could
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  become pretty influential pretty fast. You think
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  so. The first one just came out covering May
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  5th to 11th. Any surprises at the top? Well,
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  maybe not a huge surprise at number one, the
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  Joe Rogan experience. Okay, yeah, that's it.
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  But others in the top group include Kill Tony,
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  Rotten Mango, 48 Hours, the Midas Dutch Podcast.
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  So, quite a mix. Hmm, yeah. Comedy, true crime,
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  news. It shows the variety people are consuming
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  on the platform. And YouTube already does this
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  kind of thing for music, right? Videos, songs,
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  artists. Exactly, so they're kind of applying
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  a model they know, and they've said they plan
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  to roll these podcast charts out in other countries
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  eventually, add more features. It's definitely
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  a different feel than Spotify's new Plays feature.
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  That one seems more like trying to match YouTube's
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  traditional view count idea. Right, so you have
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  YouTube saying, how long are they watching, and
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  Spotify may be focusing more on how many started
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  watching. It's two different ways to measure
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  popularity. Which does bring up the concerns
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  some smaller podcasters have, doesn't it? that
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  focusing so much on charts turns it into just
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  a popularity contest. It's a valid concern. Will
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  this make it harder for niche or up -and -coming
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  shows to get discovered if all the focus is on
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  the top 100 based on watch time? Possibly. So
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  thinking about you, the listener, how does this
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  help? Well, I guess it could be a pretty straightforward
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  way to see what's trending, right? Find new shows
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  based purely on what lots of other people are
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  watching for extended periods. Yeah, it's another
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  discovery tool. And for creators, I mean, that
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  watch time data is gold. It tells you what's
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  actually keeping people hooked. Advertisers,
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  too, I imagine. They'll love having clearer metrics
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  on reach and engagement. Oh, absolutely. This
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  gives them more data to work with when deciding
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  where to spend their ad dollars. OK, let's shift
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  gears. Story number two is a big one. We're talking
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  about a potential merger between Charter Communications
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  and Cox Communications. Yeah, this is huge. Two
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  absolute giants in the US cable industry, possibly
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  joining forces. The deal values Cox at around
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  $34 .5 billion, and that includes their debt.
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  Wow. So if this goes through, the combined company
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  would actually be bigger than Comcast, in terms
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  of cable customers. That's the projection, yeah.
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  It would create a real behemoth. It definitely
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  signals that consolidation is still very much
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  the name of the game in telecom. Interesting
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  detail. The combined company will actually keep
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  the Cox name, legally speaking. Right. But the
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  services you buy, the brand you'll see, will
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  be Spectrum within about a year. Ah, okay. So...
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  Spectrum branding continues. And Cox Enterprises,
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  the parent company of Cox Communications, they
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  end up as the biggest shareholder. Yep, with
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  about a 23 % stake. So they maintain significant
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  influence. And this isn't the first time they've
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  talked about this, apparently. No, apparently
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  they had discussions maybe 12 years ago or so.
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  And John Malone, who's a major charter shareholder
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  and a big name in telecom. Right. He's mentioned
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  Cox as a potential partner before, so the idea's
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  been floating around. This is definitely up there
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  with the biggest deals announced this year. I
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  think Google buying Whiz is another one in that
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  league. For sure. And the motivation seems pretty
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  clear. Cost savings. They're projecting about
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  $500 million a year in savings after a few years.
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  Just efficiencies. Yeah, things like getting
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  better deals when buying equipment, streamlining
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  overhead, that kind of thing. Standard merger
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  synergy stuff. And the plan is to offer the whole
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  bundle under spectrum, right? Fiber, internet,
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  mobile phone, streaming. Exactly. Compete across
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  the board. They need that scale and diverse offering
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  to compete with, you know, fiber providers, wireless
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  companies, streaming services. The whole landscape
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  is changing. What about leadership? Who's running
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  the show? Alex Taylor who runs Cox Enterprises
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  now. He'll be the chairman of the board of the
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  new company, but Chris Winfrey Charter's current
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  CEO He gets the president and CEO job of the
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  combined entity Okay, and they'll oversee a massive
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  workforce over a hundred thousand employees.
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  Yeah, it's a huge operation The core argument
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  they're making is that joining forces makes them
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  stronger more competitive better able to invest
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  and adapt and Cox Enterprises gets quite a package
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  for their cable business. What was it cash stock?
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  It's a mix. About $4 billion in cash, $6 billion
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  in these convertible preferred units, and almost
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  $12 billion in common units of the new company.
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  Plus, the new company takes on $12 billion of
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  Cox debt. So it's complex. And Charter's also
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  setting up a new foundation. Yeah, a Cox Communications
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  Foundation with a $50 million endowment plus
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  an employee relief fund. Sort of a nod to the
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  Cox legacy, perhaps. But this isn't a done deal
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  yet. Far from it. Not at all. It needs shareholder
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  approval, and crucially, it needs regulatory
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  approval. That process could easily take a year,
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  maybe longer. Regulators will definitely scrutinize
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  a merger of this scale. So what does this mean
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  for you, the consumer, if you're a Charter or
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  Cox customer now? Well, immediately, probably
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  not much. These things take time. Longer term,
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  though, you'll likely see the Spectrum brand
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  become universal if you're a Cox customer now.
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  There could be changes to bundles, service options,
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  potentially. Mergers can sometimes lead to price
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  adjustments down the road as companies integrate
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  and look for those savings. But it's too early
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  to say for sure. The main takeaway is It's just
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  another big example of how the cable and internet
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  industry is shrinking down to fewer, larger players.
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  Okay, on to our third story. And it's back to
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  that never -ending battle. Apple versus Epic
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  Games over Fortnite. Yeah, just when you think
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  there might be some movement, things seem to
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  take another turn. Epic is now claiming Apple
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  has blocked their latest attempt to get Fortnite
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  back into the US App Store. Blocked it. even
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  after that court ruling about allowing external
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  payments. Apparently so. Epic's statement is
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  pretty strong. They're saying Fortnite on iOS
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  is effectively offline worldwide until Apple
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  unblocks it. Wow. Worldwide. So this isn't just
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  a US thing anymore. It seems to be impacting
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  things globally now, according to Epic. Remember,
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  Fortnite got kicked off the App Store back in
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  2020. Right, for putting in their own payment
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  system to bypass Apple's cut. Google did the
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  same thing on the Play Store. Exactly. But recently
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  there was that legal win for Epic where a judge
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  basically said Apple had to allow developers
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  to link to outside payment options in the U .S.
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  Yeah, I remember that. The judge even found Apple
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  in willful violation of a court order, right?
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  And mentioned potential criminal contempt. That's
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  right. So things seem to be maybe leaning Epic's
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  way at least slightly in the U .S. context. So
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  Epic tried to resubmit Fortnite. They did. First
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  on May 9th. Heard nothing for a week. Then they
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  submitted again on May 14th with updated game
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  content. Because, you know, Fortnite needs weekly
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  updates across all platforms simultaneously.
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  Okay. And Apple's response? According to Epic,
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  Apple blocked that May 14th submission. And crucially,
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  Epic also says Apple is preventing the release
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  of Fortnite even in the EU, where it was available
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  through the Epic Games Store on iOS. Wait. How
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  could they block in the EU? Wasn't that allowed
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  because of the Digital Markets Act? That's what
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  makes this latest move particularly aggressive,
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  if Epic's account is accurate. The DMA forced
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  Apple to allow third -party app stores in the
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  EU, which is how Fortnite returned there. Now
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  Epic says Apple is somehow stopping that too.
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  Kim Sweeney, Epic's CEO, he posted about this,
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  didn't he? Yeah, he posted on X basically confirming
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  Apple blocked the submission and the game is
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  offline worldwide on iOS because of it. This
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  feels like a major escalation. Even with court
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  rulings, Apple seems determined to hold its ground.
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  It appears so. Apple did introduce that system
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  where apps using external payments still owe
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  them a 27 % commission. Right, which developers
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  weren't thrilled about. No. And Apple also put
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  up warnings about security risks for users going
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  outside the App Store payment system, so they've
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  been pushing back. But blocking it outright again,
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  especially potentially impacting the EU release,
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  that's a strong statement. So for you, the listener,
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  if you play Fortnite on your iPhone or iPad,
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  What now? Well, right now, according to Epic,
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  you can't access the game. Simple as that. It's
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  offline on iOS. Man, this whole fight just keeps
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  going. And it really highlights the power these
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  platform holders like Apple have over developers,
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  doesn't it? Absolutely. It impacts developer
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  business models, how they reach users, and ultimately
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  it affects your choice and potentially what you
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  pay for apps and in -app content. OK, so let's
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  just quickly recap the three big things we dove
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  into today. We had YouTube launching its new
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  podcast charts based on watch time in the US.
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  Then the massive proposed merger between Charter
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  and Cox, potentially creating the largest US
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  cable provider under the Spectrum brand. And
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  finally, the latest chapter in Apple versus Epic,
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  with Fortnite apparently blocked and offline
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  worldwide on iOS devices again. Three stories,
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  all touching on pretty key themes. how we measure
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  online content, consolidation in major industries,
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  and the ongoing power struggles in the app economy.
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  Yeah, they seem separate, but they connect through
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  these broader trends shaping our digital lives.
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  So maybe something to think about as we rack
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  up. With things like these podcast charts gaining
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  prominence and the cable industry consolidating
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  further, how do you see your own media habits
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  changing maybe in the next few years? And that
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  ongoing fight between developers like Epic and
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  platform giants like Apple, what do you think
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  that means for the future of your favorite apps,
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  for innovation, for choice? Lots to mull over
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  there. These shifts are happening constantly.
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  They really are. It's a space that's always evolving.
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  Well, thanks for joining us for this deep dive.
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  Remember, we are here to help here at Snarfles,
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  so reach out on our website if you have any more
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  questions. Thanks for listening. That's a wrap
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  on today's top stories. Remember, tech doesn't
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  have to be complicated, and we're here to help
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  connect the dots. If you've got questions or
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  want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.