OTT

Verizon Communications has been securing streaming rights from television network owners in preparation for the nationwide launch of a live online TV service, according to people familiar with the matter. The telecommunications giant plans to start selling a package with dozens of channels this summer, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

What a difference two months make. In late January, SNL Kagan forecaster Tony Lenoir made what he deemed an “aggressive” prediction when he said that the number of homes subscribing to broadband — but not pay TV — could grow 83% from the end of 2016 to 28.0 million in 2021. Now he says the prediction “could end on the conservative side given the speed at which the TV ecosystem and U.S. broadband landscape are evolving.”

By now, it’s crystal-clear that DirecTV Now will not keep its promise that it would be available on Roku’s streaming devices in the first quarter. And while the live streaming service is available on Apple TV, Amazon’s Fire TV, smart phones, tablets and other platforms, Roku’s absence, and the missed deadline, has DirecTV Now customers (and potential customers) hopping mad, according to social media activity.

Determined not to be caught on the back foot by yet another powerful digital trend, some broadcasters are pushing out their local content on OTT platforms. “You have to be where the eyeballs are going,” says Guy Tasaka of Calkins Media, which developed an OTT platform for its media properties and is now selling it to others.“OTT is where the bulk of viewers are and will be, and if you’re not there, you’ll lose the audience to someone who is.”

Comcast Corp is planning to rebrand and expand a streaming video option for broadband subscribers who do not want to pay for a traditional cable package. The service, dubbed Xfinity Instant TV, will be priced as low as $15 a month to roughly $40 a month, sources said. It will include major broadcast networks as well as add-on options for sports channels like ESPN and Spanish language channels such as Telemundo and Univision.

AMC Networks, whose shows include The Walking Dead, is planning to launch a commercial-free online video streaming service aimed at millennial TV subscribers, two sources familiar with the situation tell Reuters. Unlike standalone streaming options from Time Warner’s HBO and from CBS, AMC’s would be exclusively available to consumers who subscribe to a cable TV package. AMC is doing this, the sources say, as a way to support the traditional cable industry at a time when many younger consumers are increasingly cutting the cord.

Actus Digital | Booth SU11021 | Website: http://www.actusdigital.com/ Actus Digital will present the latest broadcast recording, monitoring and clips for OTT, based on HTML5 (Actus5).   HTML5’s main advantages:   No […]

Qligent | Booth N6520 | Website: http://www.qligent.com/ Qligent, a specialist in cloud-based, enterprise-level media monitoring and analysis, will unleash the first OTT-specific solution of its Vision cloud-based monitoring platform. Called Vision-OTT, the […]

Basketball players must pivot for tasks like squaring to the basket, blocking out for a rebound or getting away from defensive pressure. In a similar way, TV stations and other media need to keep one foot rooted in the core business while making calculated and strategic changes in position. The bottom line is that daily content planning must encompass both linear and digital platforms. Digital cannot be an afterthought if it’s to succeed.

Comcast Corp. has acquired rights from cable network owners to offer their channels nationwide, according to people familiar with the negotiations, giving the biggest U.S. cable operator a backup plan if rival online-TV services catch on with consumers. The rights allow Comcast to sell video service for the first time outside its regional territories, which include Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Use of internet-connected devices such as Roku and Apple TV has shot up more than 50% with the number of OTT options growing. Meanwhile, traditional TV falls.

The American service follows Netflix and Amazon in joining the international streaming arms race in Canada.

Cable operator Midco is upgrading its multi-market SeaChange-based video-on-demand system to the next-generation SeaChange Adrenalin multiscreen capable software platform. Midco is one of the 20 largest cable television operators in […]

Vimond | Booth SU10105CM | Website: www.vimond.com Vimond Media Solutions develops and markets modular, interoperable and custom OTT solutions. At NAB 2017, Vimond is demonstrating its modular, interoperable, cloud-based online […]

Verizon Digital Media Services | Booth SU3605 | Website: www.verizondigitalmedia.com Verizon Digital Media Services will feature its Live Streaming Solution, which eliminates the complexity and high costs for broadcasters, venues […]

Looking to soon own HBO outright, AT&T is already leveraging the premium network in a very aggressive way, offering customers who sign up for the higher tiers of its virtual MVPD service a free year of the network.

Interra Systems | Booth SU7105 | Website: http://www.interrasystems.com/ Interra Systems provides software-based content verification, monitoring, and analysis solutions for file-based and real-time workflows in the digital media industry. It will […]

According to Leitchtman Research Group, the leading pay-TV companies, which account for 95% of U.S. MVPD subs, lost about 795,000 video customers in 2016. They lost only 445,000 in 2015.

The Christine Baranski-led spinoff of The Good Wife will return to CBS’s OTT service for a Season 2 in early 2018.

Total revenues for U.S. cable, satellite, and telco providers is estimated to inch up slowly in the next five years. BMO Capital Markets says there will be 1% revenue growth for U.S. MVPDs (multichannel video program distributors) to $116.8 billion in 2020, from $115.5 billion in 2015. Newer OTT TV services — those services packaging live, linear TV networks, like DirecTV Now, Sling TV and future efforts from YouTube TV and Hulu — will climb to $11.6 billion in 2020, from $4.2 billion.

21st Century Fox introduced a single app where pay-TV subscribers can watch many of its TV networks and shows, a step toward building more direct ties to consumers. The Fox Now online app offers satellite and cable-TV subscribers live and on-demand programming from the Fox network, FX and the National Geographic channel. In coming months, the company will add local broadcast affiliates, sports and possibly Fox News.

Sports-themed vMVPD fuboTV is the first virtual pay TV service to deploy SCTE 224, a technical standard for dealing with local blackouts and providing alternate streams of content to various groups of viewers.

Walt Horstman, a pioneer of programmatic TV advertising, has joined TiVo  as SVP-GM of analytics and advertising, a role that will put him in charge of both the data and the advertising markets that TiVo helps make and influence.

The influx of online pay TV services has been a popular theme at SXSW this year, as growing numbers of consumers without traditional cable or satellite challenge entertainment makers how to deliver their content and still generate revenue.

Hulu and A+E Networks have inked a deal to add an A+E suite of channels to its live streaming product. The deal adds live and on-demand streaming access to A&E, History, Lifetime, LMN, FYI, and Viceland to Hulu’s core package of more than 40 live channels, which is set to launch this spring.

Despite the obvious abilities these virtual multi-network services wield to create a more consumer-friendly ad model, at least in the near-term, their ads will look a whole lot like those delivered through the normal pipes. That means marketers should hang their hopes for innovation in TV commercials less on live streaming TV — and more on particular subsections such as video on demand.

Startup cable service Layer3 TV has announced the addition of TV Everywhere access to its premium pay TV service offering. In all, the Denver-based operator is allowing customers to use more than 70 multiscreen apps, accessing top channels including ABC, NBC, Fox, ESPN, FX, Discovery, AMC, History, HBO and USA Network, just to name a few.

Old TV keeps getting poured into brand-new bottles: Now YouTube wants to be your cheap, next-gen cable TV provider. Today, cable ops are happy to sell OTT-ers super-fast broadband — but if the cord-cutting pain gets worse, look for them to take the internet TV plunge, too. Here’s a look at the burgeoning sector so far.

It offers 50 hours of storage for $5 per month to select customers; allows them. to keep their recordings without expiration. The new service is supported on Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets, Android mobile devices, Android TVs, Roku streaming players and Roku TVs compatible with Sling TV.

In last month’s debut of The Good Fight, The Good Wife spinoff on CBS’s streaming service, lawyer and Hillary Clinton supporter Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranksi) watched and cringed as Trump was sworn into office. “We have created very politically aware characters, and it would simply be peculiar if they weren’t talking about what was going on politically right now,” said Michelle King, who created and produces the CBS All Access show with her husband, Robert.

YouTube announced its long-rumored YouTube TV service last week, plunging the online video platform into the competitive world of live TV streaming. The biggest challengers — DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue and Sling TV — offer many similar features to YouTube TV, and that will undoubtedly make it difficult for aspiring cord-cutters to know if they should wait for YouTube’s service or take the plunge now. Here’s a breakdown of these four streaming services.

NEW YORK (AP) — A new streaming service aimed at kids will have episodes of classic cartoons like “Scooby Doo,” ”The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons” as well as original series. […]

CBS CEO Les Moonves likes the chances that CBS All Access and Showtime OTT will go global soon. Speaking today at a Deutsche Bank investor conference, Moonves said there is a long-term opportunity internationally for both services and that selling the services on a combined basis could make sense.

British media companies BBC Worldwide and ITV Plc launched BritBox in the United States today, a new subscription-based video streaming service that includes iconic British shows including Blackadder, Fawlty Towers and East Enders.

CNN three years ago launched CNNgo as a digital-streaming extension to its core TV service — available only to pay TV subscribers. Now the Turner-owned news cabler is shfiting gears to expand CNNgo’s reach to “cord-nevers” with longer-form original productions that are free to anyone, whether or not they have a cable or satellite TV subscription.