Pixar’s Toy Story films have always managed to have grown-up appeal, thanks to playing on the feelings of nostalgia we all have for beloved-but-forgotten playthings. But for the upcoming third installment in the franchise, they’ve taken it one step further by introducing one of Toy Story […] Read more »
Canoe to Deliver Interactivity to Multiple Cable Operators This Year; Canoe Ventures has created a technology for cable subscribers to interact with programs and commercials in a more Web-like experience. (Beet.TV) Cable Programmers Latch On To iPad Hype; Viacom’s MTV Networks, Discovery Communications, Disney/ABC Television and […] Read more »
The worldwide online market for digital goods will grow amid a state of continuous disruption across all forms of content markets. Fueled by an ever-growing user base, migration from physical formats to digital distribution, and a proliferation of new connected devices, the overall market for digital goods will grow to $36 billion by 2014, up from $16.7 billion in 2009. This report examines the state of paid content and the various monetization and payment models across each of the various digital goods markets. The report examines key players and market dynamics in the film and video, newspaper, online game, music and social networks space relative to their paid content strategies, and includes a revenue forecast of each of these segments relative to the overall paid content market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Disney’s Iger Takes Big Swig of iPad Kool-Aid; on Disney’s earnings call, Iger reeled off a series of iPad uses that are either likely or already in progress, including a companion to ABC’s Lost, an ABC News app, a digital books app for Disney, an enhanced […] Read more »
Disney: “No Decisions Have Been Made” on Hulu Premium; Disney EVP Kevin Mayer says “no decisions have been made” about what kind of pay models and services Hulu is going to use, or when those will roll out. (MediaMemo) KickApps Lands NBC for Social Video Sites; […] Read more »
Tonight comes the premiere of Lost‘s final season on ABC, and while the mysteries of the island have remained pretty well-concealed, the actual episode hasn’t been as lucky. Last week, the first five minutes of the episode leaked online, and yesterday (thanks to an advance screening […] Read more »
Netflix’s access to streaming video content from Disney and might be limited come 2012, unless Starz can negotiate a deal that will keep the studio’s new release titles online, according to Bloomberg. That would comes as a huge blow to Netflix, which depends on Starz for […] Read more »
The race to create technology that would allow users to purchase a piece of content once and watch it on nearly any device is heating up, with Disney showing off its “KeyChest” technology yesterday. Like the DECE, which made its own announcements earlier this week, Disney […] Read more »
Over the past three years, the Internet has become a major secondary distribution platform for free-to-air broadcast programming. Whether through network programmers’ own sites, such as ABC.com, or through aggregators like Hulu and TV.com, ad-supported broadcast programming today is generally available online shortly after its initial airing at no cost to the user. However, programming such as ESPN, TNT and the Discovery Channel, which originates on pay-TV platforms (i.e. cable, satellite and telco TV services) has been a different story.
Cable system operators and other multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs) are loathe to see the programming for which they are charging subscribers hefty monthly fees made available “over-the-top” without a subscription. Over time, they fear, consumers would be tempted to drop their expensive cable service if they could access their favorite programs online.
Cable networks, for their part, collect hefty fees from MVPDs for the right to retransmit their programming, from a few cents per subscriber per month, to as much as $3.75 per subscriber per month, for the most popular channels like Disney’s ESPN. In aggregate, cable networks collect about $25 billion per year in “affiliate fees” from MVPDs, about the same amount as they generate collectively from advertising sales.
As a result, much of the original programming on pay-TV networks is not currently available online, and that which is often doesn’t appear until well after its original air date. The popularity of portals like Hulu (not to mention illegal sources of TV content), however, has accustomed consumers to expect access to their favorite shows online, putting pressure on the industry to respond. Network programmers and marketers, meanwhile, are also anxious to extend their programming franchises by tapping the broad, online audience.
TV Everywhere, which aims to make subscription programming available online exclusively to current pay-TV subscribers, represents an effort to square that circle. In this report, we look at the players, potential costs, and emerging opportunities of these efforts. Read more »
EchoStar: Sling Brings TV Everywhere; new ad campaign from the satellite company aimed at cable MSOs claims simplicity for distributing content. (Multichannel News) CIMM Lauches Web Site; the Nielsen rival debuts cimm-us.org and prepping to release RFPs this week. (Broadcasting & Cable) Microsoft Drops Family Guy […] Read more »
The New York Times reported yesterday that entertainment super giant Disney is planning to reboot its entire chain of global retail stores as part of a major new strategy and vision inspired and guided by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. In the current economic climate, most retailers […] Read more »
FOX Files Brief to Dismiss Redbox’s Suit; the two entities are in an ongoing tussle over $1 per night movie rentals and timely access to DVDs; the studio calls Redbox’s claims “fatally flawed.” (AllThingsD) For some background on this story, see our previous coverage. Analyst: NBComcast […] Read more »
Bresnan Communications Deploys Clearleap; cable operator implements web-video-to-TV platform to manage local VOD content. (Multichannel News) NFL Blackout Games to be Streamed; in-market games will be available for streaming beginning at midnight the day of the game, and will be accessible for 72 hours. (Broadcasting & […] Read more »
