Over-the-top video offerings are getting worse, making them less of...
Over-the-top video offerings are getting worse, making them less of a threat to traditional pay-TV distributors, UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote in a note to investors. “Although these providers remain a threat, the first generation of OTT competitors are increasingly…
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in the rear-view mirror,” he said. Netflix’s subscriber growth is slowing and that company also has run into problems licensing programming, he said. And reports indicate Hulu may pursue a pay-TV authentication model, he said. “Compared to a few years ago when networks were putting much of the content on the Web for free within hours, or even before its primetime debut, the majority of content now sits behind pay walls and/or is released online days or weeks after its broadcast,” he said. Moreover, Comcast’s recent move to charge broadband subscribers more if they exceed certain usage thresholds also indicates the threat from OTT video distributors is overblown, he said. “We believe that if Comcast were really worried about the longer-term threat of alternative OTT video, it would have kept those data caps firmly in place,” he said. “However, the development of its proprietary IP video platform and its understanding of content providers’ financial motivations will enable it to defend its turf far better than data caps would have,” he said.