Digital Media and Content Distribution

The Decline of Pay-TV Services – New Whitepaper

Parks Associates’ new Market Snapshot - OTT and Pay TV: Partnerships and Competition that covers the decline in pay-TV services during the first quarter of 2018. According to the research, 15% of broadband households have “cord-cut” and stopped subscribing to their pay-TV company in favor of OTT streaming services. As heads of households get younger and prefer cheaper, instant streaming alternatives, pay-TV is suffering. Though still relatively new to the market,...

by Parks Associates | Aug. 6, 2018
Tags: none

What About the RSNs?

Stories about the pending purchase of 21 st Century Fox assets have dominated the media industry headlines over the past few weeks, with Comcast conceding to Disney’s $71 billion cash and stock offer for said assets. However, The United States’ Department of Justice recently ruled that they will approve a sale of these assets to Disney only if they agree to divest Fox’s 22 regional sports networks (RSNs) as part of the deal, due to monopoly concerns stemming from the...

by Billy Nayden | Jul. 20, 2018
Tags: cord cutting, digital content, digital media, online video, OTT, pay TV

The Disney / Overwatch League Deal Will be an Important Gauge of Mainstream Esports Appeal

Esports is going to be aired on ESPN during prime time. Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Overwatch , has announced a deal with Disney that will see the Overwatch League playoffs be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN 3, Disney XD, and ABC. While other esports such as Heroes of the Storm have been broadcast on Disney XD and ESPN before, this agreement will see the first day of the Overwatch League finals broadcast at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN with later highlights and analysis of the finals airing on...

by Hunter Sappington | Jul. 17, 2018
Tags: digital content, digital media, gaming, online video, OTT, pay TV, streaming

Convergent Billing Moves OTT Closer to Disrupted Cable TV Business Model

Amazon created the new template for services seeking to create a one-stop shop for streaming media content with their Amazon Channels offering in late 2015. What started with a simple platform for content aggregation has turned into a new strategy for players in the OTT space to create a more desirable—and affordable—content offering for their consumer with the ease of convergent billing. Several platforms/services have followed Amazon’s lead in aggregating content...

by Parks Associates | Jul. 16, 2018
Tags: online video, OTT, pay TV

Approval for AT&T / Time Warner, Let the Games Begin

By Brett Sappington and Billy Nayden What a great coincidence that AT&T’s acquisition of the company that brought us the power struggles of Westeros and Game of Thrones is likely to set off a new era of competition in pay TV. With a federal judge approving AT&T’s $85 billion buyout of Time Warner late Tuesday afternoon, the courts cleared a path for a number of imminent media deals that will undoubtedly bring substantial change to the media landscape....

by Parks Associates | Jun. 15, 2018
Tags: broadband, cord cutting, digital content, digital media, Google, multiscreen, online video, operator, OTT, pay TV, second screen, streaming

The Blockchain Hype Train Comes to Video Services

Swedish startup, Cinezen Blockchained Entertainment, recently signed some of its first film distribution deals for its upcoming video-on-demand service, a global blockchain-based VOD service that will initially be based on the Ethereum protocol and cryptocurrency. Calling this new model Blockchain-Video-on-Demand (BVOD), Cinezen states that blockchain technology will provide a new level of transparency in accurate reporting of royalties for content creators by using a blockchain public...

by Hunter Sappington | Mar. 20, 2018
Tags: cord cutting, digital content, online video, OTT

OTT Not a Rite of Passage for Young Adults

In the recently published Churn and Retention of OTT Video Services , I was really surprised to see that for those under age 35, only 83% are subscribing to an OTT video service like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. This indicates that while many Millennials and Generation Z seem to wear their cord cutting status like a badge of pride , it isn’t something that is universal. Many Millennials and Generation Z members can live without Game or Thrones or Orange is the New Black ....

by David Mitchel | Sep. 11, 2017
Tags: cord cutting, millennials, online video, OTT, pay TV, smart TV, streaming

Walking on Dragon Eggshells: Avoiding Game of Thrones Spoilers

“Hey, did you watch that popular show last night where the thing happened?” “No. I haven’t watched it yet. Thanks a lot.” “Oh… Sorry…” The penultimate season of HBO’s global hit series Game of Thrones is in the books. While many of the show’s die-hard fans are sure to have watched it through the season finale, coverage in the media suggests otherwise. Media outlets have been careful to mask key plot developments in their headlines and...

by Glenn Hower | Aug. 31, 2017
Tags: digital content, digital media, online video, OTT, pay TV, TV Everywhere