Media Heads Vent TV Everywhere Frustrations in Public

Increasingly, C-level media executives are publicly expressing their frustration with the slow rollout of TV Everywhere services by multichannel pay-TV operators.

Discovery Communications President and CEO David Zaslav on Wednesday said he was “disappointed” with TV Everywhere adoption by cable, satellite and telecom distributors.

Late last month, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and News Corp. COO Chase Carey agreed that the rollout of TV Everywhere services needed to happen “faster.”

“TV Everywhere” refers to the delivery of TV content, including live and on-demand programming, from a pay-TV provider to any device through the Internet. These services are authenticated, meaning that subscribers must log in using their pay TV account to gain access to the content.

Zaslav, who was speaking at the TV 3.0 Summit in New York, warned that new competitors -- most likely over-the-top (OTT) providers -- would step in to fill the void if cable, satellite and telecom distributors don’t make TV Everywhere a greater priority. He acknowledged that access to content and the ability to measure consumption across platforms presented a problem for pay-TV operators and media companies alike, but "if it doesn't happen, you will see someone else coming in," he said.

“We’ve just got to do it faster,” Time Warner’s Bewkes had said of TV Everywhere at The Cable Show in Boston last month. Carey agreed, adding: “we get too hung up on protecting the rules of the past.”

Despite the calls for speed, Parks Associates’ Brett Sappington notes in a recent column: “TV Everywhere can boast one of the fastest rollouts in TV services history.” 

In the same column, Sappington also points out that these services have a serious visibility problem: fewer than 25 percent of subscribers to the big pay-TV services (cable, satellite and telecom) are aware that TV Everywhere services are available to them. “This lack of subscriber awareness negates the efficacy of TV Everywhere as a tool to combat OTT services and underscores the marketing challenges for providers going forward,” he writes. 

2 comments about "Media Heads Vent TV Everywhere Frustrations in Public".
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  1. Dan Auito from Next Century Studios, June 8, 2012 at 11:41 a.m.

    Perfect opportunity for those who want to do their own shows on the web. By properly Key-wording, tagging, titling and describing, even the little upstart can be everywhere. (On Demand).
    The game has changed and these C-Level fat cats are only going to get more discouraged as reality sets in!
    Dan Auito COO www.ncs.tv

  2. Joe Q Bretz from One Pass Media, June 10, 2012 at 12:35 p.m.

    Could not agree more with Dan. But it is not just considered the "web" any longer, what is the difference between the web and "OTT"? The delivery is the same, just a different larger (or smaller) screen, any screen you want it and when you want it.

    Combatting OTT services is only going to push consumers more and more to other options of viewing. TV Everywhere services give the SAME viewing options and experience on a different screen- who wants that?

    "OTT" provides the consumer and content provider the ability to offer multi-channel programming along with better ways of monetizing the content they have worked so hard to provide. Boxee, Roku and yes, even Google TV have truly "Democratized" content.

    As Dan also points out - the game has changed and just like the music business, "You snooze, you lose" in this case it's your subscribers.

    Please support the hard working guys at Boxee and the others who have truly created a revolution. They haven truly given a voice and ability for all of us.

    Joe Q. Bretz
    President
    The Digital Development Group (OTCBB)DIDG
    www.digidev.com

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