"But in reality, if all your streaming services are offering the same
programming that you can get for free over-the-air, that's not necessarily a
winning combination, except maybe to cord-cutters."
Simply not true. Unless your OTA PVR (assuming you find one) has several tuners
which allow it to record simultaneous programs, you will not be able to
completely divorce yourself from the program schedules and their inevitable
conflicts. Nor will you be able to catch up on an entire season that you have
missed, due to lack of viewing time.
Over the holiday period, for instance, I managed to watch all of the season's
episodes of "Quantico," on abc.com, which I had missed during the fall season
for lack of time. Since I don't pay attention to air times anymore, I can't
tell you off the top what Quantico conflicts with on the broadcast schedule,
but I'm fairly certain that a normal PVR would not have been useful in this
case.
And I'll bet anything that the OTT dollar figures are misleading. I'll bet they
only look at a handful of subscription sites, the usual suspects, missing the
true impact of Internet TV viewership. Yes, including TVE.
Also of note is this:
"Despite the increasing popularity of streaming boxes from Roku, Apple TV and
Google Chromecast, the majority - 66 percent - will view streaming services
over mobile devices, (although it does add that 80 percent of those surveyed
use the traditional TV set as their main viewing device).
What the stat seems to be saying is that "Just because the stream is received
via a mobile device, do not assume that the program is being viewed on a tiny
screen." My bet is that a lot more people are set up essentially as I am, at
home, even if the PC (or other Internet appliance) is not dedicated to the
TV/audio system?
Bert
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http://www.tvtechnology.com/opinions/0004/2015-the-year-of-ott/277623
2015: The Year of OTT
To boldly go where everyone's going for tee-vee
December 31, 2015
By Tom Butts
Why This Matters
Because what does the FCC do when broadband is our primary TV delivery
mechanism? Or, what CAN they do?
TOM'S PERSONAL YACHT, THE SCOOBY DOO-2015 will be remembered for a lot of
significant events in our industry-the continuing development of ATSC 3.0, the
explosion of interest in virtual and augmented reality as well as drones, the
rapid drop in the price of UHDTV sets and the inevitability of the FCC's
spectrum auctions. But probably the biggest development that-in some
ways-upended our industry this year was the increasing acceptance and
programming strength of over the top services.
Netflix, Amazon, Yahoo, Hulu... who would have thought as recently as five
years ago that these services would have some of the most innovative
programming on television? If you doubt the strength of OTT, you don't have to
look much further than the Emmy Awards, where-in relation to overall
viewership-programming from these streaming services dominated the list of
nominations. And binge watching? That was a concept that was almost completely
unknown as recently as a couple years ago.
How many TV lovers will see these under the Christmas tree this year?
The traditional broadcast networks have made valiant attempts to join the OTT
frenzy by launching their own streaming services. ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS
have all launched streaming services in recent years and with Hulu jointly
owned by ABC, Fox and NBC, one would think that the networks have a secure
foothold on streaming popularity. But in reality, if all your streaming
services are offering the same programming that you can get for free
over-the-air, that's not necessarily a winning combination, except maybe to
cord-cutters. And as for that trend, the jury is still out as to how much of an
impact it is having.
CBS's announcement last month that it would produce a new "Star Trek" series
that would only be available on its All Access streaming service was probably
the best evidence yet that OTT is finally coming into its own. The announcement
lended credence to some media critics' contention that the reason that OTT-only
programming-like the original programming explosion that started on premium
cable networks nearly two decades ago-is more innovative and groundbreaking
than network primetime programming, which is hampered by FCC decency
regulations and the need to appeal to the widest possible audience, (the
success of Fox's "Empire" notwithstanding).
To say that OTT has not had much of an impact on our industry is to deny
reality. And its impact is being felt worldwide. In a report issued last April,
Juniper Research estimated that the pay-TV OTT market could be worth $31.6
billion by 2019, up from just $8 billion in 2014. U.K.-based Paywizard, in its
recent report "OTT Isn't Just for Christmas," estimates that more than 50
percent of consumers will go OTT during the holiday season. Despite the
increasing popularity of streaming boxes from Roku, Apple TV and Google
Chromecast, the majority-66 percent-will view streaming services over mobile
devices, (although it does add that 80 percent of those surveyed use the
traditional TV set as their main viewing device). And of the 69 percent of
respondents planning to sign up for OTT, 41 percent will subscribe to multiple
services.
Despite the rosy outlook, the research firm adds that almost a third of current
subscribers and more than half of those signing up this holiday season plan to
cancel such services after six months. A quarter of the respondents citie that
the services are "too expensive" as the main reason for cancellation. How OTT
services retain those subscribers is the next big challenge.
So although there may be some bumps along the road, it's obvious that the
developments that took place in 2015-particularly on the programming side-prove
that OTT will continue to have a major impact on how the television industry
evolves.
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