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Indian rival slams Uber’s business model

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Indian rival slams Uber’s business model

Uber’s prime rival in India has some unsolicited recommendation for the U.S. startup: Go native.

“They’ve a really cookie-cutter strategy when it comes to what the mannequin is and the way [to] drive feed it into any geography,” Pranay Jivrajka, a prime govt at Ola Cabs, mentioned on the sidelines of CNN’s Asia Enterprise Discussion board in Bangalore.

Jivrajka, who till just lately served as Ola’s COO, mentioned that Uber ought to ditch its one-size-fits-all strategy and as an alternative attempt to perceive “native nuances” that will assist it to establish companies that “customers and drivers truly need.”

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Uber declined to touch upon Jivrajka’s remarks.

Uber and Ola have for years waged a bitter battle for supremacy in India, a market with 1.3 billion potential clients. The nation has taken on elevated significance for Uber after a sequence of latest setbacks elsewhere in Asia.

The San Francisco-based firm suspended its operations in Taiwan final week, six months after it bought its operations in China to native rival Didi Chuxing. Didi, which is taking the combat to Uber in key international markets, is certainly one of Ola’s buyers.

In India, Uber has typically discovered itself enjoying catch-up with its Bangalore-based rival. Its most up-to-date native product providing — permitting Indian customers to e book a automobile for a whole day — is already supplied by Ola in 85 cities.

Ola additionally lets customers e book certainly one of India’s ubiquitous three-wheeled auto rickshaws, a service Uber began however then discontinued in 2015.

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“What has helped us is having an ear to the bottom when it comes to understanding what the customers need,” mentioned Jivrajka.

Associated: Uber’s rivals are teaming up in Asia

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick insists that his firm is just not ready to go away India.

“We’re shedding, however we see a path in direction of profitability,” Kalanick mentioned throughout a December go to to Delhi. “We see ourselves being right here in the long term.”

Associated: Uber suspends its service in Taiwan as fines mount

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India is not at all times a simple marketplace for both firm — tens of 1000’s of drivers representing each Uber and Ola went on strike in Delhi this week, demanding higher pay and advantages. The Delhi authorities has supplied to mediate the dispute.

Jivrajka didn’t touch upon the protests, however mentioned that Ola’s primary focus stays bringing extra drivers onto its platform.

“We want extra drivers as a result of the tempo at which demand is rising is method larger than the best way provide is getting aggregated,” he mentioned.

Associated: Uber CEO drops out of Trump’s enterprise advisory council

Jivrajka additionally had some recommendation for one more Silicon Valley big hoping to enter India: electrical automaker Tesla.

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“There aren’t any guidelines on the Indian roads,” Jivrajka mentioned. “One factor lots of people say is that in case you can drive in India, you may drive wherever.”

— Manveena Suri contributed reporting

CNNMoney (Bangalore, India) First revealed February 13, 2017: 8:48 AM ET

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Q&A: For the Angels, Bally Sports is Plan A. What could Plan B be?

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Q&A: For the Angels, Bally Sports is Plan A. What could Plan B be?

Three days after the Angels concluded the worst season in franchise history, their fans faced a new and urgent concern: Would they be able to watch their team on television next season?

The answer appears to be yes, and probably in the same way they did this season. On Wednesday, however, the parent company of Bally Sports indicated that it was prepared to step away from broadcasting games of the Angels and all but one other team.

A federal bankruptcy court has the final say, so nothing is definitive for now, and the Angels and Major League Baseball declined to comment. Here are questions and answers about what we do know.

What is happening in court, and what is happening with the Angels?

Bally filed for bankruptcy 19 months ago. Its latest plan to get out of bankruptcy could involve walking away from contracts for all teams besides the Atlanta Braves. It does not preclude other teams from negotiating new contracts that would save Bally millions in rights fees.

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For the Angels, that is Plan A. The team is in discussion with Bally to restructure its current deal. The Angels would surrender some guaranteed revenue in order to avoid the financial uncertainty of a streaming-first future.

If the Angels do not reach a restructured deal with Bally, would I be able to watch the Angels on television next year?

Almost certainly. MLB could deliver the games as it now does for the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies: offering a streaming option while cutting deals with cable and satellite companies. As an example, the Padres’ monthly streaming price this year was $19.99.

Could the Angels explore other options?

They could. The Ducks, for instance, are offering a free streaming option as well as 65 free, over-the-air games on Channel 11 or Channel 13. The Ducks are one of several NBA and NHL teams sacrificing revenue — at least in the short term — in exchange for the ability to reach any fan in their local market.

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Where does MLB stand?

Unlike the NBA and NHL, MLB has urged its teams not to take a new Bally’s deal at a significant discount.

MLB long has hoped to launch a national streaming package, provided the league could secure streaming rights for a critical mass of its 30 teams.

The Bally strategy could push MLB in that direction. The plan unveiled Wednesday would free 11 teams from any ties to Bally.

With three other MLB teams recently dropped by another broadcast company, that could give the league the opportunity to market streaming rights to roughly half its teams at once.

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One party that might be interested in those rights: ESPN, for its ESPN+ service. ESPN reportedly is thinking about whether to renew or renegotiate its national MLB package — highlighted by Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and wild-card games — and streaming rights could be a lure to retain ESPN.

If the Angels and other teams return to Bally or go elsewhere, that could complicate the MLB plans, depending on the terms of those deals. Generally, regional sports networks offer streaming rights only to subscribers. Last season, five MLB teams — not including the Angels — had granted Bally the rights to stream their games to non-subscribers.

Would the Dodgers be part of a national streaming package?

Almost certainly not. The Dodgers’ record $8.35-billion contract with SportsNet LA extends through 2038.

The Dodgers and other large-market teams that own local cable channels — including the New York Yankees (YES), the Boston Red Sox (NESN) and Chicago Cubs (Marquee) — stand to make much more money on their own. It is unlikely that small-market clubs would agree to pay the billions it would take to buy out the big-bucks teams, even if those teams agreed to entertain a buyout offer.

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What is the Angels’ current television deal?

In 2011, what was then called Fox Sports had lost the Lakers to Time Warner Cable, and the Dodgers’ television rights were about to hit the market. Angels owner Arte Moreno brilliantly leveraged that situation, opting out of a Fox Sports contract worth $500 million and signing a new one worth $3 billion.

That contract, inherited by Bally, remains in effect at the moment. The Angels were owed $112 million in rights fees from Bally in 2023, according to Moreno. The team generated an estimated $407 million in total revenue that year, according to Sportico.

The uncertainty over what might happen to about 28% of the team’s revenue could dampen the amount Moreno might approve in player spending over the coming winter.

What has commissioner Rob Manfred said about teams that have lost their regional sports network?

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“We think that reach is a really important change,” Manfred said at the All-Star Game in July.

“San Diego is kind of the leader in the clubhouse there, approaching 40,000 subscribers, which is a really good number. Having said that, from a revenue perspective, it is not generating what the RSNs did. The RSNs were a great business. Lots of people paid for programming they didn’t necessarily want, and it’s hard to replicate that kind of revenue.”

In 2023, the league guaranteed that any team losing its local television deal would retain at least 80% of the revenue from that deal, with MLB making up any shortfall. Is that guarantee still in effect?

No.

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Your guide to the presidential candidates' views on tax policy

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Your guide to the presidential candidates' views on tax policy

Though sparse on details, the broad outlines of what Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump want to do on taxes are clear — and they are very different.

Trump’s tax proposals are tilted to benefit wealthy Americans and large corporations. Under Harris, the bulk of personal gains would come to those with lower and lower-middle incomes, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

“Harris has a more ‘coherent’ plan because she’s essentially got [President] Biden’s budget proposals, which are fairly scored, scrubbed and all that stuff,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative-leaning American Action Forum and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “We know that agenda — enhance the child tax credit, raise the corporate rate, tax high-income people.”

Trump, he said, “has got a more tax cut orientation. He’s talked about a 15% corporate rate” — down from the current 21% — “and now he’s walking around and offering a handout at every rally on what he’s not going to tax next — tips, Social Security, overtime. It looks to me he’s just trying to match her on middle-class tax cuts.”

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'Rust' to premiere at Poland film festival, followed by panel about Halyna Hutchins

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'Rust' to premiere at Poland film festival, followed by panel about Halyna Hutchins

Three years after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of “Rust,” the movie is set to make its world premiere in Europe.

The organizers of Poland’s EnergaCamerimage international film festival announced Thursday that “Rust” will be screened at the event, followed by a panel discussion honoring Hutchins. EnergaCamerimage will take place Nov. 16 -23 in Torun.

Hutchins was working on the New Mexico set of “Rust” in October 2021 when a bullet from star and producer Alec Baldwin’s prop gun killed the 42-year-old Ukrainian cinematographer and wounded director Joel Souza.

Baldwin recently stood trial in New Mexico for involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death, but the case was dismissed amid a dispute over the special prosecutor’s handling of evidence. The actor had pleaded not guilty.

This week, a New Mexico judge denied a request to release Hannah Gutierrez from prison after the “Rust” armorer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Gutierrez has maintained that she loaded Baldwin’s gun with what she believed were inert “dummy” rounds, unaware that a live bullet was in the chamber.

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After the “Rust” screening, EnergaCamerimage will host a panel featuring Souza, as well as one of Hutchins’ mentors, Stephen Lighthill, and the cinematographer who finished the film, Bianca Cline.

The panelists are expected to discuss how the filmmakers completed the picture while maintaining Hutchins’ artistic vision. Other topics of conversation will include the role of women in cinematography and the importance of safety on set.

According to the festival’s announcement, Hutchins suggested bringing the film to EnergaCamerimage — a festival celebrating the art of cinematography — during the early stages of production on “Rust.”

“We knew that our event was important to her, and that she felt at home among cinematographers from all over the world, who have been gathering at Camerimage for over 30 years,” festival director Marek Zydowicz said in a statement.

“During the [2021] festival, we honoured Halyna’s memory with a moment of silence and a panel of cinematographers discussed safety on set. Now, once again, together with cinematographers and film enthusiasts, we will have this special opportunity to remember her.”

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