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Netflix Has Added 8 Times As Many Subscribers in 2010 As Top Pay-TV Operators, Combined
Here's a pretty amazing factoid to end your week: in 2010 Netflix has added nearly 8 times as many subscribers as 8 of the top 9 pay-TV operators have, combined (#3 cable operator Cox is private and doesn't report). In the first 3 quarters of 2010, Netflix has added nearly 4.7 million subscribers while the top pay-TV operators have gained 609K.
Breaking down the pay-TV industry net gain further, the 2 main telcos (Verizon and AT&T) have added over 1.2 million subscribers and the 2 main satellite providers (DirecTV and DISH) have added 563K, while the top 4 reporting cable operators (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision) have lost over 1.1 million.
Categories: Aggregators, Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: AT&T, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH, Netflix, Time Warner Cable, Verizon
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Top U.S. Pay-TV Operators Post Narrow Subscriber Gains in Q3, Rebounding From Q2 Loss
Eight out of the nine largest U.S. pay-TV operators have reported their Q3 '10 results, gaining a slim 66,700 video subscribers, a rebound from a loss of 47,600 subscribers in Q2 '10. The Q2 loss was the first on record for the industry and fueled speculation that "cord-cutting" due to adoption of Internet-delivered video alternatives was rising. With only mildly positive subscriber adds - and 5 of the top 8 operators actually losing subscribers in Q3 - fears that cord-cutting is rising will surely accelerate.
The 8 operators (privately-held Cox Cable, the 3rd-largest cable operator does not disclose its results) represent more than 85% of all U.S. pay-TV households. Though they collectively showed a quarterly gain, if Cox and other cable operators lost subscribers at a comparable rate as the 4 large cable operators in the top 8 (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision), the industry as a whole would have actually lost about 97K subscribers in the 3rd quarter.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: AT&T, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH, Netflix, Time Warner Cable, Verizon
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 25th
Lots more happened this week in online/mobile video, and so to make your lives easier, VideoNuze is once again curating 5-6 interesting industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!
No Longer 'Must-See TV'
The WSJ reported this week that Thursday night TV viewership (live or recorded) among 18-49 year-olds is down 4.3% this season to 48.5 million, a drop of 2.2 million viewers. For this age group, the drop across all nights (live or recorded) is 2.7%. While the decreases have immediate implications on networks' ad revenue, the bigger issue of course is what the drops say about shifting consumer preferences. For example, I continue to hear anecdotes about users with connected devices now tuning in first to their Instant Watch queues instead of channel surfing or visiting their DVR libraries or VOD. The Nielsen data corroborates other data (here, here) about the decline of TV viewing, especially among young people, and is another reason why broadcast networks in particular should be embracing connected devices like Google TV, not blocking them.
CW Says Study 'Dispels Myth' About Aversion to Ads in Online Video
Speaking of networks and their online distribution, this week CW released some interesting new data that detailed extremely low abandonment rates for its shows consumed online, even with ad loads almost equal to those on-air. While it is too early to generalize, the data provides a very encouraging sign that networks may be able to achieve parity economics with on-air, even when they window their online releases for delayed availability. It's also an important sign that online video may be a firewall against DVR-based ad-skipping.
Comcast Launches Free Streaming Video Service Xfinity for All Digital Subs
In addition to releasing stellar Q3 earnings this week (albeit with a bigger-than-expected subscriber loss), Comcast also pulled the "beta" label off its Xfinity TV service this week, and relaxed its rules about who can gain access. Now any video subscriber, regardless of who they take their broadband Internet service from, can access XFTV.
Some began to speculate that it could be a precursor for Comcast allowing non-video subs to also gain access to XFTV. This is the concept I wrote about in over a year ago, in "How TV Everywhere Could Turn Cable Operators and Telcos Into Over-the-Top's Biggest Players." The idea is that TV Everywhere services like XFTV could be offered outside of Comcast's franchise areas to allow them to poach video subscribers from other pay-TV operators. It's still a fascinating concept, but nothing about Comcast's move this week suggests it's coming soon.
Insight To Bow 50-Mbps Internet In Two Markets
If you think all that Netflix and other long-form streaming is going to strain users' bandwidth, think again, as yet another cable operator/broadband ISP, 9th-largest Insight Communications unveiled plans for a speedy 50 megabit per second broadband tier. Big players like Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been offering this for a while already. It's still very pricey, but as some viewers shift more of their consumption to online and away from conventional TV viewing (see above), more bandwidth will be worth the price. Update - I missed this item, that over in the U.K. Virgin Media began taking sign-ups for a 100 Mbps broadband service. Net, net, last-mile bandwidth will keep expanding to meet increasing demand.
Promoted Videos hit half a billion views
Fresh evidence this week that YouTube is finding innovative ways to monetize its massive audience: the company's performance-based "Promoted videos" format achieved its 500 millionth view, just 2 years after being introduced. With Promoted videos, anyone uploading a video to YouTube (brand, content provider, amateur), can buy opportunities to have that video appear alongside relevant keyword-based searches in YouTube. It's a similar format to AdWords, and of course the video provider only pays when their video is actually clicked on. As I said recently, YouTube is becoming a much more important part of Google's overall advertising mix, while for many brands, YouTube's home page is fast-becoming the most desirable piece of online real estate.
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators
Topics: Comcast, CW, Insight, Nielsen, YouTube
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Cablevision is Now Offering to Reimburse Subscribers To Watch World Series on MLB.com
The Cablevision-Fox retransmission fight just took another ugly turn, as Cablevision is now emailing subscribers an offer (see below) to reimburse them $10 if they subscribe to the MLB.com's "Postseason.TV" package which includes the World Series starting tonight.
The gloves are clearly off in this fight, and Cablevision is obviously not hesitating to introduce its subscribers to the virtues of over-the-top streaming, which could have longer-term negative consequences. What comes next in this battle?
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, Sports
Topics: Cablevision, FOX, World Series
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Is the Comcast Lion Finally Set to Roar In Online Video?
Yesterday Comcast announced that it has taken the "beta" label off its Xfinity TV ("XFTV" as I call it) premium online video service and opened it up to all
video subscribers (dropping the requirement that XFTV users need to also be Comcast broadband subscribers). Comcast also unveiled new remote DVR scheduling and search/personalization features, and touted that it now offers 150,000 content "choices" in XFTV.
Though none of yesterday's individual moves are that significant in and of themselves, after chatting with a spokesperson at Comcast and talking with others in the industry, I think what matters more is that Comcast is signaling the start of an aggressive push into online video distribution. That's worth noting because with NBCU's assets soon to be under its roof, a newfound assertiveness in online video could have profound implications in the video ecosystem. Here are a handful of potential items to watch for:
Categories: Cable TV Operators
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6 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 18th
It was another busy week for online/mobile video, and so VideoNuze is continuing its Friday practice of curating 5-6 interesting industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!
Networks block Google TV to protect themselves
Yesterday news started breaking that ABC, CBS and NBC are blocking access by Google TV. There are numerous concerns being cited - potential disruption of advertising, encouraging cord-cutting, incenting piracy, diminished branding, unsatisfactory ad splits with Google, and general worry about Google invading the living room. Each item on its own is probably not enough to motivate the blocking action, but taken together they are. Still, doesn't it feel a little foolish that broadcasters would differentiate between a computer screen and a TV screen like this? For Google, it's more evidence that nothing comes easy when trying to work with Hollywood. I'm trying to find out more about what's happening behind the scenes.
TWC Lines Up For ESPN Online Kick
An important milestone for TV Everywhere may come as early as next Monday, as #2 cable operator Time Warner is planning to make ESPN viewing available online to paying subscribers. Remote access is part of the recent and larger retransmission consent deal between Disney and TWC. TV Everywhere initiatives have been slow to roll out, amid cable programmers' reluctance. Further proving that remote authenticated access works and that it's attractive with a big name like ESPN would increase TV Everywhere's momentum.
Hulu Plus, Take Two: How's $4.95 a Month?
Rumors are swirling that Hulu may cut the price of its nascent Hulu Plus subscription service in half, to $4.95/mo. That would be a tacit recognition of Hulu Plus's minimal value proposition, largely due to its skimpy content offering. As I initially reported in August, over 88% of Hulu Plus content is available for free on Hulu.com. More important, Netflix's streaming gains have really marginalized Hulu Plus. Netflix's far greater resources and subscriber base have enabled it to spend far bigger on content acquisition. Even at $4.95, I continue to see Hulu Plus as an underwhelming proposition in an increasingly noisy landscape.
Viacom Hires Superstar Lawyer to Handle YouTube Appeal
Viacom is showing no signs of giving up on its years-long copyright infringement litigation against Google and YouTube. This week the company retained Theodore Olson, a high-profile appellate and Supreme Court specialist to handle its appeal. While most of the world has moved on and is trying to figure out how to benefit from YouTube's massive scale, Viacom charges on in court.
Verizon to sell Galaxy Tab starting November 11th for $599.99
Verizon is determined to play its part in the tablet computer craze, this week announcing with Samsung that it will sell the latter's new "Tab" tablet for $600 beginning on November 11th. The move follows last week's announcement by Verizon that it will begin selling the iPad on Oct. 28th, which was widely interpreted as the first step toward Verizon offering the iPhone early next year. Apple currently owns the tablet market, and it remains to be seen whether newcomers like the Tab can break through. For his part, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said on Apple's earnings call this week that all other tablets are "dead on arrival." Note, if you want to see the "Tab" and learn more about how connected and mobile devices are transforming the video landscape, come to the VideoSchmooze breakfast at the Samsung Experience on Wed., Dec. 1st.
One-Third of US Adults Skip Live TV: Report
A fascinating new study from Say Media (the entity formed from the recent merger of VideoEgg and Six Apart), suggesting that 56 million, or one-third of adult Internet users, have reduced their live TV viewership. The research identified 2 categories: "Opt Outs" (22 million) who don't own a TV or haven't watched TV in the last week and stream more than 4 hours/week, and "On Demanders" (34 million) who also stream more than 4 hours/week and report watching less live TV than they did a year ago. Not surprisingly, relative to Internet users as a whole, both Opt Outs and On Demanders skew younger and higher educated, though only the latter had higher income than the average Internet user. This type of research is important because the size of both the ad-supported and paid markets for live, first-run TV is far larger than catalog viewing. To the extent its appeal is diminishing as this study suggests poses big problems for everyone in the video ecosystem.
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices, Mobile Video, Telcos
Topics: ABC, Apple, CBS, ESPN, Google TV, Hulu Plus, iPad, NBC, Samsung, Say, Time Warner Cable, TV Everywhere, Verizon, Viacom, YouTube
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Cable's Original Programs Should Be A Bulwark Against Cord-Cutting
A WSJ article today, "TV's Alternate Universe," about the proliferation and inventiveness of basic cable programs, provides an unintentional reminder of the value these shows have as a bulwark against cord-cutting. The article points out that basic networks will spend $23 billion this year on 1,462 originals, up from $14 billion on 863 shows just 5 years ago. The fact that these shows are both finding an audience and that they are virtually unavailable for free online makes them highly strategic assets as the pay-TV industry is increasingly buffeted by over-the-top video competition.
Two years ago, in "Cutting the Cord on Cable: For Most of Us It's Not Happening Any Time Soon," I argued that there are 2 key reasons mass-scale cord-cutting was unlikely, at least in the short term: first, the difficulty of watching online-delivered video on TVs (instead of on computers) limited its appeal as a substitute for pay-TV service for mainstream consumers, and second, the loss of numerous popular cable entertainment programs resulting from cord-cutting would give many people pause.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: AMC, FX, Lifetime, Spike TV, TNT, TV Land, USA
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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 11th
Continuing VideoNuze's Friday feature of highlighting 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry stories that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!
JetBlue Unvails Ads Created By Mullen
Take a moment to head over to YouTube today where JetBlue has bought out the top-of-page expanding banner for a hilarious new ad campaign, "You Above All," featuring a series of reality-style videos of New Yorkers in situations that mock the JetBlue competitors' service. The clever JetBlue campaign follows the head-turning Sylvester Stallone YouTube ad for "The Expendables" from a couple months ago and underscores the ascendance of YouTube as the #1 piece of online real estate for break-the-mold video campaigns for high-profile brands. Google is capitalizing on YouTube's appeal by featuring it prominently in its current "Watch This Space" ad campaign promoting the value of display advertising.
Google TV Guns for Cable Deals
And speaking of Google, with the recent introduction of Google TV, the company is reaching out to cable operators to ink integration deals similar to what it showcased with satellite operator Dish TV last week. Google TV offers tantalizing potential, particularly to smaller operators, to add Internet elements to their core video service, helping better compete with over-the-top entrants like Netflix. Conversely, as we saw this week with the funding/public launch of BNI Video (and in a series of separate product announcements coming next week), technology vendors are lining up to offer cable operators the ability to deliver their own Internet experiences. It's a very confusing time for cable operators, who must figure out whether to go it alone and invest heavily, or partner with a tech giant like Google.
comScore Releases September 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings
comScore's video rankings for September yielded no big surprises, as Google/YouTube continued to be the dominant online video provider and Yahoo narrowly retook the #2 spot from Facebook. comScore changed the way it publicly reports its data this past June which has made it a little harder on independent analysts like me to show trending data as I used to do. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have some new trending charts to share soon.
Blip.tv Predicts Best Quarter Yet for Web Creators
More encouraging news on the online video ad front, as video platform/distributor blip.tv said this week that Q4 '10 is on track to be its best quarter ever. Blip has been a very important player in bringing independent web series to market and its ability to monetize is a key driver of sustainability for many fledgling creators. Blip's news synchs with overall online video ad momentum in first half '10.
Introducing the JW Player for Flash and HTML5
Last month I wrote about how the open source JW Player is receiving 15K downloads per day. This week version 5.3 of the JW Player was released which integrates Flash and HTML5 into a single video player, using a unified JavaScript API. What that means is that anyone embedding the new player can seamlessly deliver either Flash or HTML5 video with the browser auto-detecting which playback mode to use. Since browsers and devices are still quite heterogeneous in what formats they support, initiatives like this help reduce friction in publishing and user experience.
Categories: Advertising, Cable TV Operators, Devices, Indie Video, Technology
Topics: blip.TV, comScore, Google TV, JetBlue, JW Player, YouTube
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BNI Video Raises $16 Million To Improve Cable Operators' Competitiveness
BNI Video is announcing this morning that it has raised $16 million from the venture arms of the two largest U.S. cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, along with Boston-area VC firms Charles River Ventures and
Castile Ventures. It is also introducing its software platform, meant to help cable operators better compete with online video alternatives. I recently caught up with Conrad Clemson, BNI's CEO and co-founder, to learn more about the company's approach.
BNI is aiming to solve a key problem that cable operators have today: their inability to quickly roll out web-based services (both video and non-video) that offer the same quality, flexibility and appeal that budding alternatives like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and others are currently delivering. The inability to quickly deliver their subscribers the content they want anytime, anywhere and on any device is putting cable operators at a growing disadvantage relative to the newcomers. Examples of deficiencies include operators' archaic electronic program guides, slow rollout of TV Everywhere services, inflexible VOD ordering systems and so on.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: BNI Video, Comcast, Time Warner Cable
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For Pay-TV Operators, Will TV Everywhere Be TV Nowhere?
I continue to be confounded by the fact that the pay-TV industry - both operators and cable TV networks - have not made more progress on TV Everywhere, their most important competitive initiative in the online era. Yesterday I got yet another dose of this sobering reality watching a panel discussion at ScreenPlays magazine's Media Innovations Summit in LA. The panel included Synacor's Ted May, Starz's John Penney, EPIX's Emil Rensing, thePlatform's Marty Roberts and AT&T's Dan York and was moderated by Marketing/PR executive Bob Gold.
It's not that industry executives can't articulate the value to both operators and networks. For pay-TV operators, it's providing increased value to paying subscribers, which helps both acquisition and retention efforts. For cable networks, its expanded audience reach and advertising, while maintaining their hybrid model of paid distribution and advertising. For both it's staying competitive by providing access to premium content for consumers when, how and where they want it.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: AT&T, EPIX, Starz, Synacor, thePlatform
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Time Warner's "Premium Video-on-Demand" Experiment is a Blind Alley
Talk about an initiative that flies in the face of all prevailing sentiment: Time Warner is moving forward on testing a new window for early-release movies on VOD priced at $20-30 apiece in 2011, according to comments its CFO John Martin made yesterday at the Goldman Sachs conference. Never mind the
wrath the idea will stir up among movie theater owners whose traditional windows get cannibalized as a consequence (Disney learned about that with its "Alice in Wonderland" early DVD release experiment last February), the real issue is that pay-TV operators should deem the idea a non-starter.
Typical VOD rental rates of $4-5 already look expensive to consumers compared to Netflix's $9 all-you-can-eat monthly plans and Redbox's $1 DVD rentals. And while there are scenarios where getting a group or family together to watch a movie makes sense, it's getting harder than ever to do so. The reality is that families are atomizing to their individual activities; perusing or playing on Facebook, watching YouTube/Hulu/Netflix/etc., playing with the Wii or Farmville, chatting on Skype, shopping on Amazon, etc. Corralling this crowd and getting them to agree on any one movie is already a challenge; the prospect of paying $20-30 for the pleasure just sets the bar that much higher.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, FIlms, Satellite, Studios, Telcos
Topics: Disney, Netflix, Redbox, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable
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Sezmi Snags Another $17.3M; Positioned for Shift to Affordable Pay-TV Service?
Late last week Sezmi, the startup pay-TV replacement provider raised another $17.3M, bringing its total raised to date to $92M. Sezmi has intrigued me from the start both because of its clever hybrid broadcast/broadband delivery
architecture and its ability to be a full substitute for existing pay-TV services. Now, as Sezmi is poised to begin expanding is rollout, its value-pricing approach could find its mark with recession-weary consumers.
As I described last week in "Are Pay-TV Providers Getting Hit By a Perfect Storm in Q3?" increasingly expensive incumbent pay-TV services are up against a belt-tightening process that households across America are going through. While cable and satellite now eat up 1.4% of discretionary spending, negative income growth, higher savings rates and chronic unemployment/under-employment are forcing many households to re-evaluate their entertainment spending. Forking over $80, $100 or even $200+ per month to their cable, telco or satellite provider is no doubt coming under closer scrutiny.
Categories: Aggregators, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: SezMi
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Are Pay-TV Providers Getting Hit By a Perfect Storm in Q3?
The U.S. pay-TV industry, which as a whole lost multichannel video subscribers for the first time in Q2 '10, may be heading for a soft 3rd quarter as well. As Multichannel News reported yesterday, Time Warner Cable's CFO Rob Marcus said at a conference this week that Q3 "video net losses are pacing ahead" of where they were in Q3 '09. He attributed the downturn to recession-related factors of high unemployment, high home vacancy rates and slow new home formation. Though that's a fair explanation, it's only one element in a perfect storm pay-TV operators now find themselves battling.
Aside from the above recession-related matters, pay-TV operators are also up against belt-tightening that's rooted in basic household economics. As Craig Moffett at Sanford Bernstein pointed out in a note last weekend, in the past 25 years, cable and satellite spending has increased from 1/2 of 1% of discretionary spending to 1.4%, a growth rate that's triple other household discretionary line items.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: Sanford Bernstein, Time Warner Cable
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5 News Items of Interest for the Week of Aug 30th
In a week dominated by Apple's new products, there actually was some other interesting online/mobile video industry news this week. Continuing VideoNuze's new Friday feature of highlighting 5-6 stories that we didn't cover this week, below are a collection of items for your weekend reading pleasure.
YouTube Ads Turn Videos Into Revenue
The 800-pound gorilla of the online video industry is reportedly closing in on profitability, based partly on ads running against user-uploaded copyrighted material. By detecting these uploads and offering the underlying rights owners the choice to have their video taken down or leave it up and generate revenue, many are choosing the latter. YouTube continues to evolve from its UGC roots.
Samsung, Toshiba Unveil Google-Based iPad Rivals
The battle line between Apple's "i" devices and those running Google's Android will ramp up, with mobile video set to follow, as Samsung and Toshiba plan to sell tablet computers in the coming months. Though the iPad is of to a strong start, it looks like it won't enjoy the same market dominance as the iPhone did as competitors jump into the tablet market quickly.
Google TV: Up to $300 Price Premium?
The components to enable Google TV could add $300 to the retail price of a television. If accurate this would put Google TV at a big competitive disadvantage given the trend toward lower-priced connected devices such as this week's $99 Apple TV and Roku's price cuts.
A Look Back: Lessons Learned From TV Everywhere a Year After Deployment
Marty Roberts, VP of Sales and Marketing for thePlatform, which has powered a number of TV Everywhere rollouts, offers insights based on the company's experience. Topics include authentication, content ingest, parental controls, discovery and content security. TV Everywhere is still in a nascent stage, but pay-TV providers should be following early lessons and moving quickly.
ShowUHow Scores $3 Million Series A Backing for Video Instruction Guides
A startup site that offers video instruction guides for various types of products that need to be assembled illustrates how valuable video can be for how-to video applications.
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Devices, Startups
Topics: Apple, Google TV, Samsung, ShowUHow, thePlatform, Toshiba, YouTube
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Justice Dept Considering Online Restrictions For Comcast-NBCU
An article in today's WSJ, "Comcast Gets Static on Net TV" describes how the Justice Department is scrutinizing the online video implications of Comcast's deal to acquire control of NBCU. According to the article, the Justice Department is digging in to try to understand what, if any, implications the deal could have on online-delivered TV shows and movies from NBCU.
The article points out that nothing is likely to come out of the investigation that could derail the deal. However, the results could provide the foundation for the Justice Department to impose restrictions on Comcast's flexibility to decide where and how NBCU's premium programming could be distributed online. The purpose would be to head off Comcast somehow gaining preferred and/or exclusive access.
The investigation is merited given the size of the deal and yet the yellow caution flags should be up regarding the government making too many assumptions about how the online video market will unfold. As I've written a number of times, we are continuing to see surprising deals, technologies and products which challenge popular assertions that online video and incumbent pay-TV models are on a collision course with one another, with one winning at the other's expense. Just in the last few weeks, the Netflix-Epix deal, the Cox-TiVo partnership, and possibly this week 99-cent broadcast TV rentals from Apple all show that the market is incredibly dynamic, with a blending of online and traditional distribution becoming more common.
That said, Comcast already has huge market power, and control of NBCU's top-notch assets mustn't deprive others of access from which consumers gain. Finding the delicate balance between just enough safeguards, but without limiting innovation, is the key.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, Regulation
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Pay-TV Industry Loses Subscribers in Q2 '10 For First Time Ever; Cable Bears Brunt
Research firm SNL Kagan is reporting today that the U.S. pay-TV industry (cable/satellite/telco) lost 216,000 multichannel TV subscribers in Q2 '10, the first time the industry as a whole has lost subscribers. Cable operators bore the brunt of the losses, dropping 711,000 subscribers, with Kagan saying 6 of the 8 operators reporting suffered record quarterly losses. By contrast, telcos added 414,000 subs in the quarter and satellite providers gained 81,000. The losses leave cable's industry share at 61%, down from 63.6% a year ago.
Kagan analyst Mariam Rondeli ascribed the quarterly losses to low housing formation and high unemployment due to the ongoing recession, coupled with churn due to promotions from last year's broadcast digital transitions expiring. Rondeli pointed out that over-the-top video alternatives were not the cause. By comparison, the pay-TV gained 378,000 subscribers in Q2 '09, meaning there was a swing of 594,000 subscribers year-over-year. U.S. Pay-TV providers as a whole ended Q2 '10 with 100.1 million subscribers.
Looking ahead, I've heard some murmurs that Q3 '10 could be softer than in prior years, again partially due to the recession, but also because seasonal college students' subscriptions may be reduced due to over-the-top alternatives. While we've yet to see any tangible evidence of cord-cutting, the first impact may simply be slower multichannel sign-ups from younger users more accustomed to watching online. We'll see.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: SNL Kagan
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TV Everywhere On Track for 30-50 Million Homes By End of 2010: Turner Exec
TV Everywhere services will be available to 30-50 million U.S. homes by the end of this year, according to Jeremy Legg, SVP of Business Development and Multi-Platform Distribution at Turner Broadcasting whom I spoke to last week. Jeremy characterized the 30 million number as "realistic" and 50 million as "plausible." Turner is part of Time Warner, which has been the most significant proponent among content providers of TV Everywhere services; Jeremy is the point person at Turner for its efforts.
I've thought TV Everywhere was a smart concept since it was unveiled last summer, in a high-profile news conference with Time Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes and Comcast's CEO Brian Roberts. Since then though, pay-TV distributors in the U.S. have been relatively quiet about their TV Everywhere rollout milestones, leading me to grow skeptical about whether they're putting enough muscle behind their efforts. As I argued recently, the stakes for TV Everywhere success have grown considerably as Netflix in particular has ramped up its online offerings, getting closer and closer to pay-TV players' traditional turf.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
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Cox Embraces Over-the-Top Video In Unique Deal With TiVo
Another day, another head-turning example of how the boundaries between traditional and over-the-top (OTT) online video distribution are blurring. This morning Cox Communications, the 3rd-largest U.S. cable operator, is
announcing that it will integrate its entire VOD library into TiVo's Premiere multi-purpose box, the first time a major cable operator has done so with a retail-only product. Cox will promote and offer free installation for Premiere which, when coupled with a CableCARD, will support Premiere as a full set-top box solution in its markets (Premiere boxes cost $300 or $500). The deal is a significant win for TiVo, which has continued to rollout clever products, but has been challenged to go beyond its traditional retail proposition.
As important, TiVo will continue to make available all of its integrated online
video offerings (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Break, Howcast, CNET, etc.), which means that Cox is enabling online video options to be exposed and promoted side-by-side with its own video offerings. As Jeff Klugman, TiVo's SVP/GM of Products and Revenue explained to me yesterday, TiVo's search function would allow, for example, a user searching for "30 Rock" to see results including Cox VOD listings for the current season and upcoming on-air episodes blended with prior seasons available from Netflix, Amazon or Blockbuster.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: Cox, EPIX, Netflix, Starz, TiVo
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Netflix-Epix Deal Ratchets Up Importance of TV Everywhere
Today's Netflix-Epix deal should be setting off alarms in the CEO suites of major cable operators around the country that TV Everywhere must get rolled out ASAP. The Epix deal underscores the extent of Netflix's financial resources and its ambition to gain a bigger chunk both of consumers' entertainment mindshare and their spending.
The first, a shift in mindshare, is already underway. With 15 million subscribers, an expanding streaming library, countless ways to view (e.g. iPad, Xbox, Roku, Blu-ray, etc, etc), a value-packed $9/mo entry tier and a customer-focused brand, Netflix has established a reputation for itself as the cutting edge video leader. In social settings these days, it is practically inevitable that someone will bring up how they're streaming Netflix content to the device of their choosing and how cool it is. Conversely, despite the cable industry's numerous positive digital TV efforts, it is still dogged by lagging customer service, often confusing pricing tiers and suboptimal user experiences.
Categories: Aggregators, Cable TV Operators, Telcos
Topics: Comcast, EPIX, Netflix, Time Warner Cable
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CBS-Comcast Deal Underscores Importance of Subscriptions
Yesterday's 10-year retransmission consent deal between Comcast and CBS further underscores the importance of subscription revenue streams in addition to advertising. Under the deal, CBS is rumored to receive between $.50-$1.00 per subscriber per month from the biggest cable operator in the U.S., putting it in the top tier of cable network compensation. When combined with other deals CBS has previously struck, plus additional ones it will likely conclude in the future, CBS has laid firm claim to the same "dual revenue" (monthly payments + advertising) business model as cable TV networks have long enjoyed.
The CBS-Comcast deal is more evidence of how dynamic the relationships have become between broadcast TV networks, cable TV networks, pay-TV operators and new distributors like Hulu and Netflix. The online/mobile/on-demand era has set off a scramble by premium content providers to lock in payments for their programming, while also remaining nimble enough to gain new distribution opportunities. Likewise, distributors are hungry for exclusive well-branded content.
Consider what's happened in just the last 8 months:
Categories: Aggregators, Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators
Topics: Cablevision, CBS, Comcast, Hulu, Netflix, Time Warner Cable
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- Google DeepMind unveils a new video model to rival Sora TechCrunch
- YouTube TV Raises Monthly Charge 14 Percent, to $82.99 NY Times
