What's Next: Hans Vestberg's 5G Plan: The incoming Verizon CEO is looking to use YouTube TV or another existing streaming service as Verizon's television provider when it starts rolling out 5G in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Houston and a fourth city later this year. Verizon is currently in talks with multiple potential partners, sources with knowledge of the matter tell me.
The Big Picture: Verizon wants to beat AT&T to market with 5G. That means foregoing a major acquisition, a la AT&T-Time Warner, and focusing on partnerships that can give subscribers the 5G experience as soon as it becomes available.
"We're betting we're going to have the best network. We're going to attract partners we can work with," Vestberg said on this morning's earnings call. "I see only opportunities when we go to 5G."
On Their Heels: AT&T plans to roll out 5G in 12 cities by the end of this year, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Raleigh and Waco.
Fun CNN Explainer Video: Why 5G is the future.
Bonus: eMarketer now projects that the number of US cord cutters will grow by more than 30% this year and reach 50 million by 2021. | | | PACIFIC
The Agenda Good morning. The Television Critics Association press tour kicks off tomorrow, giving journalists a chance to lob questions at executives from Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, as well as the traditional broadcast and cable networks. Facebook will make its debut this year, with Fidji Simo and Ricky Van Veen presenting Watch's slate of original programming.
The two-week event kicks off tomorrow morning with HBO. Richard Plepler will not be in attendance, per a source familiar, meaning head of programming Casey Bloys will be the one to field questions about the future of HBO under AT&T and WarnerMedia. | | The Ringer
HBO re-ups Bill Simmons
"HBO will remain in the Bill Simmons business," THR's Lacey Rose scoops:
• "The premium cable network has inked a new deal with Simmons ... [to produce] sports-themed content across the portfolio, be it series, films or ... documentary programming."
• "The announcement arrives on the heels of .... April's Andre the Giant, which quickly became the most-watched documentary in HBO Sports history with nearly 7 million viewers across the network's linear and digital platforms."
• Simmons is "still the most prominent voice in sports journalism" ... his Ringer podcast network "lays claim to over 32 million downloads, with Simmons' podcast averaging nearly 1.2 million downloads per episode."
The Big Picture: "Simmons' new deal comes as HBO looks to up its output under new AT&T ownership." | | Age of Influence
Social media burnout
Social media influencer Josh Ostrovsky, aka The Fat Jewish, tells my colleague Chloe Melas that the end of the influencer age is nigh:
• "People are starting to experience a little bit of social media burnout. How many times can I look at your baby? How many times can I look at a blazing, pink L.A. sunset, or your açaí bowl, or your 5K?"
• "Everybody just wants to be an influencer now. Nobody wants to get a job. Everybody's just like, 'Wait. ... I can go out and like hold a product, and I can make money.'"
• "Eventually there will be too many influencers, the market will be too saturated and the value of influencer posts will continue to plummet. It's a very standard value proposition. The more people join, the more options there are for the brands — the less each influencer is worth."
• "I just think people need to learn how to actually build things from the ground up. ... That will take you farther than the internet."
Ostrovsky has more than 10 million Instagram followers. His next: Swish, a wine company he launched with friends which produces wine "with irreverent names like White Girl Rose and Family Time Is Hard."
Watch the video of Melas' interview with Ostrovsky. | | Snap Out
Spectacles chief exits
Mark Randall, the head of Snapchat's Spectacles division, has left the company, per Cheddar's Alex Heath:
• "Randall, who was Snap Inc.'s vice president of hardware, told employees recently he was leaving to start his own company."
The Big Picture: "His departure is the latest in a string of executive resignations during a trying period for Snap, which has largely failed to meet Wall Street's growth expectations since going public in early 2017. His departure is also the second leadership change in Snap's hardware division since the company lost nearly $40 million in unsold inventory of its Spectacles camera glasses last year." | | Awards Race
From Venice to Toronto
The Toronto Film Festival, a key stop on the road to Oscars glory, has announced its lineup for this year's festival in September.
Notable titles: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's "A Star is Born," which premiers next month in Venice ... Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling's "First Man" ... Berry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk" ... Steve McQueen's "Widows" ... Steve Carrell and Timothee Chalamet's "Beautiful Boy" ... and Robert Redford's last film, "Old Man & the Gun."
Talk of Tinseltown: Which festivals matter?
• "The festival landscape has become ever more crowded, with Telluride and Venice emerging as favored destinations for the auteur set," Variety's Brett Lang writes. "Many of the movies that will screen at Toronto will likely have screened at those earlier festivals ..." | | What Next: Life after Jonathan Gold: "Los Angeles Is Now a Very Big City in Search of a Food Critic," Eater's Farley Elliott writes. "What happens when America's most talked-about food city loses its voice?" See you tomorrow. | | | | | |
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