The Cable Show illustrated the industry “IS moving to a...
The Cable Show illustrated the industry “IS moving to a usage-based pricing model” for broadband, wrote an analyst who attended the event in Boston that ended Wednesday. As Internet Protocol-based “solutions become more prevalent, there is no question” operators “are…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
moving to a tiered (i.e. usage based) pricing model,” Marci Ryvicker of Wells Fargo told investors on Thursday. “At this point, smaller operators are already there -- we heard from several groups who charge not only per speed but also per byte.” There are “more obstacles to an ALL IP-based solution than we realized,” she said. “There may be enough speed, but there is not enough bandwidth, which could ’tax’ the viewer experience.” And “not everyone WANTS to consume video over IP,” and video sent that way means operators won’t get to insert local ads in programming as they do now on some traditional cable channels, Ryvicker said. “Consensus is that this is a 7-10 year process” toward IP streaming by operators, she continued. On the TV Everywhere initiative by programmers to stream to cable subscribers their channels, it’s “apparent that both content and distribution are embracing” it, the analyst said. “The key to this concept becoming a real catalyst lies with an enhanced measurement system that captures viewership regardless of distribution platform,” which is “getting closer,” she added. Retransmission consent negotiations between operators and TV stations, which some cable executives say is “the worst yet,” won’t likely change “anytime soon,” Ryvicker said, “as regulators remain relatively hands-off with the exception of shared service agreements, which are currently under review via an NPRM at the FCC."