Welcome to News Views, CASBAA’s news round-up culled from sources across the industry for the week ending May 20th. Curated by CASBAA, News Views keeps you in the loop. We always value your feedback, so tell us what you think!
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Christopher Slaughter |
US cable giantComcast is very happy with its current digital business, thank you very much,and CEO Brian Roberts says there are no plans to launch an OTT service outsidetheir current cable footprint. To be fair, his comments at the annual NCTAconvention (now rebranded as INTX – theInternet and Television Expo), weren’t a categorical denial — he did qualify his statement by saying, “Theworld always changes.” In themeantime, at Comcast’s massive booth on the INTX floor, their demo for NBCU’s Olympic coverage was impressive, and suitably OTT-heavy. Across its broadcast networks, NBCU will play out some 1500 hours ofcoverage, withanother 4500 hours delivered on demand and over-the-top; especially forComcast subs, Roberts said, “We’re going to throw everything at it.” |
John Medeiros |
Well, on the other hand, happy is as happy does, and the US cableindustry is definitely not happy with its regulator, the FCC. Andthe members of the Commission aren’t happy with each other. NCTA chief MichaelPowell used his keynote at INTX to denounce the FCC’s “relentlessregulatory assault” on the cable industry. If you’re afan of inflammatory language you’ll love this; Powell said “Weincreasingly are saddled with heavy rules without anycompelling evidence of harm to consumers or competitors.” The FCC’s recentactions have not been “modest regulatory corrections,” he said.Instead, “they have been thundering,tectonic shifts that have crumbled decades of settled law andpolicy.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel commented afterwards“Wow, that was subtle.” But Commissioners AjitPai and Michael O’Rielly in a later session took the cable industry’s side on the currentdebate over proposals to force cable companies to allow competitors to channelcontent through their set-top boxes. Paideclared “what is happening at the FCC is not a conversation, it isdictation….sentence first, verdict afterwards.” And O’Rielly suggested “I would take thecurrent proposal and throw it in the garbage. That’s where it belongs.” Equally subtle, eh? |
John Medeiros |
Of course, this debate is about politics, as much as regulatorypolicy. (Rosenworcel, like FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, is a Democrat,while Pai and O’Riellyare Republicans.) But the accusation that recent FCCproposals are motivated by a political ideology has also come from someDemocrats. A former Undersecretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton’sadministration wrote that “Net NeutralityIsn’t Progressive,” He says net advocates who want to killzero-rating or “sponsored data plans” actually are seeking to inject thegovernment excessively into internet regulation. “What the ideologueswant is a public sector Internet, and they’re willing to impose their vision onthe Internet on us, regardless of what the public actually wants.” |
Mark Lay |
Elsewhere atINTX, “Reports of the death of TV everywhere are greatly exaggerated.” Industry executives rolled off some impressive stats: “Double-digit growth in TVE viewing in thefirst quarter; 84% offrequent TVE users say it’s a reason they’ll stay with their provider foranother year; adoption of TVE grew by 36% amongst pay-TV subscribers inthe U.S.” Also, Accenture has found that “consumers globally stilltrusted their satellite operator (31%), their cable TVcompany (26%), more thandigitally native competitors such as Internet video providers (15%) orsocial media service providers (5%). Not everyone is convinced, as eMarketerbelieves that the “TV industry on the brink of a cord-cuttingstorm.” |
Jane Buckthought |
We’re clearlyfocused on the US this week, where the Upfronts are also underway, and whatbetter time for a little smack-talk? Cue ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel: “DoCrackle, and Vox, and Vevo really need to have upfronts? These aren’t networks:these are sound effects when Batman punches a bad guy.” To be fair, Kimmel took aim at prettymuch everyone, but the broader strategy among networks has been clear, which isto counter the specious accounting demonstrated at the Digital NewsFronts (or rather, the “SnoozeFronts”). Clearly, one of the best ways to do that is with data, but throwing some shade doesn’t hurt either (repeat after me, “non-premium, sub-prime video”). Seriouslythough, Fox’s Toby Byrne pointed out that the published audiencereach of “a YouTube star” and a World Series game were both 14million. But the average audience for that YouTube star was only 1,620. UsingYouTube’s metrics, he added, the World Series game would have racked up 6.8billion views. “Impressions for subprime video can’t compare to TV’sdelivery,” said Byrne. |
Christopher Slaughter |
We’veheard it, we’ve read it, we’ve said it ourselves — this is a new Golden Age ofTelevision. But a GoldenAge of TV Criticism? Or for that matter, a GoldenAge of Family Sitcoms? Even if you agree that the GoldenAge endedwith The Sopranos, though, you still have to acknowledge that there are ahell of a lot of new shows; we’ve gone from about 200 shows produced in 2009 tosome 409 produced last year. For good or for ill, it’s definitely a thing, andthe Vulture has a great look at “TheBusiness of Too Much TV.” |
Anjan Mitra |
India’stelecoms and broadcast carriage regulator, TRAI, wants more consultationsbefore it settles once and for all issues related to Net Neutrality. Earlierthis week chief regulator RS Sharma told media that “pre-consultationon net neutrality will start in 2-3 days.” TRAI is under pressure from telcos who have criticisedregulator’s move to ban differential pricing of data services and petitionedfor its review. |
Kevin Jennings |
BARC – theBroadcast Audience Research Council in India have announced that their ratingsdata can now be split between Urban and rural India. Interestingresults in the firstweek of published numbers with differentviewing trends emerging between urban India and their country cousins. ZeeNetworks’ FTA Zee Anmol topped the chart in rural areas with Sony PicturesNetwork’s free to air channel Sony Pal and Star India’s FTA channel Star Utsavranking second and third respectively. In contrast, in Urban Hindispeaking markets , Viacom18’s Colors lead the Hindi general entertainmentchannels, closely followed by Star Plus in second place with Zee TVranking third. |
John Medeiros |
The UK government, whose IPprotection policies are already the strongest inthe world,recently unveiled a new strategy fortackling intellectual property infringement over the next four years. New legislation isplanned. Another part of the strategy appears to be increased pressureon Big Internet companies. Nobody says it, but government pressure in the UK was responsiblefor the online ad industry’s adherence a couple of years ago to the Good PracticePrinciples that divert mainstream advertising away from piracy websites. It will be interesting to see theeffect of the reported ratchet upwards in pressure. |
John Medeiros |
Meanwhile, an interesting development in the EU, where the bureaucracy isreported to be looking for ways to apply EU content quotas to Netflix, Amazon,etc. I’m curious to see how they willpropose applying quotas to SVOD services, where consumers access huge librariesand then choose what THEY want to watch. |
Mark Lay |
Lots of ink hasbeen spilled on this story but it all comes back to the recent article in theTelegraph which stated that BBC set to launch Britflix rival to Netflix. This new streaming service is”believed to be a collaboration between the corporation and ITV, its maincommercial rival, and is still in the early stages of development.” Otherthan the White Paper on the future of the BBC, not a lot of details have been formallyannounced. Though, “the BBC has been quick to reassure viewers that anynew service would not involve any of the corporation’s existing showsdisappearing behind a paywall.” According to the Guardian, ‘Britflix’ and chill – doesn’t have the quitesame ring to it. |
John Medeiros |
File this in the “confirming what we already knew” department: aresearch firm found 450 websitesserving up pirate views of the latest Game of Thrones programs were alsoserving up malware. Which is morescary …a malware-infected zombie computer, or the White Walker zombies frombeyond the Wall? |
Anjan Mitra |
Finallyit has happened. Indian Government approved the national IPR policy withDepartment of Industrial Policy & Promotion to be the nodal department toco-ordinate, guide and oversee implementation and future development of IPRs inIndia, including copyrights issues, which was earlier curiously beenoverseen by Human Resources Development Ministry. In general hailed,some lobby groups, however, have criticised thenew law saying it lacks specifics and won’t be enough to foster innovation. |