Pay-as-you-go online video service M-Go has inked a deal with Lionsgate that will allow M-Go customers to access episodes of Mad Men and other fare from the studio. Read more at paidContent »
Amazon and EPIX have signed a deal to make streaming movies like The Hunger Games, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers free to Amazon Prime members. Previously, Netflix had exclusive rights to EPIX recent releases. Read more »
Anecdotal evidence suggests over-the-top video is a booming trend. But it takes technical skill, state-of-the-art broadband connections and the willingness to shell out money for both bandwidth and content subscriptions to fully integrate OTT into a household, much less consider trying to use it to cord cut. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
May the odds be ever in your favor: In a partnership with Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) is offering a number of Hunger G… Read more at paidContent »
Netflix announced a $400 million sale of stock and convertible bonds on Monday, but a closer look at its balance sheet doesn’t bode well for the streaming video provider. It’s committed billions to content license deals but has just $366 million in cash and short-term investments. Read more »
Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) continues to roll out programming deals to buff up its streaming service. The latest is a multi-year licensing deal wit… Read more at paidContent »
Netflix is employing a multi-pronged approach to growing its streaming library: Get long-tail content on the cheap, pay top dollar for popular programming that will draw new users, and make some bets on exclusive original programming to differentiate from other video services. Read more »
Today on the Net: Al-Jazeera launches a Google TV-optimized website, Foursquare celebrates check-in records and citizens in Egypt document their victory via online video. Read more »
Miramax has made a deal with Lionsgate to distribute its film titles on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as through digital storefronts like Apple’s iTunes and Amazon Video on Demand. But the deal doesn’t include Netflix, which will have to strike its own deal with Miramax. Read more »
Apple in Push to Halve Cost of TV Shows; the company is pressing US television networks to reduce prices for TV shows offered on iTunes in order to help spur demand. (Financial Times) Discovery Readies 3D Network for Launch this Year; Discovery says it will launch […] 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 »
DivX announced today that for the first time in the U.S., major Hollywood movies will be available for download in the DivX format. Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Sony Pictures and Paramount have all signed on to have both catalog and new release titles sold through through a […] Read more »
TiVo Loses Another 139,000 Subscribers; for the quarter ending April 30, the company’s subscriber count dipped to 3.196 million, on par with what it had in early 2005. (TV by the Numbers) AT&T Boosting Its 3G Network; that’s good news for iPhone owners; even better, the […] Read more »
DTV Coupon Program Out of Money; government program offering $40 toward digital converter box out of money weeks earlier than anticipated. (TVWeek) Sling Shows Off iPhone App, Mac Capabilities; SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will let users watch TV and control their home DVR, SlingPlayer for Mac […] Read more »
