AT&T Streaming New, Big Movies Seems Unique: Technicolor CEO

Technicolor CEO Richard Moat doubts other studios will replicate AT&T’s “interesting move” to funnel WarnerMedia’s 2021 slate of feature film releases direct to streaming (see 2012030053), he said Thursday on a Q4 call. “I don't see that as being a fundamental shift in the industry paradigm.” AT&T’s motive “was obviously to try to drive up subscriptions on HBO Max,” said Moat. “They were taking a big bet there in terms of the number of incremental customers” they would gain. “It remains to be seen whether that was a sensible financial bet,” he said. “Under normal circumstances, the studios are going to make a lot more money from pushing the product out into cinemas than they are through going exclusively to a streaming platform.” AT&T declined comment Friday. Connected home “delivered a strong year” for Technicolor in 2020, “exceeding the original targets” set before the pandemic, said Moat. “Increased demand from cable customers in North America drove revenues, but we were hit by a slowdown and supply constraints in Eurasia. Latin America was negatively impacted by the difficult macroeconomic situation in the region.” The strong consumer demand for upscale set-top boxes is driving “very high sales amongst our major cable and telco customers,” said Moat. Comcast picked Technicolor as the supplier for its latest-generation XB8 box, he said. Comcast referred our request for comment about the XB8 to Technicolor, whose spokesperson told us Moat "made a misstatement," and he meant to refer to Comcast orders for the XB7. She said the XB7 is a "gateway" device, not a set-top box, as Moat mistakenly called it. “Traditional video” will continue “to be on the decline” the next few years, “despite a transitional rebound” expected in 2021, said Moat. “Multi-gig broadband access markets and streaming Android TV are on the rise with solid growth. In 2021, the market will continue to be driven by the expansion of fiber and the adoption of Wi-Fi 6.” The electronics supply chain will continue “to be stretched by excess demand” for semiconductors, he said.