Locast vs. the Media Giants

Locast a nonprofit startup service that launched in 2018 which grabs over-the-air channels and streams them free over the internet said late Thursday that the ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC's "sham litigation" against it, is an antitrust conspiracy to drive it out of business and they are colluding to deny consumers over-the-air signals they once committed to make freely available. 

The suit was the first attack against a company that many see as a successor to Aereo (see past stories), a for-profit streaming service that five years ago offered consumers livestreams of broadcast channels for a monthly subscription. The difference between the cases is Locast's nonprofit status. US copyright law has allowed certain nonprofit institutions to grab over-the-air TV signals and retransmit them to nonpaying viewers, such as a university setting up an antenna that can retransmit to students in its dorms.

Locast's first official answer to the copyright suit goes beyond simply rejecting the companies' accusations of copyright infringement to accuse them of collusion and it's bringing Google's YouTube into the fight. Locast stated that executives at YouTubeTV a paid service that streams live TV channels, met with the Big Four broadcasters suing Locast in April. According to Locast, the YouTube executives were told that if YouTubeTV provided access to Locast, then YouTubeTV would be "punished" by the media giants when YouTube renegotiated the licensing deals allowing its streaming service to carry media giants' cable networks.

In full disclosure, although Locast relies on donations from viewers, it accepts money from corporations and recently received $500,000 from AT&T, which also operates the DirecTV satellite service. When a fee dispute blacked out CBS for more than 6.5 million AT&T television subscribers for a few weeks this summer, AT&T encouraged its users to try Locast.

No doubt this story will continue for some time and we look forward to seeing how it ultimately plays out. More:  The Hollywood Reporter 09/26/19 - Locast Accuses the Major Broadcasters of Antitrust Violations and The New York Times 09/27/19 - Locast, a Free Streaming Service, Sues ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox

Is the FCC Redefining Television

The Federal Communications Commission is preparing a proposal which could help the fledgling OTT industry by treating certain online video services like cable and satellite TV providers. The move would help the online services gain cheaper access to major network programming and could allow them to become stronger competitors to the dominant pay-TV providers like Comcast.  Gaining rights to popular channels has been a major hurdle for online TV services. Sony Corp. and Dish Network (as previously reported here) are among the companies considering Web-based services to compete with traditional cable and satellite operators. The big issue and cause for some OTT failures like Intel’s exit from its “OnCue” service, is in securing highly coveted programming from ESPN, NBCU, AMC and others is that the networks typically are owned/controlled by the larger MVPD’s (Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler was asked about the matter yesterday and stated that a proposal is circulating among commissioners “is probably a bit of an overstatement.” Nonetheless the industry analysts are buzzing. “This is a very big deal,” said Richard Greenfield, an analyst for BTIG. “It could pose very significant challenges to the traditional cable TV bundle.” Paul Gallant, with Guggenheim Securities, said in a note today, that broadcasters such as CBS Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc. would potentially benefit from having more buyers for their programming.

According to an unknown source by Bloomberg, the change would affect online video providers that offer a cable-like programming service on a schedule, and not on-demand services like Netflix, which allows subscribers to watch videos whenever they want. But it could revive the controversial online video service Aereo, which allowed subscribers to watch broadcast TV channels on their computers and Internet connected-TVs.

 

Although for now this may just be chalked up as a rumor, it is one that would have a broad impact on the business as it is today, a  move which could significantly broaden competition in the MVPD market. More: FierceCable 09/30/14 - Rumor mill:Aereo-like platforms may be given program licensing rights by FCC and/or Variety.com09/29/14 - FCC Wants Some Online Providers to be Treated as Cable Operators

Aereo - SCOTUS rules in favor of the Broadcasters

Aereo - Time to modify the business plan?

After my recent post about Aereo & the NFL, I felt it was worthy of a follow up on today's Supreme Court decision. I've always seen  Aereo is an industry disruptor but the question remained, was it legal or were they skirting the law? The verdict is in and the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, has ruled that Aereo's technology is indistinguishable from cable systems and publicly performs copyrighted content and that Aereo violated those copyrights by delivering broadcast programming without permission. Barry Diller, whose IAC/InterActiveCorp was the principal financial backer of Aereo, said in a statement that ruling was not a “big (financial) loss for us,” adding, “but I do believe blocking this technology is a big loss for consumers, and beyond that I only salute Chet Kanojia and his band of Aereo’lers for fighting the good fight.” Stock prices for CBS, 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast rose on the news of the ruling.  MORE: The Los Angeles Times 06/25/14 -Supreme Court rules against upstart Aereo TV service in copyright case and USA Today 06/25/14 - Supreme Court rules against Aereo in Internet TV fight or The New York Times 06/25/14 - Supreme Court Rules Against Aereo in Broadcasters’ Challenge
  

Aereo Disrupts NFL's TV Business Model with a favorable Supreme Court Decision

Aereo, the Barry Diller backed company that I've written about in numerous posts on SMM is certainly a hot topic these days.  Since it launched, it has been embroiled in legal battles which have pushed their way through the court system where as early as today the Supreme Court could issue a ruling in the dispute between the broadcast networks and the startup streaming service. Although it more than likely will be some time before the courts ruling may actually come down, the media is a "buzz" about the topic. Yesterday, the Washington Post published an article that claimed that, if Aereo wins, “the foundation of the NFL’s television business could crumble” because “a thriving Aereo could help fans bypass the broadcasters, devaluing their expensive contracts with the NFL.” In my opinion this claim is bias and full of false statements but I am not the final judge that will determine the faith of this industry disrupter. Truth be told, I honestly hope that Aereo if not some spin on it's technology will prevail however, I'm acutely aware of what a big stakes game this is.  

The Little Antenna that could
change the broadcasting industry

Read up on it at: The Washington Post - Cecilia Kang's 06/17/14 - How the Supreme Court’s ruling on Aereo could change how we watch football and also review a good contrasting perspective with Chris Morran' 06/18/14 piece on Consumerist - No, A Supreme Court Victory By Aereo Would Not Crush The NFL. I'll be interested to read your feedback as well as watch how this all plays out.

The Fight to Win the SocialTV Battle

 Discussion/debate about Twitter and Facebook usage on the second screens while watching TV around the blogosphere has been at all time highs recently.  What seems somewhat clear is that socialTV is helping to push viewers back to live viewing in an age when DVRs and on-demand programming have pushed down ratings. "It's a great symbiotic relationship where we drive the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, and that viral conversation drives people back to watch our shows," said Viacom chief Philippe Dauman in an interview with Bloomberg. He offered up MTV's recent Video Music Awards as a prime example, a show that generated 18.5 million tweets (personally I thought that was do to Miley Cryus's foam finger and twerking but I'll give them that). The topic is getting even more hype do to the very open efforts by both Facebook's and Twitter as they clammer for the attention of TV networks and producers. At the end of September Facebook announced it would start sharing weekly data reports with ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS. The "big data" being shared includes the number of likes, comments and shares TV episodes get on the social network.

 

Yesterday the antisipated unveiling of Nielsen and Twitter first list of TV show rankings and ironically there was little connection between most watched shows and most talked about shows. Twitter reported Breaking Bad took the most tweets for the week of Sept. 23-29 while the top primetime show in total viewers was actually NBC's NFL Football: New England at Atlanta. The only show that did appear in both top ten lists for the week was The Voice, which ranked number two on Twitter's list and number eight and nine on the primetime rankings.

Initial analysis of TV activity shows that the entire Twitter TV audience for per episode is, on average, 50 times larger than the authors. If, for example, 2,000 people are tweeting about a program, 100,000 people are seeing those Tweets. Those 100,000 aren’t necessarily viewers of that particular TV episode. Nielsen notes that Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings are a separate set of metrics to traditional National TV Ratings. They do not change traditional National TV Ratings. But many believe they will complement each other.  To me this sounds like typical audience inflation many have debated with Nielsen data for years. The numbers are however one chooses to interpret them however the questions the advertisers need to ask is, are the RIGHT people seeing this stuff and are they buying anything?

Yahoo eyes Hulu

Add Yahoo to the growing list of Hulu-suitors. According to reports, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Chief Operating Officer Henrique De Castro recently met with executives at Hulu, the premium video service whose owners have been considering selling it for some months. Hulu would make a powerful weapon to add and they also have mobile applications for their premium subscribers, making the company a natural fit. Mayer's drive into the mobile & digital content spaces seem to offer this deal synergies that could justify the enormous cost of this acquisition. She has made it no secret that her company has been looking to expand its video assets, recently acquiring the exclusive rights to all of SNL's classic clips from 1975 through 2012 while expanding their original exclusive programming. While speaking this past Tuesday during the Wired Business Conference, Mayer's stated that "video is important across all of the company's properties" and that Yahoo is becoming a "mobile-focused firm".

Hulu's board still has a lot of decisions to make and Yahoo has not made and offer. One thing does seem clear at this point and that is that if Yahoo is to pick up the video company, it will fundamentally change the online video landscape, and put Yahoo into competition with a host of new firms.

Twitter Shopping TV Programming Deals

It's no secret that Twitter has recognized the power of video. In 2012 they developed a partnership with Disney/ABC's ESPN to offer highlights and sports clips on the site. Earlier this year it announced a deal with The Weather Company to offer weather-related videos (ouch... AccuWeather!). Today according to a report from Bloomberg, the San Francisco-based company is close to reaching partnerships with television networks that would bring more high-quality video content and advertising to the social site.  The deals (potentially with Viacom and NBCUniversal) are said to be for short clips, not full-length episodes, similar to the company's current partnerships. Frankly it makes sense that Twitter would continue to develop partnerships of this kind.  Videos from Viacom properties i.e. The Daily Show, Colbert Report, MTV, etc. are some of the most shareable on the social network.

According to Bloomberg which first broke the story, the partnerships would let Twitter stream videos on its site and split the resulting ad revenue with the networks. Obviously the rapid rise of Netflix, Amazon Prime and the cable industries moves to the TV Everywhere concept and Hulu's future up in the air as its owners contemplate selling, the marketplace could be giving Twitter a good entry point that they can monetize.

Intel's Pay-TV Service

Can Intel, best known for its computer processing chips succeed where Apple and Google couldn't? The company is said to be in discussions with Time Warner, NBC-Universal, News Corp, Viacom and others to obtain TV shows and films in preparation for the launch for its upcoming online pay-tv service. Intel’s Erik Huggers (see 2/16 post - Erik Hugger’s Intel Plans), well-known to European players for his work at the BBC, Microsoft and at Endemol, confirmed Intel’s overall plans in February and although he was vague about his programming plans it now seems that those discussions are advancing. He is betting that Intel can create a more flexible service (unbundled networks), delivered through consumers’ broadband accounts, that gives subscribers more choices over the channels they receive and offers an easier-to-use electronic programming guide. More power to them if they can do it. Perhaps the timing was just not right for their predecessors! 3/26 Bloomberg - Intel Said to Be Nearing Media Deals for Pay-TV Service 

TV Everywhere - Boom or Bust?

Slingbox HD

I travel to almost an excessive level for work and that put me in a position very early on for adopting some kind of a "TV Everywhere" mindset. If my providers could not deliver it, technology would, hence I installed a slingbox about 3+ years ago. It of course was not the perfect solution but it was a reasonable work around while the industry came to grips with getting the consumer's the product that they wanted.  It was slightly before that time bellwethers Comcast and Time Warner proposed the TV Everywhere initiative and cable executives were hailing it a savior for the industry amid new kinds of competition.

So where are we now? Well earlier this week during a panel about TV at the 4A's conference in New Orleans the general consensus of an esteemed panel industry leaders was that the TV Everywhere initiative hasn’t worked so well. “It's awful from a consumer standpoint and I'm embarrassed," said David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports at Turner Broadcasting System.  Although the premise of TV Everywhere seems like a is a fairly straightforward one, NBCUniversial's new EVP, Lauren Zalaznick said that "TV Everywhere's biggest problem is that no one can agree on what TV Everywhere really means".

 A growing number of network executives have been moaning about the disparate iterations of TV Everywhere. Every network seems to have a different way to handle it and frustration abounds.  From a consumer perspective, knowing that all the video -- live and recorded -- is truly available from any access point goes a long way in clarifying the confusion that seems to stymie usage. If the user doesn’t have to second-guess whether and where each piece of content resides, then TV Everywhere has a shot at becoming a reflex.  There is a big market here Netflix, the Super bowl, Olympics and no doubt this year’s March Madness are all proof to this.  TV networks, producers and video service providers need to work together to figure this out — before someone else does! For now I guess I'll just have to stick with my good ole Slingbox. Now where's that suitcase?


ConnectTV's Local Ad Network

ConnecTV has unveiled a national and local ad network for second-screen TV ads. The company announced that over 400 ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and CW national and local affiliates will be the first participants in the new ad network, which allows advertisers to pair their TV spots with a synchronized experience on tablets and smartphones. Available via ConnectTV's free second-screen app or any ConnecTV syndication partner, the new Ad Sync platform allows brands to deliver extra goods such as promotional offers, contests, and marketing alerts, as well as the ability for viewers to watch product-related videos, find the nearest store, or even purchase what they're seeing on TV. At launch, ConnecTV says it's offering an exclusive "Charter Advertising" program, which will let brands and agencies to customize companion-marketing experiences and lead second-screen research panels, among other things. The new ad network will be sold by both ConnecTV and its broadcast partners, which include Belo, Cox, Scripps, Gannett, Hearst, Meredith, Post-Newsweek, and Raycom.

NBCU moves to win bid for Weather Channel

NBCU has unofficially won the bid for the Weather Channel at $3.5 billion, according to NewsBlues. That’s well under the $5 billion that Landmark had hoped to earn. NBCU was part of a consortium that included Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. The offer of $3.5 billion, roughly half of which, or $1.8 billion, is equity, according to Reuters. Blackstone’s GSO Capital is also putting in $600 million. The future of WeatherPlus is the big question now

Tivo and NBCU Strike Deal

NBC Universal inked a multiyear deal with TiVo that will allow the entertainment conglomerate to sell interactive ads for TiVo’s digital video recorders. Terms of the new agreement allow NBCU’s 14 television networks and 10 owned-and-operated stations will be able to sell TiVo Interactive Tags in conjunction with existing commercial spots. It makes NBC the first top broadcaster to use TiVo's audience data and interactive ad tags. Link(s): The Wall Street Journal, Nov, 27, 2007 – NBC to use TiVo’s Viewership data, Multichannel News – Nov, 27, 2007 - NBCU Buys Into TiVo Ratings, Interactive Ads

PRN and NBCU Partner to sell Ads

Premier Retail Network - creator of the world's largest OOH in-store media network has announced an agreement with NBC Universal. For some time, NBCU has provided programming to PRN and bought space on its networks, which include channels in Wal-Mart and Costco. The new deal will allow it to sell ads to select marketers on PRN's network that's available at supermarket checkout counters. The synergies between the two partners should be strong because NBCU O&O Stations fit nicely with PRN's "Supermarket Checkout TV" 1,000 plus store locations. Link: MediaDaily News - July 19 '07 - In-Store Reach: NBCU joins with PRN