Sports Could Be Key Driver to Consumer Switch to Stand-Alone OTT Services, Says Parks

About 17 percent of U.S. broadband homes are likely to subscribe to HBO’s Go OTT service, said Parks Associates research. Nine in 10 of likely subscribers currently subscribe to a pay-TV service and half would cancel their current service after subscribing to HBO’s streaming service, Parks said. The percentage of subscribers interested in over-the-top video services is “trending upward,” and more industry players are planning to launch their own OTT services, said Brett Sappington, research director, citing Dish Network’s Sling TV OTT service announced at CES (see 1501050037), which includes sports programming from channels including ESPN, TBS and TNT. Sports programming could be a major incentive for consumers to switch to stand-alone OTT services “as sports is one of the primary reasons consumers elect to keep pay-TV services,” said Sappington. He said Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications in Canada unveiled their shomi online video service in November, while in Europe, players are bringing OTT services as a hedge against Netflix’s arrival into their markets. Sappington called 2015 “the year of OTT.”