[opendtv] Tech Insiders bemoan state of TV industry as Intel exits
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 07:11:44 -0500
So now Intel has walked away from their effort to develop an OTT service, and
tech luminaries are bemoaning the sad state of affairs with MVPD oligopoly.
This analysis covers the territory we have been talking about for more than a
decade, and concludes that there is no end in sight...
Regards
Craig
http://news.investors.com/012114-687123-moves-to-reinvent-tv-slow-for-aapl-intc-others.htm?ven=djcp&src=aurlabo
Tech insiders bemoan state of TV industry as Intel exits
By PATRICK SEITZ
Posted 01/21/2014 07:09 PM ET
Some tech industry heavyweights took to Twitter on Monday to vent their
frustration with the user-unfriendly state of television in the broadband
Internet age. The conversation pointed out the conflicts between the freedom to
chose that users crave and the content gatekeepers who are reluctant to change
from business as usual.
BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield documented the Twitter conversation in a blog
post Tuesday.
It started when Jason Hirschhorn, CEO of Redef, complained about the cost of
cable and what he received in return.
"It's amazing to me that I pay a cable company $250/month and I can't view all
the content anywhere at any time. Are they nuts?" he tweeted.
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, chimed
in about his frustrating experiences with an unnamed pay-TV service.
"I just got the new high-end thing from one of the big guys. Wanted to catch a
network show I missed from prior week," he wrote. "Luckily it was in VOD (video
on demand) but with only two other old episodes; all others unavailable. Then I
discovered when replaying it that commercials are unskippable in VOD."
Having to sit through commercials in the age of video on demand is bad enough,
but Andreessen said things got worse.
"I paused halfway through for a break. Came back and accidentally started
episode over. Tried to fast-forward to catch up. Denied! Fast-forward disabled
for VOD," Andreessen wrote.
Andreessen said he gave up on the device from the multichannel video
programming distributor (MVPD) and switched over to his Apple (AAPL) TV set-top
box.
Chris McCoy, founder of YourSports, added that "where goes live sports" like
Walt Disney's (DIS) ESPN, so goes the "future of the cable cartel. Sports not
going anywhere for a while."
Walter Delph, CEO of Adly, said he appreciated Hirschhorn and others for
raising awareness of the situation. However, the possible acquisition of Time
Warner Cable(TWC) by Charter Communications (CHTR) or Comcast (CMCSA) "will
most likely slow, not jump-start, innovation" in the industry, he said.
The reason cable and satellite offerings are so restrictive is because their
agreements with programmers and content owners take precedent over the consumer
experience, Greenfield said.
Consumers may want to unbundle programming and pay for just the channels and TV
shows that they watch, but the MVPD industry is not about to abandon a business
model that has served it well.
Industry incumbents have been resisting change on many fronts. They are
fighting commercial-skipping technology, such as that offered by Dish Network
(DISH), and a cloud-based DVR for free, over-the-air TV provided by upstart
Aereo.
Tech companies big and small have been trying to reinvent the TV industry, with
little to show for their efforts. Apple reportedly has been struggling for
years to come up with an over-the-top TV service. Intel (INTC) folded its OTT
TV venture on Monday when it sold those assets to Verizon Communications (VZ).
Sony (SNE) is planning to launch an over-the-top TV service later this year,
but details are sketchy.
But there are signs of change taking hold. Netflix (NFLX), Amazon.com (AMZN)
and Hulu are providing streaming video alternatives to traditional cable and
satellite services. The NPD Group reported Monday that subscription video on
demand services like Netflix have gained in popularity in the past two years,
while subscriptions to HBO, Showtime and other premium TV channels have
declined.
There was a 6 percentage point decline in U.S. households subscribing to
premium TV channels over the past two years, while households subscribing to
SVOD rose 4 points, the research firm said. As of August, 32% of U.S.
households subscribed to premium-TV channels, while 27% subscribed to SVOD
services, NPD said.
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