2CC: TV Everywhere - the bridge to $$-ware?
Yes, if I’m a cable subscriber, my cable operator will let me watch paid subscription content on web with no additional charge. Test field is being prepared and the players are being lined up. The initiative is drawing significant star participation from both Broadcast and Cable Networks. Hopefully, I can catch-up on Leverage, as I sit through another late night conference call!
While at a concept level, TV Everywhere / Demand Online mean the same, there could be a couple of different approaches how the Cable operators may decide to deliver the content online. A MSO could aggregate the content through its web properties or simply perform authentication and direct the user to the content provider site. If a MSO takes the latter approach, does this limit its ability to build additional revenue streams? Or, as a grand plan will all the MSOs team up to build a giant video aggregator / search site, with the level of partnership that’s happening at the scale of Canoe?
What’s next after TV Everywhere? Let’s get to question about the $$ on the table. There seem to be tremendous monetization opportunities for the MSOs:
a)Follow-me Ads: Extend targeted advertisement from your TV to web. Canoe is already helping them know us better as a household / individuals.
b)Usage based billing: As the adoption of TV Everywhere increases, bring in consumption based billing for broadband service. Maybe, this will drive all broadband providers to seriously contemplate a consumption based model.
c)Video on mobile: Push video to mobile devices -- some of the MSOs are rolling out Wireless Broadband network through the Clearwire venture.
Not to mention that a 3-way video delivery system opens a whole new set of doors for MSOs to re-design / re-price their bundles. Options are many. We could talk about bundles later…
Definitely a great time to be in the cable industry and TV Everywhere initiative has stirred some action. For those who want to catch-up on TV Everywhere, Knowledge @Wharton (registration may be required) posted a neat article on the subject, analyzing Cable industry’s strategy – if it was playing offense or defense. I’ll be curious to watch where TV Everywhere goes from here. Do you think the other Multichannel providers including the Telcos and DBS operators will also get on the same train?
