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The Walt Disney company is in Europe breaking with tradition and ramping up local-language productions, as it pushes to broaden the appeal of the Disney Plus streaming service beyond families.
Jan Koeppen, the president of Disney in Europe, said commissions from France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands would help fuel the streaming “rocket ship”, with 50 original shows expected within three years.
Disney's bet on non-English-language programmes reflects the shift in Europe's media market, as Hollywood's big participants move from largely licensing content to directly competing with domestic broadcasters for viewers and to buy local productions.
“Streaming has become really part of our lives in a major way,” said Koeppen, the first European to lead Disney's media operations on the continent. “We're doubling down. We're going after it. Certainly from the European perspective, streaming is hitting the mainstream and we are there.”
The changes mark the second phase of Disney's gamble on Disney Plus. The year-old service has been a breakaway success but now must find ways of sustaining momentum, expanding its audience to a wider pool of viewers and raising prices.
Disney Plus, which made an operating loss of $466m in the final three months of last year, has 95m subscribers worldwide and is aiming for about a quarter of a billion in three years. Ampere Analysis, a data and research firm, estimates that some 13m of Disney's existing subscribers are in Europe, compared with 63m Netflix users.
Following the path of Netflix and Amazon, Disney will also invest in European content, with commissions ranging from an Italian mafia drama to a Dutch football documentary and some UK commissions, which are yet to be announced.
Although a fraction of Netflix's local production plans, it represents Disney's biggest expansion into non-English productions on the continent.
In the past, Disney produced some US-developed movies overseas-such as Mary Poppins Returns and Black Widow —while 21st Century Fox commissioned smaller productions for television channels such as National Geographic and Fox in Turkey. “We will definitely do this much more ardently than before,” said Koeppen.
Koeppen, a former Fox executive who was born in Germany and raised in Brussels, acknowledged that there was resistance to streaming in some markets, particularly in Europe's south.
“But then slowly, market by market, they also kicked off. Spain, which had a slow start, is fully there. Italy too, where always people said,‘Oh no, it works differently,’” he said. “The Germans had been quite resistant unless it was given for free with something else. Now they are big time into it. It's really become part of everybody's life.”
[A] satisfy the needs of language learners
[B] add more users of Disney Plus service
[C] localize Disney Theme Park services
[D] cater for European Disneyland tourists
[A] Disney is not adapted to this change.
[B] The content of programmes focuses more on average people instead of heroes.
[C] Foreign rivals directly compete with local broadcasters for viewers.
[D] International competitors are engaging in licensing their own content.
[A] keeping its users growing
[B] optimizing the user experience
[C] controlling its operating costs
[D] expanding investment channels
[A] It has revealed how powerful Disney Plus is.
[B] It has got British commissions about football.
[C] It symbolizes Disney's largest European expansion.
[D] It has to expand its European market in a rational way.
[A] experienced a great decline
[B] met with some resistance
[C] has a stronger user base
[D] witnesses a fast growth
Math induces anxiety in kids, many lasting far into adulthood. As a mathematician, I constantly sense shame when people discover my profession. Pleasant introductions are followed by confession: “Forgive me, Father, for I did not understand algebra.”
With parents having been responsible for a good amount of their children's education last year, the thought of helping their kids struggle through another year seems overwhelming. This is compounded by the added pressure of knowing that math is the gatekeeper to science and technology that drive much of our society. After all, the power of mathematics has helped a rover to land on Mars, a computer to outthink chess masters, and a phone to navigate us around the world. And mathematicians have done a good job of showcasing these successes.
Ironically, this very feature of mathematics is its greatest weakness. When our kids ask why they need to know algebra or trigonometry, we promise them that these tools will be useful. So, students hold their noses and drink math medicine that may help in their technological futures. Not only is this not true (I've never used algebra, much less trigonometry, in my daily life), it makes math dreary. Touting the usefulness of math for building spaceships makes one excited about the spaceships, not the math.
Do we listen to Coltrane because jazz is useful? Or immerse ourselves in a Rothko painting because of its practicality? The joy of food comes not from amino acids and proteins, but its look and smell and taste. Humans relish the practical, but we also know that there is much more to life. As Aristotle said, knowledge begins with wonder, but what wonder is there in algebra or trigonometry or calculus?
As it turns out, not much. Like Beethoven, these mathematical ideas once were trailblazing, but that was centuries if not millennia ago. Yet they still form the cornerstone of today's math education, designed to serve future generations. No wonder math induces boredom. We need Beyoncé math, not Beethoven math.
Happily, unlocking the pleasure of math is simple: Do what mathematicians do and seek out unexplored, unknown, undiscovered math.
Regrettably, the mathematical journey is imagined as a formidable mountain: The wide base is arithmetic, the skills of adding and multiplying, accessible to everyone. Climbing higher brings us to algebra, geometry, trigonometry and eventually calculus and beyond. (Many of us remember clearly where our bitter journey ended, when the ascent became too unbearable due to mathematical altitude sickness.) We believe that new math ideas have been all but exhausted, with a few remaining challenges tucked away in the highest peak.
[A] he doesn't understand algebra
[B] he fails to introduce himself
[C] he reveals his own profession
[D] his son is poor at math
[A] is hard to learn and useless in our daily life
[B] is served as a gatekeeper to modern science
[C] is crucial to other subjects but is useless in science
[D] is learnt by many out of practicality instead of interests
[A] the novelty and conservatism of math
[B] the popularity and elegance of math
[C] the simplicity and complexity of math
[D] the secularity and nobility of math
[A] do what math teachers teach in class
[B] ask children to follow Beyoncé’s lead
[C] explore and discover the unknown math
[D] forget the fact that math is a dull subject
[A] is not determined to change the current state of math
[B] views math as a formidable mountain he can't conquer
[C] feels sorry for his inability to change the status of math
[D] thinks math is not so difficult and dull as people imagine
Late last year, the UK launched a review of its rules for stock exchange listings as part of a broader effort to strengthen London's “position as a leading global financial centre”.
Brexit and the pandemic make it critical for the UK to seize this chance to reshape our rule book. The listings market must be made more attractive to fast-growing tech and other new economy companies which will create the growth and jobs of the future.
This would put Britain at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution, as it was at the first, and cement London's reputation as a world-class market with high standards of governance, shareholder rights and transparency.
Here are two key areas where change is needed to make the UK more competitive: the rules on free float and dual-class share structures. The UK requires listed companies to have at least 25 per cent of their shares in public hands, as opposed to insiders. US rules do not preclude free floats as low as 10 per cent. Similarly, the US allows companies to list with multiple classes of shares with different voting rights, while the UK does not.
These firm rules are major obstacles to the London Stock Exchange's efforts to attract fast-growth businesses. Many founders worry about retaining control of their businesses after an initial public offering and early investors are concerned the free float requirements will force them to sell shares earlier-and cheaper-than they would like.
Most founders want the higher valuation and liquidity that are seen to be part of a “premium” listing, as well as membership in the FTSE indices. So, it would do little to create another type of listing with looser rules. The dual-class share issue is also a problem for founders who want enhanced voting rights to help guard against a hostile takeover.
The UK has an interest in strengthening founders' rights as well, as it would make listed companies less vulnerable to acquisition early in life by a foreign company. Such purchases impoverish the British ecosystem of tech companies and listed companies more broadly. Not all dual-class shareholder systems are alike, and a balanced conversation about types and limits is welcome.
Many UK founders would like a home listing, to be famous here and give back, but they feel pulled to the US, where tech founders are feted on Wall Street, Main Street and in the media and can obtain higher valuations.
Indeed, valuation is London's overarching challenge. For most companies contemplating an IPO, the major goal is to achieve the highest price, to reward employees and investors, and facilitate future growth. Until the UK has a critical mass of businesses with attractive valuations, we will need rules that actively draw them here.
[A] make it easy for the UK to exit from the EU
[B] mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the UK
[C] attract more investors to invest in the UK market
[D] draw fast-growing tech or new economy companies
[A] standards of governance and transparency
[B] free float and dual-class share structures
[C] multiple classes of shares and voting rights
[D] both domestic and overseas investments
[A] Companies are not allowed to have 1/4 shares in public hands.
[B] Companies have to sell their shares due to blind competition.
[C] Companies are unable to list with multiple classes of shares.
[D] Companies are obliged to give up their ownership rights.
[A] more conserved and inflexible
[B] more vulnerable to acquisition
[C] less likely to sell their shares
[D] less valued by the government
[A] How to attract innovative entrepreneurs.
[B] How to beat other international stock exchanges.
[C] How to make companies obtain higher valuations.
[D] How to compensate its shareholders for their loss.
As western wildfires burn through millions of forested acres, they are igniting debates about our response that are almost as heated as the flames themselves.
The leaders of the U.S. Forest Service have known that fire begets discord since 1905, when Gifford Pinchot became the federal agency's first chief. Randy Moore, who was sworn in as the 20th chief July 26, is no stranger to the conflict, after his decadelong service as the agency's regional forester for California. Since 2017, our fire-prone state-and its many national forests-have endured its eight largest fires ever.
Despite his extensive experience, Moore probably did not expect to be burned even before assuming his new post. But he was, courtesy of a lightning-struck, smoldering pine rooted in a granite-rough ridge in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in early July.
When the fire was spotted, Forest Service personnel determined there was no immediate danger of fire spread. They would monitor it. But for the health of the forest, where fire is regenerative, and for reasons of resource management and firefighter safety, this was the kind of fire they wouldn't move immediately to put it out.
A week later, gusting winds fanned sparks outward, and what came to be known as the Tamarack fire has been burning ever since. Although the 68,000-acre blaze now is more than 80% contained, there has been no containing the resulting the fight that erupted over the initial handling of the fire.
Angry California and Nevada politicians attacked the Forest Service's decision not to extinguish the smoking tree. On July 20, Representative Tom McClintock demanded that the outgoing chief retract the current U.S. Forest Service direction that allows wildfires to burn and instruct all Regional Foresters that all wildfires should be suppressed as soon as possible.
Moore responded with a memo August 2. He conceded that in a “fire year different from any before” the Forest Service should stop managing fires for “resource benefit”—that is, to improve ecosystem health-and instead suppress them. “We are in a‘triage mode,’” he wrote, and the agency's focus now “must be on fires that threaten communities and infrastructure.” This was, he concluded, the most prudent course of action now in a situation that is dynamic and fluid.
Moore's “prudent course of action now” language, however, isn't prudent enough for some. The National Wildfire Institute, a suppression-friendly bloc of retired Forest Service officials, said the initial Tamarack decision bore the “hallmarks of criminal negligence.” “It's time,” they wrote in a letter to Moore, “to declare that all fires will be promptly and aggressively extinguished.”
[A] fire comes from nowhere
[B] fire can easily build up
[C] fire leads to disagreement
[D] fire can destroy everything
[A] Just left it alone.
[B] Sought federal help.
[C] Tried to put it down.
[D] Hesitated to take action.
[A] convenience
[B] saving money
[C] retraining firefighters
[D] managing resources
[A] he attempted to modify his former policy
[B] he intended to maintain his original stance
[C] it gained great favor from his supporters
[D] it would help appease politicians' anger
[A] Negative.
[B] Admirable.
[C] Impersonal.
[D] Skeptical.