[opendtv] Re: TV Technology: Hulu to Live Stream CBS Nets
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2017 11:15:34 -0500
On Jan 6, 2017, at 8:01 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Again, Craig, you ignore the trend lines. As people bail out of legacy
business models, they are looking for something different and attractive. If
they were stuck in the past, they wouldn't be bailing out.
This is your view of what is happening, which as we have seen for years is
rather biased. I agree that TV viewers are looking for something different and
attractive...
And cheaper.
But your view of what people want does not represent a very large percentage of
viewers.
Clearly the majority of homes want access to:
- Live TV for news, sports, and the most popular episodic content:
- On demand access to both current and library catalogs of episodic programming;
- New streaming services with original programming like Netflix and Amazon.
- The ability to buy programming that they will consume repeatedly...
My daughter buys kids movies from iTunes, which allows her to play them on
demand and even move them to an iPad for consumption when traveling. I've been
doing some work on her new house, and every time I am there when the kids are
home "The Secret Life of Pets" is playing. They access a lot of kids programing
from iTunes, in part to avoid the ads on linear kids networks.
So the point is, would people anxious to bail out want to pay a 5X premium,
just because linear delivery is included? The same people who figured out
that on demand is a lot more convenient for most of their TV fix?
You have come up with another canard; WHAT 5X PREMIUM?
People who are bailing are typically paying in excess of $70/mo for a MVPD
service - ours just went up to $98/mo, a travesty that will soon be corrected.
This does not mean that we are willing to give up the live/linear bundle - we
just want a cheaper alternative with the channels we watch.
Or to make this absolutely clear - we are NOT willing to pay 5X what we are
paying now; we want it for HALF the price we pay now.
The only people facing a 5X premium are people like yourself who have refused
to subscribe to a MVPD bundle. And please don't confuse the issue by bringing
up Hulu, Netflix, HOB Now, et al. These are add on premium bundles that half of
U.S. homes are paying for ON TOP of their MVPD service.
If I had to buy each congloms streaming service ala carte - like CBS All Access
- it would cost more than I am paying now.
You keep saying that, but by now it sounds like a cop-out, and simply not
true. People are looking for alternatives and finding them, and linear
delivery is not a prime concern for most of what they're watching. Last
number we saw was 61% being viewed on demand, and that was a good while ago.
(And yes, I saved the link to the article.)
Please don't start playing these "lying with statistics" games again in 2017.
Your credibility is already in the tank.
Live viewing is still more than half of all TV viewing. If you add time shifted
catch-up for current shows it is about 70%.
They will stick religiously to the tactic of selling bundles
of content, BECAUSE that's where the money is.
Another point you seem to latch on, even though it doesn't say much. The
congloms sell "bundles" simply because the alternative would be single shows.
They address that alternative too via iTunes and Amazon. The reality is that
they sell the same content to everyone for use in a variety of services:
- Live broadcast TV (including syndicated library content)
- Live facilities based MVPD bundles (including rerun channels)
- Catch-up streaming services like Hulu and the .com sites
- Live/VOD services like CBS All Access
- Live/VOD bundles like DirecTV Now, SlingTV, Play Station Vue, and the new
Hulu service.
- Streaming library bundles like Netflix and Amazon Prime
- Sale/rental services like iTunes, Amazon and Google
- Packaged Media retail sales (DVDs)
- Rentals of packaged media (Redbox)
So where do they make most of their money?
Facilities based MVPD services that carry local broadcast stations. Licensing
library content is second.
As in, pay per view. The important point is that the congloms ARE selling
their like content over any number of portals, and ARE selling different
bundle formulas, depending on the portal. CBS, for instance, sells over their
own cbs.com and CBS All Access, but also over Hulu, Sony, and other portals.
And these are available to every household (in the US).
Your on the right track here...
But there are only two services that offer your live local stations all over
the U.S. - the DirecTV and Dish DBS systems.
Sling TV - no broadcast networks or local stations.
Play Station Vue - only network O&O stations in a few markets
DirecTV Now - only network O&O stations; no CBS
Hulu Live - just signed CBS.
CBS ALL ACCESS - CBS O&O's and some affiliates.
To Date, NO STREAMING MVPD SERVICE offers the equivalent programming to a local
facilities based MVPD or DBS service. This is by design.
Hulu Live may be the first to put it all together. No surprise since the
congloms own it.
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts: