Nearly half of HBO’s 50 million U.S. subscribers by the end of 2025 will be HBO Max direct-to-consumer streaming customers, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told the WarnerMedia Day event Tuesday in Burbank. “We have a running start.” HBO “linear” and HBO Now U.S. subscribers will number about 34 million by Dec. 31, eligible to get HBO Max free when the $14.99 monthly service launches in May, he said. About 10 million of those subscribers are on AT&T’s “video platforms,” and they, too, will be “immediately eligible” for HBO Max “at no additional charge,” he said. WarnerMedia will work with distributors to move other HBO and HBO Now customers to HBO Max, no extra charge, he said. “We’ll convert as many as we can, as quickly as we can.” Annual “incremental revenue” from HBO Max is expected to reach $5 billion by the end of 2025, said Stephens.

Streaming retransmission service Locast is in Seattle, its 16th market, the Sports Fan Coalition-run service said Wednesday. SFC founder David Goodfriend also emailed that broadcasters' motion to dismiss (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-07136) Locast counterclaims (see 1909270013) was expected. Broadcasters suing Locast for copyright infringement (see 1907310043) said Locast's "conspiracy theories" don't add up to a legal claim because it doesn't have standing to challenge the strength of TV stations' broadcast signals or to challenge the retransmission consent fees paid by MVPDs. The broadcasters said Locast hasn't alleged any of them conspired to say anything to any potential Locast business partner.

SiriusXM programming will be available within a week on Google Assistant devices such as Google Nest speakers and displays, allowing subscribers to request channels by voice, said the companies Wednesday. It's a holiday season lure, offering eligible customers who buy a Nest or Home device three free months of SiriusXM programming. Customers who already own a Google Nest or Google Home device are expected to be offered three months of SiriusXM with the purchase of a SiriusXM All Access or SiriusXM Premier streaming subscription. SiriusXM also plans to offer its Select, All Access and Premier streaming subscriptions at promotional rates bundled with a Google Nest Hub, they said. Smart speakers are “a great way to extend the reach of SiriusXM in-home,” as part of a strategy for "growing our position outside the car," said CEO Jim Meyer in April (see 1904220061).

The “highly competitive” pay-TV industry, with its "expensive content and network deals,” will prompt Sony Interactive Entertainment to shut down the PlayStation Vue streaming service in January, blogged Deputy President John Kodera Tuesday. “We have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business,” said Kodera. “PlayStation fans can continue to access movie and TV content through the PlayStation Store on PS4 and via our partnerships with top entertainment apps.”

Comcast's Peacock streaming service launching in April won't try to replicate Netflix and other subscription VOD services, but instead will focus on advertising support and a mix of nonexclusive content, originals and acquired exclusives like The Office, NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke said Thursday on a Q3 call. He said Universal will continue to sell its motion pictures to premium networks like HBO. Q3 revenue was $26.8 billion, flat year over year on pro forma basis, with Comcast having added Sky in Q4 2018. Comcast ended the quarter with 26 million residential broadband subscribers, up 1.2 million; 20.4 million residential video customers, down 560,000; and 9.95 million residential voice customers, down 220,000. Mobile subscribers numbered 1.8 million, up 800,000. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said monthly data usage of its broadband subscribers has more than doubled over the past three years. He said NBC topped prime time ratings for adults ages 18 to 49 for the sixth consecutive 52-week season. He said its NBCUniversal and Sky are starting work on joint production of content and are creating a global news channel. Asked about Comcast interest in the citizens band radio service auction or C-band or millimeter-wave spectrum for its mobile business, Roberts said it "will always be opportunistic" when looking at means of offloading wireless traffic from its Verizon mobile virtual network operator to its own network. Asked when cord-cutting trends might level off, analysts were told the operator's focus is on video profitability and that might mean customers receiving lower-end or promotional video packages could be moved to broadband-only packages instead.

Vizio will release a software update next month designed to speed startup time for its SmartCast TV operating system, said Amanda Cross, Vizio senior manager-product marketing, at a Tuesday media walk-through in New York. The performance improvements of SmartCast 3.5, rolling out mid-November and expected to be complete by year-end, will cut the boot time from cold start to powering on the TV in half. The update will refresh all Vizio SmartCast TVs back to 2016 models, Cross said, fitting Vizio’s marketing message that its TVs bring value to new customers and to the existing user base. The update also accelerates load time of apps that “used to take a bit of time” by five times, Cross said. Users will be able to return to the SmartCast homepage quickly from other apps, improving the search and browse experience, she said, including from AirPlay. For the holidays, Vizio will push added value from the SmartCast performance update, which it says eliminates the need for an external streaming stick. It will also spotlight “really competitive holiday pricing" including some prices exclusive to specific retailers, she said.

Fox and Charter Communications renewed their distribution agreement that includes cooperation on tackling piracy and password sharing, the cable operator said Monday. The agreement covers Fox TV stations, Fox News, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, BTN and Fox Deportes, including VOD and TV Everywhere rights for those networks.

Netflix forecast a year-over-year decline in Q4 paid net subscriber additions, and factored into that projection that “a few new competitors” are launching streaming services “in the near term,” said Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann on Q3 Wednesday evening. “Inevitably, there is probably going to be some curiosity and some trial of those competitive service offerings,” said Neumann. “We're just trying to be prudent about our Q4 forecast.” The outlook for 7.6 million paid net adds includes a 61 percent decline in the U.S. Overseas paid net adds are expected to decline 4 percent. That Netflix will have recorded nearly 27 million net paid adds in 2019 makes this “a tremendously strong year,” said Neumann. It had 5 million paid net adds in the U.S. in 2018 and this year is forecasting a decline to 2.6 million, said CEO Reed Hastings. “So the gap's almost entirely in the U.S.” Disney “is going to be a great competitor,” and so will Apple, he said. “All of us are competing with linear TV.” Just as “multiple cable networks” competed with broadcast TV and not with one another over the past 30 years, “it's the same kind of dynamic here,” he said. The stock closed 2.8 percent higher Thursday at $294.30.

Netflix exceeded its Q3 paid net subscriber addition target internationally but fell short of its mark in the U.S., reported the company Wednesday. The company had 6.26 million paid net adds overseas, slightly above its July target of 6.2 million. The 520,000 paid net adds in the U.S. were 35 percent below the targeted 800,000. Internationally, Q3 was a rebound for Netflix, which significantly underperformed in Q2 against its paid net subscriber addition targets (see 1907170070). “As we’ve improved the variety, diversity and quality of our content slate, member engagement has grown, revenue has increased, and we’re able to further fund our content investment,” said Netflix. Total paid net adds of increased 12 percent year over year “and was an all-time Q3 record,” it said. Paid net adds in the U.S. were down 48 percent from the same 2018 quarter. The launch of new competitive streaming services will be “noisy,” said Netflix. “There may be some modest headwind to our near-term growth, and we have tried to factor that into our guidance. In the long-term, though, we expect we’ll continue to grow nicely given the strength of our service and the large market opportunity.” The company is forecasting 600,000 paid net adds for Q4 in the U.S., 7 million internationally. Total paid net adds of 7.6 million would be a 14 percent decline from the 2018, including a 4 percent decline internationally. The stock rose 8.4 percent after regular trading to $310.20.

Quality of user interface plays a major role in whether U.S. video subscribers recommend their over-the-top service, Parks Associates said. Seventy percent of U.S. broadband households with a major video service consider the interface good, with nearly half rating it “very good,” Parks said in a blast emailed Wednesday and dated Monday, with quality of UI and ease of finding content the most relevant factors driving willingness to recommend a service. A fifth of households that canceled an OTT subscription cited inability to find something to watch. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon “have largely set the standard for content navigation and ease of use,” said analyst Kristen Hanich. "As new OTT services launch with greater and greater expectations, innovations in UIs could be an even greater differentiator." When searching for something to watch, 12 percent of OTT users consider recommendations from the service as their first step, said Parks. Apple TV owners give high marks to that UI.