Sponsored By
A recent poll conducted on Telco Transformation found that TV broadcasters would be best advised to develop their own streaming services, rather than partner with pay-TV providers or other third parties.
This way, they can own the entire distribution process, have a direct relationship with the consumer and control the user experience from end-to-end. As one respondent put it, "…enabling streaming is important because of how prolific mobile viewing has become -- and that trend is going to continue up and to the right (especially among young people)."
Increasingly broadcasters are developing their own streaming services, aimed at younger viewers and cord-cutters, who prefer to get their content via connected devices rather than traditional pay-TV. But they often have to balance their direct-to-consumer strategies with their pay-TV relationships, or risk losing access to millions of TV homes and lucrative carriage fees they are paid by those pay-TV providers.
Respondents were asked "Should broadcasters develop their own streaming services?" Close to half our respondents -- 46% -- said that broadcasters should launch their own streaming services and take ownership of the end user's video experience.
Less than 5% (4.6%) of respondents said they should partner with a pay-TV provider. That is an interesting response, given that our readership comes primarily from the telecom community -- with many respondents working for companies that offer pay-TV services today.
In fact, the second most selected option was "No - they should partner with an existing OTT provider," with 27.3% -- just over a quarter -- selecting that option. According to one respondent, "They should partner rather than create new services. There are many streaming services already. Adding yet another doesn't make sense."
However, it would seem several of our respondents don't hold out much hope for the long-term survival of the broadcast industry, with almost one in every seven (13.6%) selecting "Who cares? They're toast anyway."
One respondent said, "I think the potential attacks on the broadcast revenue streams are only in their infancy and will grow far stronger with time … One way or another we're stumbling toward a la carte, micropayments, and all-to-all networking, and that will finish off the broadcasters."
That particular respondent did end his comment on a positive note, however: "But, hey, toast is yummy. It will be nice to have access to so much of it."
— Aditya Kishore, Practice Leader, Video Transformation, Telco Transformation
