Has the Chaos Scenario come true? Apple commissions a video series...Everybody is broadcasting on Facebook Live.

This week the chaos ccenario. Not the GOP primaries but the prescient 2005 book by Bob Garfield, the host of WNYC's On The Media. Steve argues that the media apocalypse predicted in "The Chaos Scenario" is coming true, and there is no better evidence than the precarious economics of podcasting. Saul says that there is lots of great news and entertainment being produced and even sustainable business models emerging.

Also this week:

• Fullscreen launches a subscription service
• Apple commissions its first video series
• Snapchat adds video chat
• Everybody is trying out Facebook live...

Last night I sat with six thousand friends, many of them complete strangers, and celebrated the life and music of David Bowie. The event was the annual tribute concert series put on by the remarkable Michael Dorf of City Winery. And as he pointed out in his emotional introduction, when...

It's been a great run. I remember the very first moment I had in my hand the peanut-shaped controller that ran my TiVo DVR. It was magical. After a lifetime of TV programming me, setting my schedule, forcing me to make time to watch my favorite shows when they were...

Ever since it was reported that long-time TiVo CEO Tom Rogers was stepping down,, rumors began that the company was in play. Now things are heating up, and there's a reported deal - but don't be so sure the name of the real buyer has surfaced - or if this...

With spring in the air, the mind turns to love. Steve sings an ode to Tivo and frets about rumors the company is for sale. [Saul says good riddance.]

Saul rhapsodizes Planet Money, the brilliant NPR podcast, and discusses its recent episode, "The great unbundling" about the pros and cons...

The challenge of writing about the world of digital involves the need to be able to see around corners. By the time you settle on a book, roll up your sleeves, get it written and published - the world has changed. So good digital business books are hard to find....

Each year a crazy thing happens. From around the country, and now increasingly around the world, a strange band of adventurers travels to Austin, Texas. It's hard to describe them,...

When Microsoft showed HoloLens at TED in Vancouver, its presentation was dramatic and impressive. I wasn't sure why, but the TED crowd of techno early adopters and thought leaders seemed less than impressed. The augmented reality glasses promised to place holograms on top of the real world.

We're back, with a brand new edition of Hacking TV. SXSW -- the tech, music, and movie festival in Austin Texas known for launching APP's like Twitter and Meerkat. This year pivots from code to digital content, with VR and AR the talk of the show. OLD MEDIA wakes up...

Each year the world of geeks and techno-futurists arrives in Austin for SXSW. This year HackingTV made the trek - and here's what we found.

To honor our great political tradition, Saul and Steve disagree about everything this week:

1)    AT&T says it will introduce three over-the-top video bundles under the DirecTV brand. Steve says too little too late. Saul argues this will set in motion a rapid shift in the pay TV business as Comcast and other providers all launch nationwide Internet-only bundles.

2)    The BitTorrent world embraces streaming. Big deal, says Steve, as Saul yawns.

3)    A key test court case in which a YouTube creator challenged take down notices ... was settled just before it was sent to a jury... so the courts will not clarify the complex issue of fair use.

4)    A year ago Meerkat was the talk of SXSW with its live streaming app. Now the company is pivoting into a new business. Saul argues that this is a clear sign that live streaming is over-hyped. Steve says that live-streaming is so important that Twitter and Facebook have rushed in closing off the opportunity for startups like Meerkat.

Next week, Steve will report from Austin on what is getting buzz this year at...

Virtual Reality is opening up new storytelling genres and filmmakers are finding themselves with new tools, techniques, and complexity in the brave new world of immersive media.

In discussions of VR and storytelling, understanding and empathy are two words that are often the center of the conversation. That's because VR...

Is YouTube's Fair Use Policy Unfair... Big $$ Flows to Video Startups... Video Action at Buzzfeed, NY Mag and NowThisNews

1. The #WTFU (Where's The Fair Use) protest at YouTube.
2. NowThisNews closes its website, BuzzFeed launches a video app, and New York Magazine beets on Facebook video.
3. Investors pour money into Cheddar (CNBC for millennials) and Attn: (CNN for...

I'm Just back from the TED conference in Vancouver. From holograms to virtual worlds - the world of immersive media had the room of scientists, artists, and thinkers deeply engaged.

I slayed a dragon with a flaming torch as he breathed his clammy cold breath on the back of...

Hacking TV's Steve Rosenbaum went to TED in Vancouver and reports on some mind-blowing demos:

-Meta [with video of Steve's interview with the CEO]
-Microsoft HoloLens
-VRSE
-The Void

and -

-Yahoo bails out of original video production.
-AT&T pulls back from...

Today - when we think of video we think of television. And when we think of computers, we think of desktops, laptops, or maybe mobile devices. But there is coming a new technology that melds video and computing into a new kind of reality. Augmented, Virtual, and beyond. It's what...

Apple's Simulates Sex... Twitter Wants To Go First... Facebook Does It Silently...YouTube Dreams Of Unicorn Island

1. Digital video this week is all about passion and perversion.
2. Twitter and Facebook want to get paid for video.
3. Apple gets into original content with semi-autobiographical Dr. Dre series featuring a steamy orgy scene. Snapchat responds with coverage of Republican debates. Conde Nast prefers reality.
YouTube fails to impress with Unicorn Island, loses a hot band, and spends $8 million to serve thousands of smaller music...

TED. You've heard of it. The big RED letters, the mind-bending TED Talks, the global reach of "Ideas Worth Spreading." When TED began back in 1984 in Monterey California, it was a small, heady group of big thinkers. The first TED was based on founder Richard Saul Wurman's thesis that...

There are lots of "weeks" in the year. Lot's of industry gatherings vying for your attention. But one of the gatherings that has always risen above, and put together conversations and presentations that are both thought provoking and memorable comes from Toby Daniels and his team at Social Media Week....

We're back with another edition of Hacking TV. This week, Comcast is not being strangled by cord cutting, and more news from the world of earnings. Then, YouTube's hit-making team The Fine Brothers step into a world of hurt. And Is war about to break out in the world of Sumner Redstone? I'm Steve Rosenbaum And I'm Saul Hansell, and this is Hacking TV.

Chapter 1 - Earnings Part 2: Comcast Reports:

Comcast defies trends and gains cable subscriptions

New York Times Co. Announces Newsroom-wide Strategy Review

Alphabet Becomes The Most Valuable Public Company In The World

Chapter 2: YouTube Controversy

Fine Bros back down, rescind trademark claim on the word "react"

Chapter 3 The Viacom Soap Opera Continues

Les Moonves Is Pushing CBS To Compete With Netflix and Hulu

Sumner Redstone Resigns From CBS Post; Leslie Moonves Replaces Him
...