Commentary
Comcast Needs Detailed Strategy To Become Netflix Rival
- by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 12, 2017
Big media companies will say they want to sell their programming to anyone -- for the right price -- even direct competitors. Major TV studio production companies often sell to competitive networks; 21st Century Fox’ “Modern Family” runs on ABC, for example.
Will any of this change in the future -- when it comes to all things digital TV?
Netflix has programming deals with virtually every TV media company, and they pay fairly well. And with big number of subscribers -- now around 50 million U.S. subscribers and 75 million global subscribers, they wield a lot of power.
Now a report from Bloomberg says Comcast wants to start up a subscription video on demand service that will include NBCUniversal programming. What if anything will Netflix get should such a service launch? Maybe they’ll get exactly the same -- or perhaps older NBC episodes.
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Comcast may be thinking about the future, looking perhaps as a hedge against even more powerful leverage from Netflix. Why not?
All this might get more complicated. At the same time, traditional multichannel video program distributors like Comcast are also looking at broader services -- virtual MVPD services which offer live, linear package of networks, not necessarily services that would provide video on demand programming options.
Media companies want to be everywhere TV consumers will go -- nontraditional media SVOD services (like Netflix and Amazon), network-owned SVOD platforms (CBS All Access and HBO Now), as well as live, linear TV network packages (DirecTV Now, Sling TV, Playstation Vue, YouTube TV, and a forthcoming one from Hulu, where Comcast is a co-owner) -- as well as everything in between.
Confusing? Yes -- especially in figuring out what parts of typical TV consumers will buy — and how and where big TV/media company producers will sell their individual TV programs and/or theatrical movies.
Some of this goes back to what legendary cable TV executive John Malone, now chairman of Liberty Media, said about Netflix. It should have been the cable industry that came up with such a company. Comcast Corp. -- the biggest cable TV operator -- might be looking to take up that challenge.
But the environment is much more complex. Does it have a sophisticated plan to make stuff easily to buy -- for consumers and business partners?
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.
Wayne, I would think that Comcast is worried more about the so-called skinny bundles being offered by YouTubeTV and others, including its co-owned ( with Fox and ABC ) Hulu, than with Netflix. If these garner millions of subscribers they will cut into the subscriber base of the cable systems, including Comcast. I would think that, to be successful, Comcast would have to offer more than just NBC content, however.
Comast is the worst of the providers and should get their house in order first before "brancching out"