Business English Bits Issue 100
The 10-min homework newsletter that supports your advanced business and English language learning...
Good morning to all, hope you are having a productive week. Welcome to Tuesday’s issue of Business English Bits.
Today we have a report from a new Youtube channel which zeros in on the amount of money we are now ‘having’ to forking up/out* for our TV streaming services. Many of us have moved away from an costly cable services or free terrestrial broadcasters to services such as Netflix, HBO or Disney +. These streaming platforms offer us huge amounts of content at set prices with minimal penalties for cutting service contracts.
To fork up/out (pv) - Reluctantly pay for smth
The ‘expense’ begins when consumers wish to watch various shows appearing on different services. Fees quickly begin to add up. These costs are again impacted when a provider decides to hike up* the charge (each year or so) or to add a charge to remove advertisements from a package.
*To Hike up (pv) - To sharply increase a price
Many of these streaming firms have amassed* used huge amounts of debt to cover the costs of developing their ‘own’ content libraries. Away from advertising, streaming companies have only two main drivers to increase earnings and placate** investors. The first, to find more subscribers, this includes turning ‘fraudulent’ shared accounts into real paying customers; the second, to charge increasingly higher prices.
*To Amass (v) - To accumulate
**To Placate (v) - To appease
Focus on some key new nouns from the video ….
1. VIDEO: Vox - (6min) - Why the era of cheap streaming is over
Key Words - (Smth = Something; Sb=Someone)
Phenomenon (n) - Rare or significant fact or event
To Expose (v) - To make smth visible
To Convert (v) - To change the form, character, or function of smth
Surge (n) - Dramatic increase
Dent (n) - Weakening or lessening effect
Tier (n) - Level or grade
Trendsetter (n) - Sb/smth that starts or helps to popularise a new fashion
To Carve out (pv) - Establish or create through painstaking effort
Lucrative (adj) - Profitable; moneymaking
Foreign concept (cn) - Smth unfamiliar and difficult to understand
To Condense (v) - To make more compact
To Craft (v) - To exercise skill in making smth, typically by hand
Churn (n) - Process or rate of change involving loss and addition
To Hop around (pv) - To go from one place to another place
Word of the Day … Guess the missing key word. Answer given below with examples!
Some new phrasal verbs to review …
Word of the Day Answer:
Consensus (Noun) - General agreement
Examples:
“There is a growing consensus that the company needs to change strategy.”
“After the Board reached a consensus, the new protocol was put to a vote.”
Have a fantastic Tuesday and see you tomorrow for the phrasal verb test …
Kevin