The influential analyst says the CEO is to blame for Paramount Global’s money-losing streaming strategy.
Looking at the trouble regional sports networks are having getting distributors to pay for local sports and at CBS affiliates pulling their local feeds from vMVPD FuboTV, Lightshed partners analyst Rich Greenfield is questioning whether the retransmission gravy train for TV broadcasters has left the station.
The new rights deal that include streaming rights “ends the retrans gravy train,” says analyst Rich Greenfield, while Moffett Nathanson says the biggest losers “will be the non-O&O affiliates of NBC and CBS.”
Rich Greenfield, the analyst who is outspoken in his belief that streaming will demolish the traditional TV business, said he was wrong about his recommendation to sell stock in the Walt Disney Co.
Exclusives
BTIG analyst Rick Greenfield says it’s getting harder for cable networks to justify raising fees they charge cable and satellite operators. “As programming deals come up for renewal, we struggle to see what meaningful incremental value programmers can offer distributors, beyond mobile rights that have not already been granted,” he says. “The negotiation now really comes down to simply pricing and packaging.”
Like the best reality TV contestants, BTIG’s Rich Greenfield says he’s not here to make friends.
With Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman officially out, analysts are renewing calls for Viacom and CBS to recombine and for Viacom to sell off the struggling Paramount.
Analyst Trashes Ad-Laden TV Everywhere
In a colorful rant aimed at the media executives gathering in Sun Valley this week for Allen & Co.’s annual mogulfest, media analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG blasted the current state of TV Everywhere — the five-year-old concept introduced by Time Warner that was supposed to save the media ecosystem as we know it.
BTIG’s Rich Greenfield, one of the most prominent analysts covering the media and telecommunications industry, blasted the cable operator’s cloud of secrecy over the reasons behind departure of its COO Tom Rutledge, who Monday announced he was taking the president-CEO position at Charter Communications.
