Uncategorized
Apple belatedly jumps into the streaming TV business

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Jumping belatedly into a business dominated by Netflix and Amazon, Apple announced its own TV and movie streaming service Monday, enlisting such superstars as Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg to try to overcome its rivals’ head start.
Apple didn’t disclose the price or the launch date except to say that Apple TV Plus will be available this fall. It will feature Apple’s original shows and movies .
The company also unveiled a news subscription service that will give customers access to roughly 300 magazines and a few major newspapers for $10 a month. And it announced a new branded credit card.
The video-streaming venture is fraught with risk for a company scrambling to diversify beyond its star product, the iPhone, whose sales have started to decline . Netflix, which started its streaming service in 2007, has 139 million subscribers worldwide.
But Apple has lots of money, more than 900 million active iPhones, and a track record for innovation that has enabled it to overtake its rivals, even when it enters a business late, as it did with smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.
In the past, of course, Apple has mostly jumped into relatively small and undeveloped markets. Streaming video, by contrast, is dominated by huge services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, with more seeming to be bowing into the competition daily, including AT&T’s WarnerMedia, Disney and Comcast.
“Great competitors make for great consumer experiences,” Netflix said in a statement. Netflix stock rose $5.22 to $366.23 Monday. Apple’s stock fell $2.31 to $188.74.
Among the upcoming programs on the new Apple service will be Winfrey-created documentaries; a show about TV morning talk shows, starring Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell; a futuristic drama starting Momoa; and a sci-fi show called “Amazing Stories” from Spielberg.
Apple TV Plus will be featured in the existing Apple TV app, which brings together different streaming services such as HBO and Showtime and traditional cable subscriptions.
Video will be delivered to iPhones and iPads, Apple’s own Apple TV device, smart TVs and, soon, streaming gadgets from Roku and Amazon.
Netflix, which isn’t included in the Apple TV app, has turned “binge watching” into a worldwide phenomenon become a powerhouse in both Silicon Valley and Hollywood since it shifted its emphasis on original programming in 2013..
Apple was long focused on making on gadgets: iPhones, iPads, computers. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs toyed with the idea of building a powerful TV business but couldn’t pull it off before his death in 2011. It has taken his successor, CEO Tim Cook, nearly eight years to draw up the plan the company will now try to execute.
“Apple is very late to this game,” eMarketer analyst Paul Verna said. “Netflix has become the gold standard in how to create and distribute content, using all the data they have about their viewers.”
Industry analyst Colin Gillis of Chatham Road Partners said Apple TV Plus is “not going to be a Netflix killer.” And Martin Garner of CCS Insights said the service so far lacks “the full range and diversity of content available through Netflix, Amazon and others.”
Several analysts, however, warned not to count Apple out.
Apple has reportedly spent more than $1 billion on its original TV shows and movies — far less than Netflix and HBO spend every year. It has plenty of money to spend, though, with about $245 billion in cash and marketable securities.
As part of its effort to catch up, Apple hired two longtime Sony television executives in 2017. They have signed up stars such as Spielberg, Ron Howard and Sofia Coppola.
Winfrey received a standing ovation during her appearance at Apple’s announcement Monday in Cupertino.
“I’m joining forces with Apple,” she said. “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all.”
Apple News Plus, the news subscription service, will include such major papers as The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. Other major newspaper publishers have reportedly been wary of Apple’s terms.
The Journal will feature general-interest articles, not its entire slate of stories, although Apple said any article the Journal publishes could be searched for on the Apple app.
Apple said advertisers won’t track readers inside the app. That will distinguish it from Facebook and Google, the other major online news hubs.
The company’s new Mastercard credit card, called Apple Card, won’t have any late fees or annual fees and will offer 2
___
Arbel reported from New York.
Michael Liedtke And Tali Arbel, The Associated Press
Uncategorized
Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.
The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.
“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.
She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”
North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.
Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.
These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.
A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.
This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.
“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”
Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.
* * *
The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.
As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.
Uncategorized
Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

From Conservative Party Communications
“Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.
“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?
“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?
“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”
-
Health2 days ago
Last day and last chance to win this dream home! Support the 2025 Red Deer Hospital Lottery before midnight!
-
Aristotle Foundation2 days ago
The Canadian Medical Association’s inexplicable stance on pediatric gender medicine
-
Energy2 days ago
Could the G7 Summit in Alberta be a historic moment for Canadian energy?
-
Crime2 days ago
Minnesota shooter arrested after 48-hour manhunt
-
Bruce Dowbiggin2 days ago
WOKE NBA Stars Seems Natural For CDN Advertisers. Why Won’t They Bite?
-
conflict1 day ago
Trump leaves G7 early after urging evacuation of Tehran
-
Alberta2 days ago
Alberta announces citizens will have to pay for their COVID shots
-
Uncategorized2 days ago
Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties