Dish Unveils Sling TV Internet Pay-TV Service

The OTT video landscape changed significantly this week when DISH finally unveiled their long talked about OTT offer, Sling TV. The new service targets cord cutters and cord neverers with a new video product that is helping shape a rapidly changing video business marketplace. It’s interesting that this new twist on TV is coming from a traditional pay-TV operator which appears to be the first to be breaking from the standard industry bundling status quo. Sling TV's lineup will include ESPN and ESPN 2, but it doesn’t include any broadcast networks. They will feature networks from Disney/ESPN, Turner Broadcasting and Scripps Networks Interactive. The stripped-down bundle is targeted at price-sensitive and Internet-savvy millennials who don’t currently subscribe to a pay-TV service. MORE: Telecompetitor.com 01/06/15 - DISH OTT Offer, Sling TV, Uses Sports for Cord Cutter Bait and GIGIOM 01/05/15 - Dish’s new Sling TV service liberates ESPN from the cable bundle

The “a la carte” TV model... Not If but When!

The pace of industry consolidation as well as the businesses general move towards IP distribution models were never more evident than they were this past week.  On the heels of HBO's announcement of a plan to offer a Web-based service that doesn’t require a cable or satellite TV subscription, CBS announced that it will launch an All Access video-on-demand service that comes with a $5.99-per-month subscriber fee and has current and past seasons available for viewing. Local CBS television station streams will also be available through the subscription in 14 markets.  "It seems pretty apparent that every media company in America is thinking about direct-to-consumer, mobile, digital" said Les Moonves after the announcement.  ReCode also reported that CBS is considering an HBO-like service for its premium network Showtime. “We are always looking at ways of expanding our audience and it is certainly something that we have been examining for some time” said Moonves.

What HBO and CBS have done suggests the future of TV will be messier and more confusing in the near-term but ultimately consumers will have more choice of what they watch and how much they pay for it. No doubt this weeks developments suggests an avalanche of television networks and studios moving quickly to announce online apps and services. Sony, Dish and ABC all have been developing streaming strategies. And in the way that chattering about changing technology helps propel that change, the HBO and CBS announcements, separated by one day, creates a new momentum. Things are going to change even faster now. It’s a sign that the content business is suddenly racing into the broadband space.  MORE: ReCode.net 10/16/14 - Now CBS Is Selling Web Subscriptions to Its Shows, Too 

Dish Digital prepares to Launch Nutv

In what appears to be a common theme trending in the industry today, Dish’s internet TV service, Nutv, plans to launch before the end of the year. Dish Digital, the satellite operator’s online business subsidiary that is going to be in charge of the new service, has filed a number of trademarks for the brand, including one with a logo that could be used at launch.

The Nutv brand has also surfaced in conjunction with one of Dish Digital’s existing apps, suggesting that the app may be used for the new service as well. Dish has secured digital licensing deals with The Walt Disney Company and A+E Networks so far to program the service. It's unclear at this point if it will make more content deals, given that obtaining a low under $30 price point is key to the new offering. A Dish executive recently said that the company plans to target “cord cutters, cord nevers and… cord haters” with the service.  Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said during the company's second quarter earnings call in August, "We'd like to get them started on pay-TV. We'd like to get them started on ESPN. My concern is that we're missing a while generation of customers."

Cord Swapping replaces Cord Cutting

Interesting data has been made public in the FCC’s annual video competition report released this past Monday.  Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other cable operators lost about 2.5 million video subscribers between 2010 and 2012. As anticipated the Satellite and Telco side of the industry are still in the growth mode for the most part.  AT&T's U-verse TV posted the biggest video subscriber gain, growing its subscription base from 3 million to 4.1 million during the same period. Verizon's FiOS TV expanded from 3.5 million to 4.5 million subscribers during the same period while DirecTV Inc. grew its subscriber base by 700,000 to 19.9 million during the same period, and Dish Network  remained flat at 14.1 million.

Total gain of 2.8 million reflects a modest net gain of 300K for the overall industry, so is it safe to assume that the feared cord cutting rumor is untrue and frankly should be renamed cord swapping.

Other note worthy items listed in the report:

•  The FCC said cable operators installed 38,000 CableCARDs in retail devices such as TiVo DVRs and connected TVs in 2012.

•  The number of households that rely solely on over-the-air antennas to watch TV remained flat at 11.1 million in 2012.

•  Deployments of DVRs in pay TV homes increased to 50.3 million in 2012, up from 46.3 million in 2011. DVR penetration in TV homes has increased to 43.8 percent.

 More on this topic: See the FCC Report.

SocialTV comes to Dish Hopper Subscribers

Dish Network has been creating a stir in the broadcasting business this year with the launch of their Hopper Whole-Home ad skipping DVR system has announced the launch a new app called "Social" that it says is the industry’s “first and only set-top app that delivers on-screen social content relevant to the show or channel a viewer is watching.” The app enables customers to join social media conversations about shows that they are currently viewing allowing them to effectively multitask between watching a show and following social media posts about that show on the same screen. Accessible via Dish's "quick launch" bar, Social lets customers link up to four Twitter and four Facebook accounts to the app. Viewers have three options for the type of content displayed in the status bar: Now Watching shows the Twitter feed relevant to the show or channel the user is currently watching. My Twitter gives full Twitter functionality, and My Facebook displays the user's personal Facebook feed with full functionality. Perhaps even more interesting, the Social app contains a data bar at the bottom of the TV screen that displays information related to the program being watched like stats about the top areas in the country where people are tweeting about the program, the program's sentiment rating and percentage of Tweeters by gender and frequency of tweets. Two thumbs up for Dish on this new addition. I believe users will really enjoy this new apps as they have empowered consumers allowing them to follow social conversations and post in real-time without leaving their TV screen.

Turner To Launch Live Streaming for TNT, TBS

Not to be out done by yesterdays ABC live streaming announcement, Wednesday Turner Broadcasting released news about their newly created "Watch TNT" and "Watch TBS" apps for tablets and smartphones . The networks will both stream on-air content live across multiple platforms 24/7, available via the networks' websites as well as the apps.  Turner continues its push to become a year-round home to original programming as they also announced their upcoming new scripted and unscripted fare including series from top producers like Steven Spielberg, Diablo Cody, Denis Leary, Sylvester Stallone, Dick Wolf and Jamie Foxx.

I expect many more networks to soon join the ranks of HBO, Turner and ABC as more programmers and distributors reach "TV Everywhere" deals. Obviously these are designed to make content more available to subscribers and stave off competition for new OTT rivals. For now all of this seems great speaking from the perspective of one who travels a great deal. At some point however I see an upcoming post about the frustrations of manage 100's of individual apps in order to see my favorite shows while on the road. That app from DishTV looks like it will be the benchmark for other video providers in the future and these separate networks app's are simply a short term work around.

Reed Hastings - 10 Reasons why Internet TV will continue to gain popularity

After Netflix’s blockbuster earnings sent its stock soaring yet again earlier this week, Reed Hastings, the company’s CEO made a bold prediction: TV as we know it is coming to an end.  “As Internet TV grows from millions to billions, Netflix, HBO, and ESPN are leading the way,” Hastings wrote in an 11 page manifesto about Netflix’s future. “Internet TV will replace linear TV.”

He's obviously not sharing his perspective alone because numerous networks and stations have agreed with his views on the limitations of linear television and have launched their own apps. Although Hastings cites WatchESPN, HBO GO and the BBC iPlayer as leaders in this arena, we must also acknowledge the industry disrupters in streaming television technology; Aereo and the Dish's Hopper. Each of these also have huge potential to cause a dramatic shifts in the TV business as it heads into the future. Case in point at the opening of this year’s NAB when News Corp (FOX) COO Chase Carey threatened to take their programming off the broadcast airwaves and convert to cable channels. This was followed later by Univision and later CBS. While viewed largely as saber-rattling, the idea that the networks could be converted into cable channels gained attention in the television world because such a move would have wide-reaching implications for viewers and station owners. The point may be mute if Hastings predictions hold true and we move from broadcast and cable to an unbundled & streamed viewing environment.
Feel free to look at his letter to shareholders earlier this week and the 10 reasons he believes why Internet TV will continue to gain popularity, concluding that “over the coming decades and across the world, Internet TV will replace linear TV. Apps will replace channels, remote controls will disappear, and screens will proliferate”.

Let me share them with you here:

1. The Internet will get faster, more reliable and more available
2. Smart TV sales will increase and eventually every TV will have Wifi and apps
3. Smart TV adapters (Roku, AppleTV, etc.) will get less expensive and better
4. Tablet and smartphone viewing will increase
5. Tablets and smartphones will be used as touch interfaces for Internet TV
6. Internet TV apps will rapidly improve through competition and frequent updates
7. Streaming 4k video will happen long before linear TV supports 4k video
8. Internet video advertising will be personalized and relevant
9. TV Everywhere will provide a smooth economic transition for existing networks
10. New entrants like Netflix are innovating rapidly

Update 05/01 - A view from Michael Grotticelli at Broadcast Engineering - Netflix unveils plan to replace broadcast television