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Cable Flexes Its Muscles (Again) With ESPN's Wimbledon Win
Score another sports programming victory for cable, as ESPN announced today that it has acquired all of the U.S. TV rights to Wimbledon tennis in a
12-year deal beginning in 2012. ESPN's win was NBC's loss, as the broadcast network's 43-year association with the tournament comes to an end.
For ESPN, and for cable TV networks in general, it is another step in a steady progression of using their economic supremacy over broadcasters to obtain television rights to marquee sporting events. While ESPN is the undisputed leader, numerous other cable networks like TNT, USA, Versus, Golf and of course the regional sports networks (RSNs) such as Comcast SportsNet and Fox Sports Net have staked their claim to early round or full coverage of high-profile sports events.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators
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First Fox, Now Disney, Reportedly Renewing Hulu's Distribution Rights
As if this week's intrigue around Hulu putting itself up for sale hasn't been enough, Bloomberg is reporting that Disney has tentatively agreed to renew
Hulu's distribution rights for ABC programs. The deal is said to mirror another tentative deal, between Fox and Hulu, which Variety reported earlier this week. Both deals are believed to require Hulu carry an increased ad load.
Since company representatives aren't quoted, it's hard to know how legit the renewals are, or whether they're just another leak to support one of the many agendas players involved in Hulu have. Of course, that's how the week began - with the WSJ citing unidentified sources saying that Yahoo had made an overture to acquire Hulu. That was followed by news that Hulu had retained 2 investment banks to explore a sale, and then with the Fox renewal news.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters
Topics: Comcast, Disney, Hulu, News Corp.
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #101 - More on Hulu Sale - June 24, 2011
In this week's podcast, Daisy and I discuss the potential sale of Hulu, which was the big story of the week in the online video world. We recorded the podcast just prior to the news breaking that Hulu has retained investment bankers. Obviously there's been a lot of speculation this week about a sale, and since Hulu's main asset is exclusive online distribution rights to its 3 owners' programs, I maintain that to the extent that those rights are diluted, Hulu's valuation will diminish and a sale will be more challenging.
Click here to listen to the podcast (12 minutes, 32 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: Hulu
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OK, Hulu's for Sale; Can a Deal Get Done and Who are the Frontrunners?
Following yesterday's rumors, the LA Times is now reporting that Hulu has hired two investment banks, Guggenheim Partners and Morgan Stanley, toexplore a potential sale. As I described in Here's Why Any Deal For Hulu Is Unlikely, the banks have their work cut out for them. The critical issue is that Hulu's main asset - exclusive next-day distribution rights to 3 of the 4 broadcast TV networks' programs (ABC, FOX and NBC) - will be at the heart of Hulu's valuation. (Note that just 6 months ago Hulu's plan to go public was undermined by these same rights not being viewed as sufficiently long-term).
To the extent that the rights get diluted (e.g. become non-exclusive, limit monetization opportunities, delay program release windows, reduce the number of programs, etc.), acquirers will ratchet down their valuations accordingly. And this is where the banks' task will become especially complicated; each of the networks' owners (Disney, News Corp. and Comcast) has very different strategic objectives which are further clouded by all the uncertainty that online and mobile video has created. Pinning down if and how they would work with each specific bidder will be quite the Rubik's cube exercise.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: Comcast, Disney, Hulu, News Corp.
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PBS Enhances Video Search for Thousands of Its Videos
PBS is announcing this morning that users of PBS.org can now search transcripts of 7,000 free videos available on the site using filters such as program title, producer, local PBS station, airdate and content format across a range of programs including Nova, Frontline, American Experience, PBS Newshour and others. Users will be able sort and share their search results with others. The search feature is enabled by RAMP, which is creating and managing the videos' metadata.
Categories: Broadcasters
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4. Comcast Gets Hit Shows from FOX and ABC for Xfinity TV
This week brought yet another twist in the intriguing relationships between pay-TV operators and broadcast TV networks, as Comcast announced deals with both FOX and ABC to add recent episodes of over 20 hit shows from the networks to its Xfinity TV video-on-demand line-up. The move is a solid step forward for Comcast, giving it access to all 4 major broadcast networks' programs, a first. This is also content that isn't available on Netflix, providing another good differentiator.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, Video On Demand
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NCAA MMOD Runs Home Page Takeover Ad On NYTimes.com
Speaking of sports, here's how big a deal live streaming of March Madness on Demand (MMOD) has become for the NCAA and its TV partners CBS and Turner Sports: yesterday, which was the tournament's big kickoff, the parties ran a pricey full-page, rich media takeover ad on the NYTimes.com home page (see below). MMOD has developed into the highest-profile live online video sporting event of the year. It's hard to believe any real college hoops fan doesn't know about MMOD's availability, but with the NYTimes ad, clearly the parties weren't taking any chances.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Newspapers, Sports
Topics: CBS, MMOD, NCAA, NYTimes, Turner Sports
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It's NCAA March Madness On Demand Season Again
Speaking of sports, Turner Sports, CBS Sports and the NCAA announced this week that March Madness on Demand will be back online and free to users yet again. MMOD is by far the highest-profile sports event offered live online and the NCAA and networks just keep on improving it every year. For the 2011 tournament, the big new drawing card will be an iPad app, along with new features like personalized channel lineups, social interaction and live stats updates.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Sports
Topics: CBS, MMOD, NCAA, Turner Sports
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Quick Thoughts On Oscar Backstage App
During last night's Oscar broadcast, I was in full "second-screening" mode, flipping around the Oscar Backstage App from ABC, which I had downloaded for $.99 to my iPad. The big question for me was whether the 8 video feeds from various camera angles would hold up under heavy usage and also what the experience of switching back-and-forth among the feeds would be like. The good news is that the video all performed well, and newly chosen feeds came up quickly.
The bad news is that during most of the broadcast, there wasn't much actually happening in those 8 video feeds. The most active feed was from the Press Room cam, where winners would come to answer un-rehearsed questions from the Hollywood press. Some sessions, like with Christian Bale, seemed to go on and on, while other winners like Natalie Portman never appeared during the actual broadcast. In fact, this is the biggest area I think Oscar Backstage Pass app could improve - adding some simple schedule or navigation so users have an idea of what to expect next. I know the experience is supposed to be sort of impromptu, but the randomness and waiting started detracting after a while.
Categories: Broadcasters
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Looking Forward to Going Backstage At the Oscars
This Sunday night's Oscars broadcast promises to be like no other, as the show gets the full online video treatment. The NY Times had a rundown this week of all the various apps that are available and will be streaming supplementary video. I've downloaded ABC's Oscar Backstage Pass app to my iPad and my wife and I will be in full "second-screening" mode (for my wife, as for many others, the Oscars is like Super Bowl Sunday).
Categories: Broadcasters, Devices
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CBS Sees $3 Billion In New Distribution Revenue Ahead
CBS hosted an "Upfront for Investors" yesterday, and as The Hollywood Reporter noted, its executives envision potentially $3 billion in new,
high-margin revenue coming from retransmission consent payments, reverse compensation from TV affiliates, international TV syndication and emerging digital distributors. It was no coincidence that just this week CBS announced a 2-year distribution deal with Netflix for mainly library programs, that one analyst valued at $200 million.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters
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No Surprise, Ivi is Shut Down
Broadcasters got a win this week as a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against Ivi, requiring the service be shut down. The decision comes as little surprise, as Ivi's claim to being a cable system, and therefore entitled to a compulsory license to rebroadcast TV networks, seemed specious from the start. Though Ivi vows to appeal the decision, casting itself as consumers' savior, there's little reason to believe we'll see Ivi - at least in its current form - back any time soon. Moral here: just because the Internet makes it possible to rebroadcast networks, that still doesn't make it legal.
Categories: Broadcasters, Regulation
Topics: CBS, Cox, Disney, FOX, Ivi, MLB, NBC, PBS, WPIX
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With New CBS Deal, Netflix Reminds Amazon (and Hulu) Who's King of the Streaming Jungle
As if on cue, Netflix announced a new streaming deal with CBS this morning, just hours after Amazon took the wraps off its own new streaming feature for Prime users. Under the 2-year deal, Netflix will get episodes from classic
series like "Star Trek," "Frasier," "Cheers," "Twin Peaks," "Hawaii Five-O," "The Twilight Zone," and others. It will also include certain episodes from current shows like "Medium" and "Flashpoint." The companies had a previous streaming deal signed in late 2008 that covered series like "NCIS," "CSI" and "Numbers" which appears to have expired.
The new CBS agreement sends a strong message to Amazon that when it comes to premium content, Netflix is still king of the streaming jungle. If Amazon wants to compete title-for-title, it is going to have to spend aggressively for content. As I pointed out earlier today, Amazon is only likely to do this if it sees meaningful increases in Prime membership due to the new streaming feature, which I believe is unlikely.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters
Topics: ABC, Amazon, CBS, Hulu, NBCU, Netflix
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Newspapers Cranked Out More Online Videos In 2010 Than Any Other Media Vertical
U.S. newspapers uploaded approximately 2.4 million videos in 2010, more than 3x the volume of the next-closest industry verticals of broadcast and online media, according to the latest "online video & the media industry" report from Brightcove and TubeMogul for Q4 '10. Newspapers uploaded 1.2 million titles in Q4 alone, a 147% increase in volume over Q3. The accelerating trend suggests newspapers are deepening their commitment to online video as a way of boosting online engagement and increasing ad revenue. The new data also seems to offset recent news that newspapers are reducing their involvement with online video.
Categories: Branded Entertainment, Broadcasters, Newspapers, Online Publishers
Topics: Brightcove, TubeMogul
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Jan. 10th
Even though I was very focused this week on the CES "takeaways" series, there was still plenty of news happening in the online and mobile video industries. So as in the past, I'm pleased to offer VideoNuze's end-of-week feature highlighting 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Enjoy!
Level 3 fights on in Comcast traffic dispute
Level 3 is showing no signs of relenting on its accusations that Comcast is unfairly trying to charge the CDN for Internet traffic it delivers to Comcast's network. In an interview this week, Level 3 said it may use the "Open Internet" provisions of the FCC's new network neutrality rules to press its case. Level 3's challenge is coming at the 11th hour of the FCC's approval process of the Comcast-NBCU deal; it's not really clear if Level 3 is having any impact on slowing the approval, which appears imminent.
Comcast-NBCU deal challenged over online video proposal
Speaking of challenges to the Comcast-NBCU deal, word emerged this week that Disney is voicing concern over the FCC's proposed deal condition that would force Comcast to offer NBC programming to any party that had concluded a deal with one of NBC's competitors for online distribution. The Disney concern appears to be that the condition would have an undue influence on how the online video market evolves and how Disney's own deals would be impacted. While the FCC should be setting conditions to the deal, the Disney concerns highlights how, in a nascent, fast-moving market like online video, government intervention can cause unintended side effects.
YouTube is notching 200 million mobile video views/day
As if on cue with my CES takeaway #3, that mobility is video's next frontier, YouTube revealed this week that it is now delivering 200 million mobile views per day, tripling its volume in 2010. That would equal about 6 billion views per month, which is remarkable. And that amount is poised to increase, as YouTube launched music video site VEVO for Android devices. YouTube clearly sees the revenue potential in all this mobile video activity; it also said that it would append a pre-roll ad in Android views for tens of thousands of content partners.
Google creates video codec dust-up
Google stirred up a hornet's nest this week by announcing that it was dropping support for the widely popular H.264 video codec in its Chrome browser, in favor of its own WebM codec, in an attempt to drive open standards. Though Chrome only represents about 10% market share among browsers (doubling in 2010 though), for these users, it means they'll need to use Flash to view non-WebM ended video. There are a lot of downstream implications of Google's move, but for space reasons, rather than enumerating them here, check out some of the great in-depth coverage the issue has received this week (here, here, here, here).
Netflix usage drives up Canadian broadband bills
An interesting test of Canadian Netflix streaming showed that a user there might have to pay an incremental $12/month under one ISP's consumption cap. That would be more than the $7.99/mo that the Netflix subscription itself costs, leading to potential cord-shaving behavior. This type of upcharge hasn't become an issue here in the U.S. because even ISPs that have caps have set them high relative to most users' current consumption. But if streaming skyrockets as many think it will, and the FCC allows usage-based billing, this could fast become a reality in the U.S. as well.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, CDNs, Deals & Financings, International, Mobile Video, Regulation, Technology
Topics: Comcast, Disney, FCC, Google, Level 3, NBCU, Netflix, WebM, YouTube
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CES Takeaway #1: Broadcast TV Networks Were Missing In Action
(Note: Each day this week I'll be writing about one key takeaway from CES 2011.)
Broadcast TV networks were conspicuously absent from the buzz of last week's CES 2011, even through one of the main themes of the show was enhanced video viewing through connected devices. Aside from a deal giving boxee the right to sell CBS episodes, and an expected, forward-looking announcement that Hulu Plus would soon be available on Android-powered devices, broadcast TV networks didn't participate in any of the excitement around new connected and mobile devices.
Their absence was both a missed opportunity, and also a clear illustration of how backward-looking their posture toward connected devices is. At a time when the entire CE industry sees the big prize of untethering video viewing from the living room, while creating boundless opportunities for new interactivity and higher engagement, the broadcast TV networks and Hulu have taken exactly the opposite approach, choosing to block access to their programs by connected devices, even though these programs are already available online.
I've previously written about the folly of broadcasters trying to force an artificial distinction between computer and TV screens (here and here with respect to Google TV), noting that their motivation for doing so is the pot of gold they see in retransmission consent payments from pay-TV distributors. But while those payments are a bonanza, they shouldn't come at the price of non-participation with connected devices. Indeed, three key things broadcasters risk by shunning connected devices emerged at CES last week.
Categories: Broadcasters, Devices
Topics: Boxee, CBS, CES, Hulu, Netflix, Orb BR, SnapStick
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Online/Mobile Video's Top 10 of 2010
2010 was another spectacular year of growth and innovation in online and mobile video, so it's no easy feat to choose the 10 most significant things that happened during the year. However, I've taken my best shot below, and offered explanations. No doubt I've forgotten a few things, but I think it's a pretty solid list. As much as happened in 2010 though, I expect even more next year, with plenty of surprises.
My top 10 are as follows:
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Devices, Mobile Video, Regulation, Satellite, Technology, Telcos
Topics: 4G, Android, Apple, Google TV, iPad, Net Neutrality, Netflix, YouTube
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Hulu Pulls IPO Due to Lack of Long-Term Content Rights
The WSJ is reporting that Hulu has pulled its widely-rumored plan for an initial public offering next year due to lack of long-term rights to distribute its three broadcast TV network owners' content. The WSJ says the company may look at other options to raise capital. Hulu's exclusive short-term distribution deals with owners ABC, FOX and NBC are the company's primary asset, and no doubt banks and other would-be investors closely scrutinized whether the rights would be extended.
As I wrote last April, from a content rights perspective, Hulu is getting squeezed from all sides. Pay-TV providers are ramping up their TV Everywhere rollouts and are trying to lock down online distribution rights themselves, sometimes as part of retransmission consent deals. The NBC rights in particular are subject to extra uncertainty longer-term as Comcast takes over the network. As the biggest subscription TV provider, which is rolling out its own online capabilities, Comcast has little incentive to support an online competitor.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Deals & Financings
Topics: ABC, Comcast, FOX, Hulu, NBC, Netflix
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Dec. 5th
Once again I'm pleased to offer VideoNuze's end-of-week feature highlighting and discussing 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, Mobile Video, Telcos
Topics: ABC, Disney, eMarketer, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Nielsen, TV Everywhere, Verizon Wireless
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #81 - Dec. 10, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 81st edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for December 10, 2010.
This week Daisy and I focus on Google's video efforts from two perspectives: first, whether it should pay CBS (and other networks) to allow Google TV to access their programs, and second, what are the implications of its acquisition of Widevine, announced last Friday.
On the former point, as I argued in "Google to Pay CBS? Unlikely." I think it's a big stretch to believe that Google, which is a search engine, is going to start paying content providers like CBS, to direct traffic to them. Certainly that's not what it does online, and there's little reason to believe it will start doing so with Google TV.
Meanwhile, the Widevine deal underscores how far Google has come in prioritizing copyright protection. It wasn't that long ago when YouTube was a rogue copyright infringer and yet that didn't deter Google from acquiring it. With Widevine and multiple other Google video initiatives, the company is extremely well-positioned to play a bigger role in the distribution and monetization of Hollywood content in 2011.
If you want to learn more about Google, and also other key online/mobile video trends and predictions for 2011, then join me for a complimentary webinar I'll be hosting with The Diffusion Group's Colin Dixon next Wed., Dec. 15th at 11am PT/2pm ET. We'll demystify 2011 and leave plenty of time for audience Q&A.
Click here to listen to the podcast (12 minutes, 17 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Broadcasters, Devices, DRM, Podcasts
Topics: CBS, Google, Google TV, Podcast, Widevine
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