Live sports will be the first big genre to return to TV, as players and team owners have common economic interests and billions of dollars at stake if a season doesn't get played, Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote investors Monday: Seven pro sports leagues are expected to air live games by August, and live sports TV ratings will likely hit record levels in the second half of 2020. She said the biggest beneficiaries likely will be ESPN, Fox and CBS, with subscription VOD streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ most hurt, as they benefited from live sports being dark.
MoffettNathanson is “very optimistic about future industry growth” in ad-supported VOD but sees “too many long-term risks” at Roku to "enthusiastically recommend" the stock, said senior analyst Michael Nathanson Monday. Roku has built a “strong gatekeeper position” among streaming media devices, he said. That’s creating a “near-term opportunity” for Roku to “extract significant value” from over-the-top companies “seeking their shelf space to grow,” he said. “Roku’s current negotiating position is that streaming services need to be on their platform to be relevant.” But some new services like Peacock are shunning Roku, “a small company in a marketplace packed with the world’s largest tech and media players,” he said. They may “not be willing” to grant Roku the “oxygen” it needs to “flourish over time,” he said.
NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service is available on Vizio's SmartCast TVs in free and premium ($4.99 monthly) versions, said the TV maker Wednesday. Viewers can upgrade Peacock Premium to ad-free for $5 more a month.
Netflix did 35% better than its April 21 projections when it delivered 10.1 million net subscriber additions globally in Q2. After Q1 Netflix subscriber net adds as COVID-19 lockdowns hit soared to 15.77 million, Netflix said then it expects viewing to decline and membership increases to slow down as “home confinement ends” (see 2004210059). “We live in uncertain times with restrictions on what we can do socially and many people are turning to entertainment for relaxation, connection, comfort and stimulation,” said a shareholder letter after regular U.S. markets closed Thursday. The first half had “significant pull-forward of our underlying adoption leading to huge growth,” it said. “We expect less growth for the second half of 2020.” It’s forecasting 2.5 million net subscriber adds globally for Q3, compared with 6.8 million in Q3 a year earlier. “Instead of worrying” about all the new competition in the streaming space, “we continue to stick to our strategy of trying to improve our service and content every quarter faster than our peers,” it said. The stock fell 9.9% to $475.40 in after-hours trading. The company also promoted two executives (see personals section, this issue.)
It's commendable that streamer Pluto TV has dropped its ask for a one-year waiver from IP captioning requirements (see 1906270061), but it's still not compliant on several platforms and the FCC should set firm deadlines if it doesn't take enforcement action. That's according to Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc.'s docket 11-154 posting Wednesday. Pluto TV last month withdrew its waiver petition and said it has "redoubled its efforts" to be fully compliant with captioning on all platforms.
Cox and ViacomCBS signed a multiyear deal that renews CBS affiliations for five stations, the programmer said Wednesday. It said CBS affiliates will remain available on its CBS All Access streaming service and be distributed across vMVPD platforms. The stations are KIRO-TV Seattle; WJAX-TV Jacksonville; WHIO-TV, Dayton; KYMA-DT Yuma, Arizona; and KVIQ-LD Rio Dell, California.
Spotify expanded into 13 markets, including top-20 market Russia, it said Tuesday. Other new markets are in the region, including Kazakhstan, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The company is in 92 markets worldwide.
Cinedigm will partner with former Codeblack Films executive Quincy Newell and his TwentyOne14 Media to launch an “urban multi-cultural entertainment and lifestyle” streaming network in Q1 2021, they said Tuesday. The unnamed network will be available in the U.S. for linear and ad-supported VOD platforms on connected TVs, digital set-tops, media-streaming devices and web-based and online OTT services, they said.
Cable companies' Wi-Fi-centric mobile virtual network operators continued to have success luring customers from mobile networks operators, with Comcast, Charter and Altice ending Q1 with 3.75 million such subscriptions, GlobalData said Monday. It said much wireless traffic that otherwise would have gone over cellular networks was carried on residential Wi-Fi due to the pandemic, saving those MVNOs cellular usage fees they would have had to pay their network partners. COVID-19 will likely hinder subscriber adds in Q2 for all mobile operators and MVNOs, it said.
ViacomCBS and Dish Network renewed their carriage agreement bringing ViacomCBS content to Dish and Sling TV subscribers, they said Monday.