Virtual MVPDs Will Claim Many Traditional Pay-TV Subscribers, TDG Says

Traditional multichannel video programming distributors inevitably will lose significant numbers of subscribers to the growing virtual MVPD offerings, as competitive pressures of that emerging market "rise to a fever pitch," said The Diffusion Group senior adviser Joel Espelien in a TDG blog post Tuesday. That competition will push virtual MVPD providers to surpass traditional pay TV, which can't compete on price, convenience or user experience and functionality, TDG said. It said virtual MVPDs won't be able to target just niche markets since competition among them will necessitate broad marketing campaigns. It also said competition is already forcing some improvements in their offerings, pointing to PlayStation Vue cutting prices and adding ESPN and Sling TV, and DirecTV Now adding cloud DVR functionality before YouTube TV -- which promises similar cloud DVR functionality -- comes to market.