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TV Viewing Trends: Is Cable On the Fast Track to Oblivion?

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February 22, 2013

According to journalist Michael Wolff, cable is on a fast track to oblivion with an unsustainable business model. Currently, cable operators pay media companies to carry their cable channels, then pass the costs onto customers in the form of large bundled cable bills. After that, cable channels get to sell advertising. But as viewing habits change and new options become available, consumers are increasingly abandoning the traditional model. Continue reading TV Viewing Trends: Is Cable On the Fast Track to Oblivion?

Numbers Are In: Survey Says Netflix Leads to Cord-Cutting

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February 22, 2013

According to a survey conducted by financial services firm Cowen & Co., about 23 percent of Netflix subscribers say they have canceled their premium TV service after opting to pay for broadband access to stream TV over the Internet — signifying a direct tie to cord-cutting. Among the 1,200 respondents, 46 percent said they have access to Netflix, while 28 percent are paying for the SVOD service. Continue reading Numbers Are In: Survey Says Netflix Leads to Cord-Cutting

Will Intel Be the One that Finally Delivers Internet TV?

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February 19, 2013

Intel confirmed rumors that it was pursuing Internet TV when VP Eric Huggers announced last week that the company had been negotiating with content companies and would launch a set-top box and new platform by the end of the year. While skepticism has resulted from lack of concrete details, the prospect of a chipmaker competing with top cable giants, and the industry’s history of failed attempts — Intel could still become the company to finally crack Internet TV. Continue reading Will Intel Be the One that Finally Delivers Internet TV?

HBO Chief Exec Discusses Possibility of Broadband-Only Play

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January 30, 2013

HBO’s new chief executive Richard Plepler alluded to the fact that a standalone HBO broadband option could potentially exist somewhere down the road. “We recognize that there’s a piece of the audience out there that, if they could get HBO without going through a pay package, we would get it,” he noted, adding that he is hesitant to alienate HBO’s distributors by taking the channel directly to consumers online right now. Continue reading HBO Chief Exec Discusses Possibility of Broadband-Only Play

Streaming TV Arrives on Campus, Could Prevent Cord-Cutting

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January 30, 2013

Tivli understands that young adults today are not watching TV in the traditional manner, but instead they are taking in programming via streaming subscriptions and other online alternatives. The startup is an “attempt to adapt to the ways young people increasingly want to watch TV — through a computer or tablet or video game console — while keeping the existing cable model intact,” reports The New York Times. Continue reading Streaming TV Arrives on Campus, Could Prevent Cord-Cutting

New Research Indicates TV Everywhere is Not Yet Everywhere

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January 24, 2013

According to a new study from research firm GfK Media, consumers are streaming online video more than ever before, but only a reported 17 percent of pay TV subscribers have watched cable programming online using TV Everywhere services. The study represents the “latest bad news” for the TV Everywhere initiative, reports the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading New Research Indicates TV Everywhere is Not Yet Everywhere

UBS Global Media: Comcast Execs Discuss Benefits of New Verizon Pact

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December 7, 2011
  • At this week’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Comcast executives described “their multi-billion dollar pact with Verizon inked late last week a transformative event in some ways on the scale of acquiring of NBCUniversal,” reports Variety.
  • “Talk about content, you got NBC. And wireless, you got this. In perpetuity,” said CFO Michael Angelakis. “This is a deal forever. We don’t have to invest in building a wireless network. We aren’t going to acquire a wireless network. It’s quite a significant transaction.”
  • The deal to sell wireless spectrum to Verizon will finally enable the quadruple play where customers can receive video, Internet, landline and cell phone service.
  • “Watching a video on your wireless devices, then resuming it in your home. Great new devices with your Comcast (subscription), great new innovations…will come out of that side of the deal,” said Comcast Cable prexy Neil Smit.

Pay TV Usage Caps: Will Watching Netflix Lead to Higher Cable Bills?

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December 5, 2011
  • Netflix subscriptions could end up costing consumers $28 a month instead of $8 if cable companies decide to add charges for Web streaming.
  • “U.S. providers like Time Warner Cable have weighed usage-based plans for years as a way to squeeze more profit from Web access, and to counter slowing growth and rising program costs in the TV business,” reports Bloomberg. “While customer complaints hampered earlier attempts, pay TV companies are testing usage caps and price structures that point to the advent of permanent fees.”
  • As online video streaming increases in popularity, Web data usage soars. Some companies have penalties in place for customers that exceed their monthly gigabyte allowance, while others do not.
  • Adding charges will not only help cable companies’ Internet revenue, but also possibly boost pay TV service by disincentivizing online services like Netflix and Hulu.
  • A Netflix spokesman told Bloomberg, “[The practice] is not in the consumer’s best interest as consumers deserve unfettered access to a robust Internet at reasonable rates.”

New Cord-Cutting Tool: Boxee to Offer USB Live TV Stick in January

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November 22, 2011
  • Boxee is augmenting its broadband box for cord-cutters with a USB dongle that provides users access to broadcast TV.
  • According to paidContent: “Boxee, which has been working mightily to get people to cut their cable cords with its own broadband box for five years, is preparing a new add-on product in January that will let users pull out the cable cord and plug a USB device into their cable box, giving them access to broadcast TV channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC for free.”
  • “If you live and die by ESPN, then yes, you have to stay on cable. But we believe there are plenty of people who just want access to regular broadcast channels,” says Avner Ronen, CEO and co-founder of Boxee.
  • However, Ronen believes there are consumers interested in basic broadcast content that would benefit from this approach. “The problem with canceling your cable subscription and relying just on the Internet has been the lack of live sports, a presidential address, local news, special events and live TV shows,” he told paidContent. “But these things are all available on broadcast TV channels…for free, over the air in HD.”
  • The Live TV stick will be available for $49, as an add-on to the $180 Boxee Box.

Corvair: Is Motorola Poised to Launch an Android-Based TV Controller?

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November 10, 2011
  • Motorola Mobility has been talking Android-based cable boxes for some time, and now images of a 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet codenamed “Corvair” have leaked.
  • Reportedly “designed for use in the living room,” the device is currently in testing with cable companies.
  • Based on the leaked images, features may include a custom version of Android, IR control, RF4CE (a ZigBee-based RF control protocol), and a high-capacity 4,000mAH battery.
  • According to The Verge: “…the box calls it a ‘dedicated controller,’ but it also seems to show the tablet wirelessly displaying its entire UI on the TV, so we’re guessing it can be used to watch and stream content in addition to serving as a remote control for one of Motorola’s cable boxes.”

2012 Forecast: What Should We Expect of Streaming, Cable and TV?

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November 8, 2011
  • Television’s future remains murky as content providers and cable companies get ready for battle, and streaming services continue to gain momentum.
  • “But change is going to come, and amid news that Google is interested in entering the cable TV business and continued rumors that Apple will be releasing its own branded television set, we also have to wonder what’s going to happen with streaming services like Hulu and Netflix,” reports Digital Trends.
  • The article suggests it is the cable companies that have the most to worry about (those that control the last model). “Forget applications having a say in all this: The real war is going to be fought between cable networks and the content providers that want to move on to a new format.”
  • “Farther off, I think [YouTube] will challenge Hulu first. Netflix is more like a library. Google is a beast and you have to keep an eye on those guys,” TalkPoint CEO Nick Balletta says. “They have the muscle and cash to weather the storm.”
  • Balletta believes adoption of connected TVs will take root by late 2012, and before then we’ll see significant fragmentation before we can truly cut the cord.

Online Video Strategies: Does YouTube Really Need Hollywood?

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November 4, 2011
  • Analyst Anthony DiClemente of investment firm Barclays Capital estimates YouTube’s revenues at $1.6 billion, which suggests the “site’s revenue has now synced up with the price Google paid for it five years ago,” reports AllThingsD.
  • Analysts debate the global percentage of Web video revenues YouTube has captured, but seem to agree that it “is finally a big business that makes serious money.”
  • Is the Hollywood channels strategy the next big step for YouTube to take on the traditional TV and cable networks?
  • “The big idea behind that one, after all, is to create stuff that advertisers will be happy to pay a premium for,” suggest the article. “But if YouTube is already generating $1.6 billion a year for non-premium stuff, why bother?”
  • AllThingsD suggests that the new “channel strategy is a big focus for YouTube, but it doesn’t mean the site is abandoning what’s already working.”

A La Carte: Will the Future Apple TV Disrupt the Current Live TV Paradigm?

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November 1, 2011
  • Forbes speculates that the rumored future Apple TV would create a demand for single channels, which could potentially break up the cable pricing monopoly.
  • Rather than paying for a package of a hundred channels, users would pay a la carte for content just as single-channel apps have become popular in the mobile sphere.
  • “Presumably, Apple wants to disrupt this market the same way the iPod and iTunes made it easier for consumers to buy music, and the way the iPhone is slowly moving the cellular industry to data plans over voice plans (see: iMessage, Facetime),” suggests the article.
  • Providers such as Time Warner Cable, Optimum and DirecTV already have apps for live streaming of channels. And ESPN, CNN and Major League Baseball have their own apps.
  • “[Cable providers] might consent to separate channel apps as long as each still requires an overall subscription…that would certainly put a crimp in [Apple’s] potential plans to revolutionize television,” explains Forbes. “And if Apple provides incentives for channels to go it alone, the fight could be massive.”

Will Android Market Access and YouTube Interface Resurrect Google TV?

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October 31, 2011
  • Google is offering an update to Google TV that includes a streamlined UI, quick-launch bar for most-used apps, an app that can locate 80,000 movies and TV episodes via the Web or TV, and a new TV-oriented YouTube interface.
  • The Android Market looks to launch current and new apps specially optimized for television (access to the Android Market may prove the biggest step for Google TV).
  • YouTube is looking to create original content and become a “next-generation cable provider” by signing deals with media companies and celebrities.
  • However, the service has been hindered by TV networks that “continue to block Google TV from viewing Web sites that stream some of their shows that are freely available to personal computer browsers,” reports Forbes. “That’s a big turn-off given that other devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and many others offer access to more TV content.”
  • In a related post, GigaOM lists the more notable new features and includes a 7-minute video demo.
  • “The new version of Google TV isn’t really all that groundbreaking; rather, it’s what Google TV should have offered all along,” suggests GigaOM. “And that seems to be exactly what Google was aiming for with this release — not a big flash, but finally a solid base that can be continuously improved both through Google’s apps as well as applications from third-party developers.”

Cord-Cutting: Report Predicts Homes without Cable Will Triple by 2016

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October 11, 2011
  • A new report from media forecasting firm Magnaglobal shows that by 2016 cable subscriptions will dramatically decline as online becomes the medium of choice.
  • Magnaglobal predicts that 9 million households will not subscribe to traditional pay TV services (triple today’s amount), of which 4 million will be cord cutters who cancel their service to opt for content via the Internet.
  • Additionally, The New York Times points out that the number of young consumers who have never signed up for cable or satellite service, but rely on services such as Hulu and Netflix for their media, will continue to grow. “The number of people who never signed up for cable is expected to double — to 5 million, from 2.5 million today — by 2016, according to the report.”
  • The growth of DVR ownership is also expected to decline, as consumers continue to adopt devices that enable streaming of content via the Web.

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