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**Hugh** · 04-05-2021, 12:49

Amazon Prime currently advertising for a "Prime Video Linear TV Senior Product Manager, Technical".

Quote:

We are seeking an experienced Product Manager for the Prime Video Linear TV team to redefine how customers watch 24/7 linear broadcast TV content. Linear TV enables customers to watch 24/7 streams of their favorite TV stations airing programs including sports, news, movies, award shows, special events and TV shows. You will be responsible for designing the end-to-end customer experience for how customers discover and watch Linear TV content.

https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/1508...ager-technical

On a related note, from earlier this year

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/netfli...vice-globally/

Quote:

Netflix Rolling Out ‘Linear TV’ Service Globally

Netflix is planning to expand worldwide a test feature that allows subscribers to simply click a button and let the streamer pick programming to watch. Tested in France and other markets, the “Shuffle Play” feature acts as an old-school TV channel broadcasting shows on a loop.

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Interesting article from a couple of days ago.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90630158...mething-button

Quote:

04-28-21

Netflix’s new ‘Play Something’ button is fine, but it’s not enough

Netflix has a new one-click way to find something to watch. But the company could still do a lot more to solve streaming indecision

The long-awaited Netflix shuffle button is here.

Next time you’re unsure what to watch on Netflix, just click “Play Something,” and the service will pick a movie or TV show according to your personal tastes. You’ll find the new button on Netflix’s profile selection page, in the sidebar menu, and on the 10th row of the home screen. If Netflix’s algorithms choose unwisely, you can also hit “Play Something Else,” which will either bring up a new pick, resume a show you’re already watching, or start a selection from your watch list.

Netflix began testing the Play Something button eight months ago and seems to be rolling it out with some fanfare. (It’s announcing the feature in a blog post, with a goofy video of a cartoon remote whose buttons are tired of being pushed.) It’s arguably the company’s most concerted effort yet to cure streaming indecisiveness, and it arrives at a time when there’s more to watch than ever, both from Netflix and from a wave of new streaming competitors.

But while I love the idea of Netflix offering something akin to automated channel flipping, a single shuffle button feels like a half-measure. If Netflix really wants to help solve analysis paralysis, there’s still a lot more it could do. Here’s what I’m hoping Netflix considers next:

EMBRACE LINEAR TV
While I once assumed that on-demand video would subsume live TV for everything besides news and sports, the success of linear streaming channels has proven otherwise.

Pluto TV, which mimics a cable-style grid guide with round-the-clock streaming channels, has 43 million users tuning in every month, and it’s prompted a wave of imitators since ViacomCBS acquired it in 2019. Between the Roku Channel (which itself has more than 160 linear channels), Tubi, Plex, Peacock, Sinclair’s Stirr, and the preloaded linear TV apps on many smart TVs (including those from Samsung, LG, and Vizio), linear channels are making a comeback as a way to cure indecision.

…