DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications are considering capturing free broadcast signals from TV networks to avoid paying billions of dollars in retransmission fees. “If found to be legal, the Aereo concept is very interesting, especially as it relates to retransmission consent fees,” says a TWC spokesperson.
Netflix Inc. is in discussions with several U.S. cable television operators about including its streaming video service on their set-top boxes, a source said today. Netflix is in talks with companies including Comcast Corp and Suddenlink Communications, said the person, who is familiar with the discussions.
We All Can’t Cut The Cord; Netflix Needs Cable
Without cable, Netflix doesn’t exist like it does today. If everyone one of the 100 million households in America with a pay-TV subscription dropped cable for Netflix, the company couldn’t support entertaining all of them for just $8 per month.
With video: Speaking at TheGrill, The Wrap’s fourth annual media leadership conference Monday, Chet Kanojia, founder and CEO of Aereo, said the cable and television inudstry isn’t adapting to changing habits of consumers. “People want choice, people want simple,” he says.
The Simpsons are finally headed to cable. Gary Newman, chairman-CEO of 20th Century Fox TV, told an investor confab Thursday that the studio is poised to shop a mammoth package of rerun rights to the enduring toon’s nearly 600 episodes.
Exclusives
It has surpassed broadcast in ad dollars and, often, in ratings. Things look cheery for 2013, with more content migrating to cable and spending rising.
As they face greater competition from the Web for viewers of TV shows and movies, MSOs have a chance to remake themselves in the iTunes mold and charge for only the channels a subscriber wants.
Broadcast ratings erosion continues to tug at the big networks — down double-digit percentages, while cable networks are up slightly — through roughly three-quarters of the 2010-2011 TV season.
ESPN was jubilant about its Rose and Fiesta Bowl debuts, even though fewer people watched this year, because the network does not have to beat broadcast numbers to succeed.
More Cable, Satellite Subs Cutting Cord
A new study finds that the multichannel universe fell by 119,000 customers in the third quarter, heightening concerns about vulnerability to over-the-top substitution.
