cobblecord

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Will Media’s Quest for Scale Ultimately Lead to Extinction?

The flurry of media mergers and consolidations over the last 2 years has reinforced the concept that scale is necessary to effectively compete in this new, disrupted entertainment landscape. But while watching The Day the Dinosaurs Died (ironically, on Netflix) I had a bit of a revelation that media’s rush to get bigger in order to survive may be misguided and even downright dangerous to the future of these behemoths.

The Day the Dinosaurs Died describes the fascinating chain of events that occurred after a mega-asteroid hit the earth off the coast of what is now the Yucatan peninsula some 66 million years ago. According to scientists, dinosaurs were the largest “apex predators” of the time. But because of this they were actually the hardest hit by the resulting impact. More on that later.

Today’s Apex Predators

The equivalent apex predators in today’s world of media are the horizontally and/or vertically integrated corporations that have been bulking up in order to compete in the streaming wars, as well as the large tech companies that have muscled their way into the space. The sharp-elbowed game of content creation, licensing and distribution (and of course, advertising) between the many players is getting even sharper. In this world, bigger means having more power and leverage to negotiate across multiple fronts and the ability to better defray costs across a large footprint.

AT&T swallowing DirecTV and later Time Warner; Disney gobbling up Fox’s assets; Discovery buying Scripps; Facebook, Google and Amazon being so inherently huge for so long; and even Netflix endlessly growing its debt to capture ever more subscribers and high-profile content are just a few examples of the “bigger is better” approach that’s been the accepted path to greatness. And let’s not forget Viacom reuniting with its CBS brethren, yet continuing to get penalized by the markets for still being too small.

However, size and scale can become a negative, as was ultimately the case in the dinosaur era. It turns out that the majority of dinosaurs did not die directly from the asteroid’s impact. Instead, the force of the crash (it was traveling at an estimated forty-five thousand miles per hour) spewed millions of tons of displaced rock, dust and debris miles into the air, producing a thick dust cloud that rapidly spread across the planet. The cloud blanketed the atmosphere and blocked out all sunshine, which turned the earth cold, halted photosynthesis and destroyed the food supply, leading to a complete collapse of the food chain and mass starvation. The largest beasts who required the greatest amounts of sustenance in order to survive were the hardest hit, and quickly died out.

Shifting Winds

In our modern media saga, the winds have again been shifting and the apex predators of today may also be the most vulnerable. Activist investors calling for divestiture and new management (in the case of AT&T); increased governmental anti-trust and privacy scrutiny (Facebook, Google); overpayment for lackluster assets (AT&T, Disney); messy cultural fit (AT&T/Time Warner, Viacom/CBS); and investor hyper-sensitivity to small shifts in subscriber numbers and constant skittishness regarding debt load (Netflix) are just some of the hazards that have recently surfaced in the race to scale.

Not to mention that the top-heaviness and bloated infrastructure usually needed to support such large companies generally creates entities that are slow to respond or pivot, which is an increasingly important ability in today’s ever-evolving media reality. It also makes them reluctant to take chances on lower-margin areas that don’t serve their big balance sheet requirements, even if they do serve an emerging customer need – a classic Innovator’s Dilemma situation.

Plus, these companies have existed in a bull market for the past decade. The specter of a recession dust cloud could certainly block out the media giants’ sunshine and make them more vulnerable than their smaller, more nimble counterparts. When cost-conscious consumers start flexing more control over their entertainment mix, bundle backlash and non-stop subscriber churn could easily dry up the high volume of capital lifeblood needed to sustain their bulk and fuel their required growth.

Only the Agile Survive

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Let’s remember that in prehistoric times, the dinosaurs’ extinction heralded some positive developments as well. With those large reptilian predators out of the way, mammals (who were much smaller and required much less food) began to flourish. This, of course, led to our caveman ancestors and the proliferation of the human race.

Similarly, the leaner, more agile players could be better positioned to make the ongoing quick moves needed in today’s increasingly complex media terrain – provided they’ve been built around smart business models and sound financials.

So perhaps ViacomCBS is exactly the size that it should be right now. Maybe it should stand firm and stoutly ignore the constant drumbeat demanding that it get bigger. It’s a choice that just might help it avoid becoming too big to sustain itself during the next inevitable famine.

By: Virginia Juliano

Virginia Juliano is the Founder & CEO of CobbleCord (www.CobbleCord.com), a disruptive startup that helps people cobble together personalized bundles of both free and paid streaming services. Its patented process uses customer content, device, internet and price preferences to craft a custom list of services for each user, empowering them to get the most from streaming and get rid of cable.

For this article and many other insightful pieces on the #OTT space, get a FREE digital subscription to OTT Executive Magazine and instantly download the Fall 2019 Issue at https://OTTexec.com/magazine.

[cobblecord]

A Call for More User Control Over the Streaming UX

Will Streaming Heed the Lessons that Cable Didn’t?

We all know that streaming has come a long way over the last 20 years and OTT video usage continues to increase. However, there are some glaring consumer pain points that should be addressed sooner rather than later. If not, percolating dissatisfaction could bubble up and undermine the considerable ‘user good-will’ that streaming services have generally been afforded. It's time for streaming services to start giving consumers more control over their user experience before it comes back to haunt them.

Consider what’s happening to the Traditional TV Providers, that didn’t heed the call for more consumer-centric approach, until it was too late – and obviously, pushed people into the awaiting arms of OTT. Clearly, the user interfaces and smart use of data on the part of the online streaming giants is far superior to that of the Traditional Pay-TV world. But the increasingly frequent lament we all hear is that users (or viewers) spend more time searching for something to watch than actually watching. And the new OTT launches from Apple, Disney, WarnerMedia, NBC, etc. on the horizon promise to amplify the problem.

If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the results of a recent PwC survey that showed almost 90% of consumers are dissatisfied with content discovery and recommendations. That certainly doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement for the multitude of content recommendation AIs many streaming services have put so much stock in.

Now that streaming has become fully mainstream and the embarrassment of content riches continues to explode, giving users the option to take (at least some of) the reins seems like a logical next step in the industry’s evolution.

Lean Back or Look Forward?

During the early development of video streaming app ecosystem, most of the players decided that the overarching UX approach should give users some straightforward controls (like add to watchlist, basic search and very simple filtering), but largely reinforced the ‘lean back’ nature of video viewing, particularly with apps created for the TV screen.

The assumption was that viewers would want to be served up content while they sit back and passively receive it, essentially recreating the traditional TV viewing experience. Netflix has practically spun its programming recommendations and auto-play features into a veritable product-design art form. Of course, they’ve done quite well with that approach to date.

But the streaming landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years, and the new flood of content choices has made the lean-back model a source of increasing frustration rather than assistance. The endless rows of scrolling content artwork, the seemingly arbitrary arrays of content categories and obscure micro-genres, the limited and confining search and filtering functions, and the infernal auto-play trailers (my personal pet peeve) are really starting to grate on the nerves of streamers.

And of course, the more people stream, the more of an annoyance it becomes. This sad state of affairs is especially irritating to the self-determined millennial generation, who value freedom, control, flexibility and ultra-customization above all else.

Borrowing from the Past to Shape the Future

In a perfect world, relevant content would be easily discovered and displayed to the right person at the right time across the countless walled-gardens of apps. That’s surely a goal to work toward, but there are various corporate conflicts and technical hurdles that have slowed its progress (which is another story for another day).

In the meantime, I’m suggesting to simply give users more control within each individual app or service as an incremental way to improve streaming’s overall experience. Addressing the ‘content fatigue’ issue quickly is key to keeping OTT’s momentum going.

I believe that this is a product-design challenge more than a technology one. We need a shift within the very product-driven culture of Streaming Tech to a more user-empowered approach – specifically when it comes to the content selection and curation process.

Many long-standing online companies have been perfecting the use of interactive customization and filtering tools for decades. In fact, they are some of the basic tenets of the internet and e-commerce. The streaming world could easily borrow from some of the tried and true, ‘lean-forward’ techniques of these businesses, such as online retail, publishing and travel. Granted, translating these concepts to the TV screen using the clunky remote control as a navigation device surely doesn’t lend itself to ease of use. But it’s not an insurmountable hurdle.

Imagine if you could harness the multiple-criteria filtering capabilities of Zappos, the self-curation controls of Flipboard and the sorting capabilities of Expedia to help you determine exactly what you’d like to watch on an average Saturday night. Here are a few ways to start the ball rolling toward more user-empowered Streaming UX.

Customizable Home Screen Displays - The ability for a user to organize and personalize the home screen of an app/streaming service to their taste. For instance:

-- Want to always see New Releases in the top row? And Nature Documentaries below that because that happens to be your thing? And so on… -- Users should be able to arrange the content rows that are displayed and at what levels.

-- Don’t want to see the Recommended Rom-Com row, just because you watched that one Hugh Grant movie six months ago? -- Let users easily remove certain categories or micro-genres from the display to create a more focused, less cluttered screen.

Ramp Up the Filters & Sorting Capabilities – Think about how much time could be saved if you were able to punch in multiple criteria to surface exactly what you were in the mood to watch. Then sort the results by various components. And those controls were front and center (or at least easy to find).  For instance:

-- Want to see Comedies made in the 90’s? And drill down to those starring Sandra Bullock. Then sort by director? -- Those options should be a few clicks away.

Some services have attempted to address this with predictive or related search functionality, which I’ve found to be middling at best, and way off-base, at worst. Amazon borrows from their e-commerce roots to allow for multi-layer filtering of video on their desktop and mobile experiences, but they haven’t carried it over to their TV app.

Features Checklists - Giving people the ability to turn certain features on or off within an app should be as easy as subscribing or unsubscribing to an e-newsletter. For instance:

-- Want to disable auto-play trailers (or at least have the option to mute their volume), stop next episode auto-plays completely, turn on credits-skipping and closed captions for all titles in one fell swoop? -- Imagine if each streaming service had an easy-to-use personalization screen or module that allowed you to check or uncheck a few boxes to enable or disable these options, just like you would with parental controls.

Some services do allow for a degree of feature control on an asset basis. For example, on Netflix you can skip credits and intros while you’re binging an individual show. Others have enabled very lightweight customization buried deep within the user profile sections on their websites or mobile apps. But so much more could be done.

Emerging platform aggregators (like Apple and Roku) may have plans to enable some feature control on a platform level, which could be helpful. However, most subscribers watch streaming services across multiple platforms and devices, so giving users more control on a service level is a better solution.

Of course, a major counter-argument to user-empowered streaming UX is that streaming services need to promote and curate their best titles. They’ve invested millions (even billions) into original titles and high-stakes libraries to drive awareness, trial, retention and increasingly important brand equity. I totally get it and I believe that they absolutely should (and must) highlight their best wares.

But the right to showcase top content and the option of user personalization are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There is enough screen real estate to go around, if smartly engineered and cleverly carved up. I’m sure that there are ways to solve for it, given all the smart technical, product and creative talent there is in the industry.

And let’s not forget that this type of customer-centric thinking will actually help the streaming services in the long run. Personalization contributes to customer stickiness and higher retention rates, which will become increasingly important as new high-profile players enter the space and the streaming wars begin in earnest.

Nothing But Choice

OTT is on its way to becoming the dominant way of watching video, and the last thing we need is to stall or jeopardize its progress by not helping users get a handle on, what is essentially, too much of a good thing – content.

At core, OTT streaming is about customer choice and empowerment. It’s about options and personalization. It’s about transparency and control. What it’s definitely NOT about is expecting newly liberated consumers to go back to the type of one-way relationship that Traditional Pay TV Providers forced on them for many years, when there were no other choices.

Now, for better or worse, there is nothing but choice (I, for one, think it’s for better). Services that focus on giving users the tools to navigate this newfound choice will be the ones that have an advantage that will translate into streamers’ hearts and minds. And most importantly, into happy, loyal subscribers.

By: Virginia Juliano

Virginia Juliano is the Founder & CEO of CobbleCord (www.CobbleCord.com), a disruptive startup that helps people cobble together personalized bundles of both free and paid streaming services. Its patented process uses customer content, device, internet and price preferences to craft a custom list of services for each user, empowering them to find the best streaming solution to fit their needs and get the most from streaming.

For this article and many other insightful pieces on the #OTT space, get a FREE digital subscription to OTT Executive Magazine and instantly download the Spring 2019 Issue: https://OTTexec.com/magazine.

[cobblecord]

Does Netflix Still Deserve a Place in Your Online Streaming Mix?

Netflix announced its newest price hike from $9.99 per month to $10.99 per month for its standard service, and the entertainment press has been aflutter ever since.

From a business perspective, it makes sense. With its U.S. subscriber growth slowing and its stock price taking a hit, a rate increase is not such a surprising move to help the streaming behemoth meet its financial goals. However, this may be the worst time for them to do it. With the launch of many new entrants, the streaming space has become much more competitive.

While this is not such good news for Netflix, I’d argue that it’s a boon for consumers and provides the perfect chance for you to think about streamlining or expanding your online streaming mix.  Here are some elements to consider.

Value

Price is arguably the biggest issue for online streamers, however, value is really at the heart of price. But determining the value of a streaming service is not necessarily black and white. It’s a unique and personalized calculus for each individual based on things like: amount of titles, quality and uniqueness of content, device availability, genre/category selection, UI, free trial options and play-back quality. Often, these are moving targets.

Content rights are a particularly thorny area. Just ask Netflix. Although they’ve shifted their content strategy to rely more heavily on originals, they have also lost some important network libraries, most recently Disney and Fox. Parents who were thankful to park their young children in front of well-known Disney titles via Netflix were positively freaking out when they heard that it was going away. This certainly warrants taking a look at other child-friendly streaming options available (and by the way, there are quite a few).

Choice

Netflix launched its online streaming business over 10 years ago. A LOT has happened in those 10 years, including the launch of literally hundreds of other viable streaming services, and thousands of less than viable ones.  

Netflix has over 50 million U.S. subscribers, many of whom are long term customers who don’t even notice the low-profile monthly charge buried somewhere on their credit card statement. However, it’s now become a higher-profile charge, and chances are several other similar charges have now been added to that statement.

As the CEO/Founder of CobbleCord, a free website and app that helps users cobble together their own personalized online streaming combination, people are often tell me how surprised they are when they go through CobbleCord's recommendation process and Netflix isn't in their recommendation set (although they've been a long-time Netflix subscriber).  I say, "There have been a lot of changes in the streaming space since Netflix launched and you subscribed. It may not be the best choice for your streaming mix anymore. There are so many more options out there now, it's definitely time to reexamine your choices."  

There are now online streaming services (both free and paid) for just about every possible interest you could have. Sports, documentaries, family, teens, cars, art-house films, etc. The list goes on and on. Plus a slew of general interest aggregators have launched in the last year.  Is Netflix still as necessary to your streaming portfolio as it once was? Isn’t it time to take another look and perhaps broaden your horizons?

Time

Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, himself said that Netflix isn’t competing with other services, but with sleep. It’s certainly true that there has been proliferation of great, high quality programming available to stream and the firehose of high-quality content just keeps on gushing. Yet there are only 24 hours in the day.  

This can cause a degree of ‘streaming anxiety’ -- when compelling new content becomes available but you fear that you don’t have enough time to watch it because your streaming list is already too long. Culling or rejiggering your streaming subscriptions helps you reduce ‘content clutter’. This allows you to better surface and discover the most current and appropriate choices out there for your particular likes.

The ABCs of Streaming

With all the options now available, you do yourself a disservice if you don’t periodically revisit your streaming needs and choices. The best part of cutting the cord is getting and paying for exactly what YOU want to watch. You can now create your own Meta-Bundle™ -- the perfect combination of streaming services for YOU – without being bound by the seemingly arbitrary packages of the cable era.  

The rapid-fire changes happening all around you in the streaming space can be confusing, but they also create an invitation to play a more active role in the ongoing management of your entertainment. New startups like CobbleCord help you navigate the chaos by keeping an eye on the many dynamics of the streaming ecosystem, so you don’t have to. We translate those dynamics into a proprietary algorithm that generates a free, personalized entertainment recommendation.  

When it comes to getting the most out of your entertainment dollar, it doesn’t have to be that difficult. Just remember to follow the ABCs of streaming – Always Be Cobbling – so that you continue to keep your streaming mix as vibrant and relevant as possible.

--Virginia Juliano is the Founder & CEO of CobbleCord, a free website and App that helps users cobble together a personalized combination of paid and free streaming services based on their content, device, internet and price preferences. Visit www.CobbleCord.com to get the most out of your streaming choices.

[cobblecord]

Game of Thrones Finale & More Reasons to Revisit Your Streaming Picks, Cut the Cord

So now that Game of Thrones is over, is it time to rethink your bundle of online streaming services? Or, if you haven’t cut the cord yet, is a big season finale like this an opportunity to ask yourself, “Is now is the right time to drop cable?”

The answer to both questions is a resounding, “HELL YEAH!”

When a juggernaut like HBO’s Game of Thrones has a season or series finale, it’s the perfect time to take a fresh look at your entertainment mix and perhaps make some changes.

Should You Streamline Your Streaming?

As stated above, the question of whether or not you should still pay for a streaming service (or cable at all, for that matter) when your favorite show is out of season is a very real and timely one. Especially because cancelling/re-subscribing to online streaming services so easy. Without the stranglehold of long-term contracts, the shackles of bloated TV bundles/triple plays and that interminable wait to get on the phone with a call center rep to cancel, it’s now pretty much a cinch for users to pop in and out of a service at their discretion. Here are some ways to think about it.

The Programming:  

You should ask yourself if there is anything else on the service that is a must-watch for you. Also, are there any interesting shows, movies, etc. coming up on the schedule in the near future? On the other hand, is there anything premiering on another streaming service that could be a good substitute? After all, there are only so many hours in the day to watch all the great streaming content available.

Of course, you should calculate how much putting the subscription on hold for a year (generally the amount of time before a show returns) will save you. When you look at it as an annual expense, it can add up to be more than you thought. 

The Timing: 

Summer vacation, back to school and winter holidays are all times when viewing habits change and are a good time to revisit your picks.  These periods can trigger a drop off in viewing time, which makes it difficult to keep up with a vast array of shows and services.

Alternatively, cold, nasty weather can lead to cocooning on the couch with bottles of wine, bowls of popcorn and a winter-long binge-fest. If that’s you, then it’s probably a good time to load up on new material to watch or catch up on.

Big life changes such as moving or becoming an empty-nester are also great flashpoints to question what’s still necessary in your entertainment portfolio. Scaling back from an early (and perhaps overzealous) stab at recreating your cable bundle with streaming options can help you create a more customized and curateding arrangement. One that could save you both money and time by reducing ‘content clutter’.

The Risk: 

Only you can determine if the amount you’ll save from downsizing your streaming services is worth it to you. But let’s face it, there’s really not much risk to try life without said service to see how much you’ll actually miss it.  You can easily just sign up again, right?

Culling and rejiggering your OTT (over the top) subscriptions can also aid in surfacing the most current and relevant choices out there for YOUR particular interests. With all the options changing at a rapid rate, you are doing yourself an absolute disservice if you don’t periodically review your streaming needs and habits. The best part of cutting the cord is getting and paying for exactly what YOU want to watch – not recreating and being bound by the restrictions of the outdated cable package.

--Virginia Juliano

Virginia Juliano is the Founder & CEO of CobbleCord, a free website and App that helps users cobble together a personalized combination of paid and free streaming services based on their content, device, internet and price preferences.  Visit www.CobbleCord.com to get the most out of your streaming choices.

[cobblecord]

4 Ways to Find Out What’s Streaming

Remember the days when you could hit your remote’s ‘Guide’ button or (if you’re over 40) flip through your print copy of TV Guide magazine to get a comprehensive list of your entertainment options?

Sounds kind of quaint now, doesn’t it?

Today, there’s an endless number of series and movies competing for your attention on a confusing array of streaming services and platforms with constantly changing offerings. It can make the most organized among us want to get a separate planner just for binge-watching and movie-hopping.

So how do you figure out what to watch and where? Here are some nifty tips to help you wade through the streaming options and find the best stuff to stream.

1. Get an Overview

If you’re not sure where to start, the folks at Vulture have got you covered. With a fun-to-navigate, easy interface, you can browse through new arrivals and top recommendations for Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, Hulu and Showtime.

If you like to do some advance planning at the top of the month, there’s a new-arrivals list for each service, and another list of films and series ending their run.

2. Consult the Experts

It would take a certain kind of masochist to scroll through every movie and every TV series on all the major streaming services. So don’t!

Instead, you can put your viewing quandaries in the hands of the experts at TV Guide, who get to spend their workdays coming up with lists boasting titles like “Favorite Romantic Comedies on Netflix” and “CBS All Access Sci-Fi Dramas to Watch Right Now.” (If you’re really determined to burn through a day – or a week – you can scroll through TV Guide’s streaming master list here.)

And those in search of more thoughtful reviews and essays on individual streaming options can check out the articles and listicles on Decider, which calls itself “the first entertainment and pop culture destination site created to help today’s on-demand generation discover the best streaming content.” They are a consistent resource to find out what is rolling on and off of the major streaming services each month.

One of the most comprehensive sites for cord-cutting information is CordCutters News. Not only does it highlight the latest news on all things streaming and rundowns of what’s on some of the mainstream streaming destinations, but it also promotes special deals as well as equipment reviews.

Bingeout spotlights interesting binge round-ups on multiple content categories with interesting picks that are pleasantly off-the-beaten-path. They also feature a ‘Binge of the Week’ section.

 3. Open Up Your Inbox

Are you a total devotee of a certain streaming service? Or do you know you want to sample what’s on some of the major streaming networks each month? You should sign up for the newsletters put out directly by each service. Who knows better what’s most popular and what’s new-to-the-scene than the service itself? And if you have their recommendations showing up directly in your inbox, you won’t have to go searching for them every month. HBO Now, Showtime, Hulu, Netflix, DirectTV Now, PlayStation Vue, CBS All-Access and many others offer regular email newsletters that give you details on what’s streaming on their services each month (or week).

4. Search on Your Terms

Already know what you want? Sites like JustWatch and Yidio offer a search engine for legal streaming content where you can search for films and series by name.  JustWatch also has a detailed filter that allows you to limit your results to free or subscription options, and you can also search by streaming service. 

There are so many streaming services out there and the firehose of great content just keeps gushing. Although it can sometimes seem a bit overwhelming, getting the most out of your entertainment is worth the time. Follow these recommendations to take control of your viewing.

And remember to visit CobbleCord often to make sure you have the most relevant, up-to-date mix of streaming choices in order to get the biggest bang for your streaming buck.

 --Your Friends at CobbleCord

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CobbleCord Mission: Educate, Empower & Enable Cord-Cutters

Online streaming. Digital downloads. Entertainment apps. On-demand video. Cord cutting. Over-the-top (OTT) services. Binge-watching. Today’s media landscape is a treasure trove of content and choices. It’s exciting, but can also be overwhelming. And a lot of work. CobbleCord is here to help you figure it all out – and save you money.

What is CobbleCord?

CobbleCord (www.cobblecord.com) is the first of its kind -- a free website and App that helps you cobble together your perfect combination of online streaming video services.  CobbleCord holds your hand through the sometimes daunting process of cord-cutting – a.k.a. cancelling your expensive cable package filled with unwanted channels. You know, the one you complain about every month when you get the bill.  

If you’ve been on the cord-cutting fence for too long, CobbleCord can help you finally take action. And if you've already cut the cord, CobbleCord can ensure that you’re getting the most for your entertainment dollar.  It’s the entertainment tool that you’ve been waiting for.

Is CobbleCord For You?

Are you tired of paying upwards of $100/month for hundreds of channels on cable or satellite when you only watch a few? Does the vast number of streaming services and devices confuse you? Do you feel like you’re missing out on great content because you don’t want to pay for yet another service? Are you ready to cut the cable cord but nervous to take the plunge?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then CobbleCord can help. We’ll guide you to a content scenario that works best for you, on your terms, your way.  And save you money to boot.

CobbleCord’s Mission:

CobbleCord aims to educate, empower and enable entertainment consumers to save money and craft a personalized, curated array of free and paid entertainment services in one convenient location. Here’s the lowdown:

Educate - CobbleCord helps you sift through the ever-expanding world of internet-delivered entertainment content and determine what the right combination for you is. Cord-cutting is not for everyone and we want to help you understand the tradeoffs involved. We believe an educated entertainment customer is the best kind. We also include Helpful Hints on the cord-cutting process, just in case you’d like a little extra guidance.

Empower - You tell us your budget, your entertainment priorities, your favorite watching devices and your internet situation, and we’ll recommend a mix of streaming services that’s perfectly suited for your personalized viewing preferences.  And it’s really easy to start again and make different selections. You can go through the recommendation process as many times as you want; switching your choices to see what comes up. It’s not only helpful and informative, it’s fun. And did we mention FREE?!?

Enable – The next step is up to you. You can drill down for more information, save your “Reco” to your account, share it with the world or go forth and cobble your perfect package together. And relax, there’s no pressure. Entertainment choices and circumstances change every day. You can redo the process over and over. It’s TOTALLY FREE and there are no obligations. You are in total control.

Our personalized recommendations not only help give you continued access to the shows and networks you already love, but we’ll also recommend services that just might open up your entertainment horizons.  Is time to make break free from your traditional cable package and watch TV on your own terms? Let’s hold hands and jump together.

By Virginia Juliano (@vjuliano.com), CEO & Founder of CobbleCord

About the Writer: Virginia Juliano developed CobbleCord after spending a decade at Showtime Networks, most recently as VP, Multi-Platform Marketing focusing on subscriber acquisition and retention; she was also an integral member of the launch team for Showtime’s OTT product. Juliano holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Written with the help of Amy Gordon of Amy Gordon Media (www.amygordonmedia.com)