AT&T’s Real Challenge to HBO

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Media industry tongues are still wagging over AT&T executive John Stankey’s June 19 town hall meeting with HBO employees, in which he discussed the telco-giant’s plans for the network.

As first reported by the New York Times, which got its hands on an audio recording of the event, Stankey came off  like a bull in a china shop, seemingly admonishing HBOers they were in for a “tough year” to meet AT&T’s goal of making the boutique network “bigger and broader,” in the Times’ characterization, by cranking out subtantially more content to better compete with over-the-top services like Netflix.

“We need hours a day,” the Times quoted Stankey saying. “It’s not hours a week, and it’s not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people’s hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes.”

The goal, he said, was more engagement. Read More »

We’re All Netflix, Now

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On April 10th Showtime will make all 13 episodes of its new Steven Soderbergh series “The Girlfriend Experience” available on its VOD platform in a single, binge-ready dump. So too will Starz, with all six episodes of the new Andrew Dice Clay comedy “Dice,” as the pay-TV networks increasingly ape the strategy pioneered by Netflix.

They don’t have much choice. Bingeing is how Americans watch TV now. According to Deloitte’s latest Digital Democracy survey, 70 percent of viewers admit to binge-watching, defined as viewing three or more episodes in a single sitting, and one in three say they binge at least once a week. The average number watched during a single binge, fact, is an astonishing five episodes, which in the case of a drama series could easily eat up four or five hours. Millennials in the survey average six episodes per sitting.

We binge-watch so much TV in fact that we’re making ourselves anxious, depressed and lonely, according to a separate study by researchers at the University of Toledo. Yet our appetite is only growing. According to Deloitte, all age groups in its study binged more in 2015 than they did in 2014.

The seemingly irresistible trend, however, poses a dilemma for traditional linear networks. Making new series or seasons available for bingeing risks undercutting primetime ratings. Read More »

What’s In A Network Name? Linear TV Brands Still Looking for Traction Online

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HBO added 2.7 million subscribers during the fourth quarter according to Time Warner Inc.’s latest earnings report, “about 800,000” of which, or just under one-third, came from HBO Now, it’s standalone over-the-top offering. That suggests that, barely eight months in, HBO Now has emerged as an important contributor to HBO’s overall subscriber growth.

Since HBO Now is sold direct-to-consumer at $15 a month, moreover, those subscribers are likely worth more to HBO on a revenue basis than pay-TV subscribers, for which revenue is shared with operators.

Time Warner officials pronounced themselves pleased with the results so far.

sports_centerWall Street, however, had a different view. Analysts were expecting as many as 1.4 million OTT subs by now and investors responded by sending shares of Time Warner down by nearly 5 percent.

To be fair, Warner announced its results on a day when media shares got slaughtered across the board and Time Warner’s losses were in line with other media victims. On the other hand, Time Warner’s results, along with Disney’s the day before, were major triggers for the sell-off, as investors continue to fret about subscriber losses among among cable networks as consumers cut the cord or shift to cheaper, skinnier bundles.

Disney got dinged for subscriber losses at ESPN, despite posting a record-breaking quarter on the strength of “Star Wars: Force Awakens.” Read More »

Broadband Rubicon Crossed? Cablevision, CBS Reach OTT Retrans Deal

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Cablevision is boasting today of becoming the first cable or satellite provider to offer CBS’s OTT channel, CBS All Access, to its broadband subscribers.

The multiyear deal between the network and the MSO includes retransmission consent for CBS-owned stations and continued carriage by Cablevision of Showtime, CBS Sports Network and the Smithsonian Channel, in addition to CBS All Access.

“This comprehensive new agreement builds on our strong relationship with CBS and ensures that every Optimum customer gets the highly popular CBS content they want across multiple platforms and screens,” Cablevision EVP of programming Tom Montemagno said in a statement. “As the first distributor to agree to provide tony_sopranoCBS new Internet services, Cablevision continues to expand its portfolio of next-generation offerings, connecting customers to the programming they value when and where they want it.”

For those who have paid attention to Cablevision in recent months the CBS deal is no big surprise. The MSO has been drifting away from the traditional pay-TV model since it introduced its “Cord Cutter” package earlier this year that included broadband service and an over-the-air antenna for tuning in broadcast channels. It was also the first operator to offer Hulu to its broadband subscribers and was a launch partner for HBO Now. But the CBS deal represents the first time that Cablevision — or any other MVPD — has licensed an OTT service as part of a broadcast retransmission deal.

I’m not sure other cable ISPs would see that as something to boast about. Read More »

HBO Leaves in the Middle Man

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HBO just can’t quit the bundle. With HBO Now, its new, over-the-top streaming service, the network for the first time is making its content available to stream without a pay-TV subscription. But HBO still hopes to sell it as part of a bundle. The only differences are the the other components of the bundle and the identity of the bundlers.

At launch, HBO Now will be sold exclusively by Apple and available on Apple devices only. According to HBO’s FAQ, “you can subscribe to HBO NOW℠ using your iTunes account. Customers can access HBO NOW℠ by going to HBONOW.com, through AppleTV® or by downloading the HBO NOW℠ app in the Apple App Store®.” Apple and HBO will then share customer support duties. Read More »