Stay-at-home viewing raised the profile of ad-supported VOD, a Parks Associates virtual conference was told last week. Acquisitions in AVOD including Pluto TV by ViacomCBS in 2019 (see 1903040002), Xumo by Comcast in February (see 2002250059) and Tubi by Fox in April (see 2004200070) raised the profile of the category, said Parks analyst Steve Nason. NBCUniversal further disrupted this space, launching the hybrid Peacock service first through its affiliate Comcast and with Cox customers, then broadly in July. Parks believes AVOD will continue to gain on subscription VOD services as they offer more exclusive content and other benefits. Among U.S. broadband households viewing AVOD in Q3, 9% watched Pluto TV, 8% The Roku Channel, 7% Tubi TV and 6% Peacock. Tubi got more engagement before the pandemic, said Vice President-Business Development Andrea Clarke-Hall. “The pandemic accelerated what was already happening.” Stefan Van Engen, Xumo senior vice president-content programming and partnerships, said fewer commercials and better overall user experience drive engagement. Ad targeting helps, said Henry Embleton, head-ad products and revenue at hybrid AVOD-SVOD anime streamer Crunchyroll.
Comcast's FreeWheel agreed to buy software-as-a-service advertising company Beeswax, FreeWheel said Thursday. This expands FreeWheel’s programmatic marketplace capabilities in TV and video ads, including connected TV and set-top box VOD, it said. Terms weren't disclosed. The deal is expected to close next month, pending approvals.
Seven months after launching without two of the leading streaming video platforms (see 2005270033), HBO Max is widely available from most major providers and platforms, arriving on Roku players and TVs Thursday (see 2012160064). That follows availability on PlayStation 5 consoles Wednesday and Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex devices Tuesday. Wonder Woman 1984 debuts Christmas Day. The movie -- the first on HBO Max available in 4K Ultra HD, HDR 10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos -- will be viewable to HBO Max subscribers for one month at no additional cost, said WarnerMedia. The $14.99-per-month service became available on Amazon Fire TV devices last month (see 2011160026). Existing HBO subscribers on the Roku platform will get HBO Max as an automatic update, and they can log in using existing HBO credentials. Other Roku users can download WarnerMedia’s video service from the Roku channel.
FuboTV can benefit from “cord-nevers” who prefer customizable TV bundles of streaming content to “pre-determined MVPD programming,” Wedbush's Michael Pachter wrote investors: Its “lead with sports” strategy and competitive pricing offer avid sports fans “the first comprehensive alternative to pay-TV." Sports has been the “hook” to reel in subscribers to pay TV, while news and entertainment increase viewer engagement, he noted Tuesday. Cord cutters and shavers are a 30 million addressable market, likely growing by 3 million yearly, said the analyst. The stock closed 12% higher Wednesday at $29.70.
Fuse Media's carriage complaint with the FCC against AT&T (see 2012140052) is expanding to U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In a complaint Tuesday (docket 20-51049, in Pacer) with the court in Wilmington, Delaware, Fuse accused AT&T and its DirecTV of breach of contract and tortious interference with contracts. It said its AT&T contracts are its most valuable assets and vital to its success beyond its 2019 bankruptcy reorganization. The heavily redacted complaint said AT&T and a third-party programmer swapped confidential Fuse information, costing Fuse in contract negotiations. Fuse asked for unspecified damages. AT&T emailed Wednesday that it "treat[s] all programmers fairly, including Fuse. This meritless lawsuit is nothing more than a last-ditch attempt by Fuse’s creditors to force us and our customers to pay for channels our customers don’t want or value.”
Pearl TV and its ATSC 3.0 partners in the Phoenix model market began initial testing over limited cable infrastructure through a cooperative effort with Comcast in Portland, Oregon. This “could give the industry a foundation for a ‘real world’ technical example of how to transmit ATSC 3.0 over hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure,” said Pearl Tuesday. Seven stations are on-air with NextGenTV in Portland, “so it makes sense to work with a major operator in the area like Comcast to determine what’s needed to distribute this new capability to cable customers,” said Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle. The first stages will develop the technical capability to pass along 4K content and later enable HDR10, wide color gamut and advanced immersive audio, said Pearl.
Cable One's Sparklight broadband service extended pandemic-related service allowances through 2021, it said Monday. Relaxed terms include a $10 monthly rate the first three months for its 15 Mbps service for low-income families, college students and seniors, free access to public Wi-Fi hot spots and its participation in the K-12 Bridge to Broadband program.
West Des Moines may have violated Iowa law when it used bonds for urban blight and poverty to build a $50 million municipal network for Google Fiber, Mediacom said Thursday. The cable company sought an injunction against the city in Iowa District Court for Polk County. “We aren’t asking for any special treatment, just a fair and balanced regulatory environment that allows us to expand our network and compete for the business of West Des Moines consumers,” said Thomas Larsen, Mediacom senior vice president-government and public relations. Google and the city didn’t comment.
Disney asked for an extension on ESPN's current exclusion from the list of top five national nonbroadcast networks subject to FCC audio description rules (see 2011020043). In a docket 11-43 posting Wednesday, it said ESPN doesn't average at least 50 hours per quarter of prime-time non-exempt programming, so audio description regulations don't apply to it.
The AT&T TV Now vMVPD service is effective competition to Comcast and Cox Communications in a variety of Massachusetts communities, which now are exempt from basic cable rate regulation, said a Media Bureau order Monday granting the cablers' petitions (see 1912190070). The bureau pointed to the FCC's similar effective competition order granted to Charter, also based on the vMVPD. The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable is challenging this before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2010080052). The department didn't comment now.