BINGE TIMES

The first comprehensive account of the biggest wake-up call in the history of the entertainment business: the pivot to streaming. Go inside a disparate group of media and tech companies -- Disney Apple AT&T/WarnerMedia Comcast/NBCUniversal and well-funded startup Quibi – as they scramble to mount multi-billion-dollar challenges to Netflix.After spotting Netflix and the deep-pocketed Amazon Prime Video a decade’s head start rivals from the tech and start-up realm (Apple Quibi) and traditional media (Disney WarnerMedia NBCUniversal) all decided to move mountains to enter the streaming game. At a cost of billions each went after their own piece of the market launching five new services in a seven-month span. And just as the derby was heating up the coronavirus pandemic arrived a black-swan event bringing short-term benefits but also stiff challenges.The battle for streaming supremacy may end up having more than one winner but the cost and disruption to decades-old business models have also produced a lot of losers. Binge Times reveals the true costs of the vision quest as companies are turned inside-out and repeatedly redraw their org charts and strategic plans. Stretching from Silicon Valley to Hollywood to Wall Street it is a mesmerizing character-rich tale of hubris and ambition as the fate of a century-old industry hangs in the balance.