A day after Charter Communications announced a joint venture with Comcast to create a streaming platform based on the latter’s Flex broadband-only product, chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said that he sees a day when the bulk of its Spectrum video customers receive service via internet protocol delivery. He called the Comcast partnership a step in that direction. 

“I expect that incrementally most of our customer base will be all-IP,” Rutledge said after being asked about the JV on Charter’s Q1 earnings conference call with analysts. He added that unused video spectrum can be recaptured and used to increase broadband speeds or provide additional capacity over time.

In a research note Friday, MoffettNathanson senior analyst Craig Moffett noted that if the Flex box does become Charter’s new set-top, effectively moving all of its video to IP-based apps, it would free up enormous amounts of capacity. 

Rutledge didn’t say when that would happen, and what he said is something that cable operators have been quietly moving toward for years. But it was a public admission that cable is acknowledging that streaming is becoming the dominant force in video. This is coming from one of the better performers in the video space — Charter lost about 112,000 video customers in Q1, compared to a loss of 512,000 video subs for Comcast. Later on the call, Rutledge said that he still believes in the video business and Charter’s ability to keep its pay TV losses low can be attributed to its knack for packaging.

“We’re continuously improving the rights structures around what we’re able to sell,” Rutledge said. “It’s been difficult because of the way historically video’s been packaged in this very fat, expensive bundle that is driven by sports rights costs. We’ve been able to get some of the content out of that ecosystem and put it into tiers and we’re successfully selling those. I think that over time, we’ll be able to build a very nice video business.” 

Also: Could Comcast’s and Charter’s New Streaming Platform Be the Launching Pad for Something Bigger? 

That’s a key point, and whether or not Rutledge was making it as a hint of bigger things to come, being able to package video correctly is going to be crucial going forward no matter what delivery system is used. I talk a lot about the day when cable operators will aggregate streaming apps and sell them in bundles, replacing the current video model — and Rutledge has hinted at that in the past, too. But with streamers starting to feel the pressure from high costs, competition and viewer fatigue, having someone with a proven track record driving subscriptions could be invaluable. Whether they take the industry up on it remains to be seen.

Maybe streamers are beginning to learn their lesson. Netflix, after years of saying they didn’t care if subscribers shared passwords, last month said they would crack down on the practice. Other streamers are keeping a closer eye on password sharing, something that Rutledge warned about years ago. 

And though it would have been easy to gloat about Netflix’s current dilemma, aside from a brief “I-told-you-so” joke, Rutledge took the high road, pointing out that the practice affects the entire media industry. 

“It’s not just a problem for the companies that are not controlling their passwords, it’s a problem for everybody in the industry, because all of that content that comes out without anybody paying for it affects the supply and demand of all content, not just the provider that is selling the content,” Rutledge said. “[That] diminishes the value of content for everybody, which is a point we had been trying to make for years.”

Another plus for Charter is that Rutledge actually likes the video business. He doesn’t see it as an albatross, or as a roadblock to offering more profitable broadband service, but as a good product in a growing lineup of good products. It helps that he has seen the various transformations of that product over the years, and not just in video. During the call, he was asked how he felt about the explosion of new fiber builds and fixed wireless offerings geared at taking broadband share away from cable. 

“There have been periods in my cable career where sentiment has gone up and down, and my sentiment has remained the same,” Rutledge said. “I think it [broadband] is a great business and I think we have a great opportunity to continue to grow the business successfully. When everybody’s euphoric it’s probably odd, and when everybody’s pessimistic it’s odd, and I’m unchanged.” ▪️

Apple CEO Tim Cook said proposed new privacy and antitrust regulations being teed up could put iPhone users’ privacy and security at risk.

Cook spoke at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit Tuesday (April 12) in Washington.

He said Apple supports a strong, comprehensive national privacy law, but said he is “deeply concerned” about regulations “that would undermine privacy and security in service of some other aim.” That aim would be competition.

In the name of competition, Cook said, some are taking steps to allow apps without privacy protections to circumvent App Store safeguards and “track users against their will.”

One example is the Open Markets Act, which would reduce the control that Apple and Google have over their respective app stores.

Cook countered the argument that new regulations directed at app stores would simply give people more choice and cause no harm. He said taking away a more secure option would leave users with less choice, not more.

He said he wanted to make clear that Apple supports competition that drives innovation and recognizes that supporters of antitrust rules have good intentions. But if Apple is forced to allow unvetted apps onto its phones, he said, the unintended consequences will be “profound.”

He said Apple is obliged to speak up, and would continue to speak up, to convince well-intentioned policymakers not to undermine privacy in the process.

Regulations must be crafted to protect fundamental rights, he said, and there is much to gain if Washington gets it right. ■

Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Mike Johnson (R-La.) have teamed up to call on Big Tech to create a rating board for apps and adopt ratings comparable to those for video games, movies and music.

While there have been ratings boards for movies, music and video games for a couple of decades, the relatively newer world of apps has no such body, with ratings often provided by the app creator.

That congressional call for action comes in a just-introduced “Fix Apps Ratings” House resolution. Such resolutions don't have the force of law, but signal the sense of Congress on an issue  — and the implied threat that if action doesn't happen voluntarily, some of those House members might legislate to make it so.

The idea of the industry-run ratings board is to streamline age-appropriate ratings, as well as parental controls that are easy to use, “digital wellness features” and other tools to help kids online.

The resolution comes in the wake of a Facebook whistleblower’s revelations about internal company research finding that some teen Instagram users said using the app made them feel worse about themselves and even prompted thoughts of suicide, though Facebook counters that the majority of teens polled found instagram was helpful, not harmful.

“For too long, apps have been allowed to serve as hubs for bullying, sexually explicit material and other forms of content that jeopardize children’s safety, self-image and overall well-being,” Johnson said.

Both legislators argue that app ratings are often inaccurate, inconsistent, or not specific enough,  while parental controls are too complex or depend on ratings “self assigned” by app developers.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) gave the effort a big thumbs up.

“The technology industry must take responsibility for ensuring apps are rated accurately,” center CEO Dawn Hawkins said. “Parents are left in the dark about the kind of content their children are accessing because app ratings are misleading or inaccurate. … For instance, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are rated 12-plus, but these social media platforms and others have left children vulnerable to potential predators and harmful content. Tech platforms should focus on defaulting to safety, thereby putting the health and wellbeing of children above profit.”

The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee have written Apple CEO Tim Cook telling him the company needs to send a witness to its upcoming hearing on mobile app competition and app stores.

In their letter, Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and ranking member Mike Lee (R-Utah) said that the company has known for weeks that the subcommittee was planning an April hearing--it has yet to be scheduled--and was even in discussions about who it would send when "a little more than two weeks [16 days] before the planned hearing, Apple abruptly declared that it would not provide any witness," they said.

Also Read: Apple Privacy Labels Draw Hill Flak

Given that the company has been willing to discuss the issue in other forums, they said its refusal to do so in their hearing was "unacceptable," elaborating on just how many times Apple has been willing to weigh in. 

"Earlier this year, Apple provided witnesses to testify before the North Dakota Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives to oppose state bills that would regulate the very same conduct that the Subcommittee intends to explore," they wrote. "You testified before the House Antitrust Subcommittee regarding these same issues last year. And on the exact day Apple informed the Subcommittee that it would not provide a witness for an April hearing, the New York Times released a podcast interview in which you discuss competition issues relating to Apple’s App Store, including Apple’s pending litigation with Epic Games."

Also Read: D.C. Ticked Off at Big Tech Big Time

They urged Cook to reverse course and send someone.

A bipartisan House resolution has been introduced that would call on tech and app development companies to create an app rating board as a way to help parents protect kids from "dangerous and exploitative" apps by "enforc[ing] consistent and accurate age and content ratings of apps on internet-ready devices." 

It would also call on technology companies to provide user-friendly and streamlined parental controls.  

A resolution has no force of law, but expresses the sense of Congress about what it wants to happen, sort of a "speak loudly but carry no stick" legislative effort. 

Those tech companies and app developers would have to come up with a definition of what content would trigger what rating and impose sanctions for noncompliance. 

As to parental controls, the legislators want the tech companies to: 

(A) "manufacture internet-ready devices, including iPhones, Android devices, and Chromebooks, with user-friendly parental controls; 

(B) "close loopholes that permit the bypassing of parental controls; 

(C) "build in age-based, default safety settings; and 

(D) "provide selective app shutoff for bedtime and school hours." 

It is just the latest volley from the Hill aimed at Silicon Valley. 

Introducing the bill were Reps. Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Ben McAdams (D-Utah). 

Just as parents, and he included himself, have used movie, video and music ratings to help decide safe content for their kids, Johnson said, "it’s time for Big Tech to step-up and do its part to make sure children are protected from dangerous and exploitative app content,” by supplying those parents with content ratings. "For too long, apps have been allowed to serve as hubs for bullying, pornography and other types of content that jeopardize children’s safety and well-being," he said. 

McAdams pointed to 30 online predators arrested in Salt Lake City in a four-day period last month and said parents everywhere need "accurate and complete information" about the apps their kids and access and the parental controls they can use. 

“Greater transparency and accountability in app ratings is vital in the modern digital landscape, where children are often exposed to hardcore pornography before puberty or groomed for sexual abuse or sex trafficking on apps that claim to be safe and age-appropriate," said Patrick Trueman, president of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. "The National Center on Sexual Exploitation applauds this resolution which calls on the technology community to do its part to provide accurate content and risk information."

Netflix has gone through with a plan to cut Apple out of a 15%-30% share of subscription revenue on sign-ups made through its app store.

Previously, if a user downloaded the Netflix app through Apple’s App Store and used the built-in billing system found in iPhones and iPads, Apple would take a cut of each month’s subscription bill.

Netflix started testing a system that restricts users from using the in-app billing option, requiring them to go directly to the Netflix website to sign up. And according to Venture Beat, the subscription streaming service has quietly deployed that system.

For both Netflix and Apple, the revenue consequences are significant.

According to Sensor Tower, which tracks the app business, the Netflix app was the No. 1 grossing app in the U.S. for Apple’s App Store in November. The Netflix app generated $243.7 million in the third quarter, a 90% year over year increase.

Netflix has collected an estimated $1.4 billion through app marketplaces on Apple and Google to date. 

Armed with a new study on kids and advertising apps, a group of advocates asked the FTC to investigate Android apps targeted to kids five and under, alleging many are unfair and/or deceptive.

The FTC is empowered to punish unfair or deceptive conduct through its Sec. 5 authority.

The groups want the commission to hold app developers to account for those alleged unfair and deceptive practices (disguising ads as being part of a game, for example), including marketing the apps that require in-app purchases as "free" and manipulating children to access advertising.

The study is from the University of Michigan and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. It looked at 135 kids apps and found various "troubling" practices including ads disguised as game play, 'beloved" characters encouraging kids to make in-app purchases (so-called "host selling).

The study, of family mobile device use, reviewed 39 apps (35 free and 4 paid), and 96 (50 free and 46 paid) of the "most popular apps," which it defined as the apps for ages 5 and under most frequently downloaded from the Google Play store. The majority of the apps had been downloaded at last 10 million times, according to the study.

Related: FTC Allows Online Command Collection Without Parental OK

The study found that 95% of the apps contained at least one type of advertising, much of it embedded in the games in what was described as "manipulative" ways, such as requiring viewing ads to unlock game items or trying to get kids to pay for game items or buy a paid version of the game. 

“This groundbreaking study demonstrates that popular apps for preschoolers are rife with marketing that takes unfair advantage of children’s developmental vulnerabilities,” said CCFC Executive Director Josh Golin in a statement. “Disguising ads as part of game play and using cartoon characters to manipulate children into making in-app purchases is not only unethical, but illegal. We urge the FTC to take swift and decisive action to hold app developers accountable for their unfair and deceptive marketing.”

Why no issues with Apple apps? "The researchers found that most of these apps are available from Apple as well—it was just that their research focused on Google," said a spokesperson for the group. 

Lead groups on the letter were the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) (with an assist from the
Communications & Technology Law Clinic in the Institute for Public Representation (“IPR”) at Georgetown University Law Center.

Signing on to the letter were Badass Teachers Association, Centre for Child Honouring, Color of Change, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog, Corporate Accountability, Defending the Early Years, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Media Education Foundation, New Dream, Open MIC (Open Media and Information Companies Initiative), Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, Parents Across America, Parents Television Council, Peace Educators Allied for Children Everywhere (P.E.A.C.E.), Public Citizen, the Story of Stuff, TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Childhood Entertainment), and USPIRG.

Cheddar has reached a carriage agreement with the National Cable Television Co-operative, bringing the self-proclaimed post-cable networks company’s content to more than 750 small and medium-sized cable operators with over eight million customers.

According to Cheddar, NCTC members with high-speed data customers will be able to add Cheddar access via its website and applications in the coming months.

Cheddar is a live business news network focusing on technology. NCTC members will have access to Cheddar’s linear network as well as video on demand.

“Cheddar is directly addressing several key needs our members have including a unique approach to news, flexible carriage, mobile device app enabled, the ability to offer via IP set top app and/or traditional linear channel with accompanying VOD access. We were able to work quickly with Cheddar and believe they will be a nimble partner for our members in the evolving world of new video business models,” said NCTC CEO Rich Fickle in a statement.

NCTC members will be able to launch Cheddar as a linear channel along with the optional VOD library. In addition, the content can be accessed via a Cheddar app on mobile devices and certain IP enabled set top boxes later this year.

For NCTC member operators that provide high-speed data, Cheddar is offering their subscribers access to the networks via authentication. Starting later this year, existing subscribers will be able to log on to Cheddar’s website and associated apps and enter their cable credentials to begin receiving content.

“This master agreement allows any NCTC cable system to turn Cheddar on for their subscribers,” said Cheddar VP business development Daniel Schneider in a statement. “We are thrilled to offer Cheddar to the entire NCTC footprint, enabling over 8 million TV and broadband subscribers to catch the latest news, headlines, and interviews with top business executives.”

Cheddar was founded in 2016 by former Buzzfeed president and chief operating officer Jon Steinberg. A self-proclaimed post-cable network, Cheddar has two channels -- tech business focused Cheddar TV and headline news channel Cheddar Big News. The networks are currently available on Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Snapchat, fuboTV, Philo, Amazon, Twitter, 60% of smart TVs in the U.S., and Facebook.

The NCTC deal comes on the heels of another Cheddar TV launch across about 400,000 homes in overbuilder WideOpenWest‘s footprint.

“WOW! consistently works to improve our products and services and provide the most sought-after technologies and programming to our customers,” WOW senior vice president video programming Roger Seiken said in a statement. “With the addition of Cheddar, our customers can now experience a new take on business news broadcast directly from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The innovative and captivating delivery of news for a millennial audience is a perfect addition to WOW!’s TV channel lineup.”

Tunity, a startup that has built a mobile app that lets users hear live audio streams while viewing muted televisions, has snatched a sizable round of funding as it looks to pursue a business model based on providing key insights on out-of-home TV viewing, as well as targeted advertising opportunities.

Fresh off a $12 million A round — and a signed partnership with MGM Resorts — Tunity is now starting to fine tune its business plans, along with its mobile app and cloud-based platform; together, the app and platform enable consumers watching muted TVs in venues such as sports bars, airports, waiting rooms or gyms to stream a channel’s synced-up audio feed on their smartphones.

Tunity claims its app, available for Android and iOS mobile devices, has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. It currently supports more than 100 channels in the U.S., including ABC, AMC, Bravo, CBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, ESPN and beIN Sports, among dozens of others.

To enable the video-audio synchronization, users of Tunity’s mobile app are directed to scan nearby TVs so its cloud-based deep learning technology can identify the live video stream and match it with the right audio feed, which is then streamed to the user’s smartphone.

Under this process, the scan from the user’s mobile phone sends that information, including a few captured video frames and the user’s location, to Tunity’s platform, which analyzes the images and the location to determine the correct live TV channel.

From there, it creates a system time stamp to ensure that the audio that’s streamed to the smartphone is synchronized as closely as possible to the video that users are viewing.

New Stamping Grounds
As for that deep-learning bit, Tunity uses all of this data to constantly “train” its servers to improve its time-stamping and synchronization capabilities.

Rather than one-off attempts at this synchronization, Tunity’s system has an historical database that, it claims, helps the system’s “neural network” become better over time on an almost linear basis, Yaniv Davidson, Tunity’s founder, explained. “The more data you have, the better your algorithm and the better that your neural network works,” he said.

Related: Big Data Getting Bigger Thanks to Mobile Apps, Report Says

Tunity’s location-based system (using the phone’s WiFi or cellular connection) is also in place to ensure that users are getting the audio when they are in front of or somehow nearby the TV, and can’t simply set the scan to receive the audio stream and then go on their merry way. If users move away from the TV (perhaps by as much as 100 to 160 meters), the audio stream is shut off and they are given a notice to rescan in order to restart it.

Tunity is experimenting with its business models and exploring future revenue opportunities.

Selling data and insight on out-of-home viewing to programmers and other partners is a model that it’s initially looking into.

For its part, Nielsen has acknowledged that out-of-home viewing provides a ratings lift, albeit one that varies by programming type, viewer demographic and age group. Recent data from Nielsen, for example, found that 26% of OOH impressions came from viewers 18-34, versus 32% from viewers 55 or older. However, nearly 60% of OOH impressions come from the core buying demographic, according to Nielsen.

“Out-of-home is going to become a more important part of linear TV,” Davidson said, hopeful that Tunity’s data can complement existing ratings systems or provide some additional second-by-second data to networks.

Tunity is also taking a look at how it can create targeted advertising that is relevant to what the viewer is watching.

Tunity conducted a small experiment during a televised NASCAR race where a native pop-up on the phone asked viewers if they wanted to pre-order the racing game NASCAR Heat Evolution. They could decline it or accept it. If accepted, they would be sent to a dedicated landing page to complete the pre-order process. Davidson said the experiment saw a 20% click-through rate.

Founded in 2014, Tunity has about 20 employees, with offices in New York and Israel.

After cutting its teeth on the Roku platform, Float Left, a privately held company founded in 2009 that specializes in developing and deploying TV apps, has extended a bridge to several other major streaming platforms. The list included Apple TV, mobile, smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Vewd (formerly known as Opera TV).

In addition to developing custom apps for major brands such as Crackle, NBC Sports and AMC, Float Left has also created a white-label TV apps product called Flicast that can help mid-tier brands and smaller players extend onto a growing ecosystem.

While the process of hitting all of those platforms has gotten easier, video publishers are still faced with a fragmented platform market that makes it a challenge to bring a high-performance “native” experience to all (or most) of them.

Related > TV Apps: The Last Mile

Multichannel News technology editor Jeff Baumgartner recently caught up with Float Left CEO Tom Schaeffer to discuss how those challenges are being overcome along with other trends that are affecting the multiscreen video sector. An edited transcript follows.

MCN: Let’s start with the name. What does Float Left refer to in the context of TV apps and your business?
Tom Schaeffer: Unfortunately, it really doesn’t. [Laughs.] When I founded the company, for a very brief time we were a web applications business. We were building web apps. Float Left is a reference to an HTML styling paradigm. It’s a way to lay out items on a web page. We were just sitting around and it was the least terrible name we could think of.

MCN: You develop on a bunch of platforms. Fragmentation has always been seen as a long pole in the tent. Is that still the case when it comes to the biggest tech or operational challenges faced by the industry today?
TS: For companies that are doing this what I’d argue is the right way, which is pure, native development for all of these different platforms, yes, [fragmentation] still presents a huge challenge. You do make up some ground with the smart TV ecosystem, where everything is based in HTML5. But for the platforms that are driving a lot of the ROI for the brand — Apple TV and Roku and [Amazon] Fire TV — those are absolutely independent platforms and require different code and different skill sets.

Part of the strategy we’ve put forth is we want to invest in native. Yes, it’s going to take longer, and yes, it’s going to be more of a technical challenge, but we know the end product and the result that the publishers get when they get that complete suite of apps. It’s an overall better experience. It’s easier for [the publishers] to manage, and it’s easier for us to manage on behalf of them.

We thought with the Smart TV Alliance that this was the first step in a unification of code to make the TV experience better, but really everyone is going in their own direction. And we don’t see that getting better, at least with respect to the platforms that matter to publishers today.

That’s what Flicast is … underneath that is a technology that helps to make this process manageable for us and for the publishers.

MCN: So we’re not yet at a point where it’s code once, deploy everywhere, because there are still enough nuances between these platforms?
TS: If you’re doing one code and you’re deploying everywhere, you’re not truly going native. That does impact performance at the end of the day. From our perspective, it’s still very fragmented. We’re not at a place now, and I don’t think we’ll ever be at a place, where you hit a button and it kind of goes everywhere. It’s more managed in frameworks and tools that we’re developing underneath the surface.

MCN: What platform is the most grueling to develop for in terms of certification? Do they all represent a degree of pain?
TS: They all definitely have their own degree of pain at certain times. Roku certainly has been a challenge. You’d sometimes have a brand that was developed on Apple TV with a rich experience here, but they also love Roku. We would have to build our own screens and make it do things that it wasn’t initially designed to do.

That was back then. Today, it’s become more difficult in just the sheer number of platforms that are required. When you get an app certified on Roku, it’s being tested against dozens of different models and versions. When we develop an app, we go through our own process of quality assurance before we even submit to Roku’s app store.

Just by the nature of those things, that’s still the most challenging platform, but it’s also the most worthwhile, we believe, and the publishers should still be leading with that platform.

MCN: Is there any platform that’s making some recent gains in terms of gravity and interest?
TS: We’re seeing a lot of that with Amazon Fire TV. We think that that’s becoming a platform that publishers [are using] to go direct to consumer. [Amazon has] a wonderful development relationship team that supports the development community, so it’s become a lot better for companies to deploy there. From a publisher’s perspective, Amazon is definitely up there now, whereas a year or two ago they were unsure how it was going to play out.

Apple TV is such a powerful platform. I think the concern there is that the channels, unless you’re a big brand, are just getting lost. And that’s a concern across the board. As far as deploying, and deploying on that platform, tvOS has become one where you can do anything you want nowadays. When we’re talking to folks about where you should distribute, I think that’s a big factor.

The smart TVs are also making big strides. Samsung is doubling down with Tizen, [and] the LG webOS platform is still solid, and I think that’s going to start having a bigger impact next year.

MCN: For your company, where do you see the most growth coming from? Is it from virtual MVPDs, SVOD services or even TV everywhere?
TS: Maybe two years ago, anybody who had a VOD library was trying to get into the game. I think nowadays they’re becoming more savvy and more aware of the challenges. That group of folks is starting to subside. Now we’re starting to see a push by the virtual [multichannel video programming distributors] and operators, and they are now targets of ours. That’s not something we’ve traditionally been targeting, but we are going to be targeting that market now and in the future.

And you’re still seeing a lot of the pay TV programmers that are still trying to figure this out [with] TV everywhere. We’ve just deployed Ovation Now, which is the Ovation network’s direct-to-consumer offering for TV everywhere, and they are on our Flicast platform.

MCN: What sorts of features or enhancements are on the roadmap?
TS: Especially because we’re starting to target the MVPDs, I think [electronic program guides] are going to be something we’ll really start to focus on. We have a solid one that’s a base feature that we’ll start rolling out. We’re taking a lot of lessons learned from big brands.

For example, Crackle has a great feature...an always-on feature, which is basically live video playing in the background with the user interface basically hidden, or brought back into focus depending on if you want to navigate content.

It’s a pattern we’re seeing that [consumers] just want to sit down and watch something. Having to browse endlessly, I think, creates a little bit of friction. Now we’re showing video, and if they want to browse, they can browse, but there’s video playing with the always-on feature. That’s also something we’re integrating into Flicast.

We live in a time when there is an insatiable appetite for video. Ultra short-form content is taking over with Snap, Facebook, and Instagram stories. If your children were born in the last decade, then chances are they were introduced to digital video before they could talk.

The takeaway for service providers is that the competition for eyeballs is fierce and it's only going to get more intense over the next five to 10 years. Staying on top of these trends requires a micro-level understanding of how your audience is engaging with your content. It's all possible with TV Apps.

TV Evolved
TV is evolving in a big way. It's everywhere. Yes, in our living rooms, but also in our pockets. TV means something different for the current generation than it did for us Gen Xers. It means watching what you want when you want to watch it. There are now hundreds of OTT services launching TV apps that are personalized to best suit their audiences' viewing patterns. TV at your fingertips, whenever you want it, and personalized for you? Sorry, there's no going back.

There should be no more disputing the effect that OTT is having on the cable industry, an industry that was once impenetrable from outside competition and disruption. And the cord-cutting movement shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

So What Defines a TV App?
A TV app delivers content to a viewer over the internet and on one of a plethora of internet-connected devices, such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Smart TVs. An app developed and deployed on any of these devices for the purpose of delivering video to a viewer is referred to as a TV app. Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu have deployed TV apps across a variety of internet-connected devices freeing us from pre-programmed content and enticing us to "cut the cord." Whether or not you are a cord-cutter, TV apps are becoming the primary vehicle for viewing today's most popular movies and TV shows. It's important to note that "TV" is being de-coupled from the "Television" in our living rooms. TV is everywhere now.

OTT Services Are Data Driven
OTT, or over-the-top, services allow consumers to watch live and on-demand TV outside of traditional cable services. OTT services are delivered to consumers primarily through TV apps. These apps enable media companies to deliver a much more personalized viewing experience. Also, providers can create detailed metrics for tracking user behavior over the aggregate. Are viewers browsing more than their watching? If so, maybe it's time to reorganize the content. Is the user-interface intuitive enough for my target demographic? Without the proper analytics in place, providers will never know. Basic video analytics isn't sufficient, and often, the platforms that are delivering the video aren't able to capture the app-level analytical information that's required to paint the complete picture.

A Brand-Specific Experience
One of the distinct advantages of TV apps is they can deliver a brand specific experience. And for the media companies moving over to OTT, while trying to enhance engagement and viewership, this is critical. Not only do today's consumers have more control over their viewing patterns, but providers can understand more about their audiences than ever before. Also, having an app that is specific to a particular brand allows that brand to immerse the user and present information whenever and wherever possible. TV apps are a powerful platform for increasing a brand's position in the market.

Engagement and Personalization = Retention and Acquisition
What specific content drives engagement? How long are they watching? How many ads can they tolerate? If I want to have a subscription or transactional viewer, what's the proper price point? Without a firm understanding of these data points, providers will struggle to stay ahead of their audience and keeping them engaged will be next to impossible. Engagement, personalization, and a solid user-experience are required for subscriber acquisition and retention when it comes to OTT.

TV Apps Are the Last Mile
The TV App experience represents the last mile - the culmination of a tremendous amount of work that has gone into the creation or aggregation of a library of high-quality content. Business plans, product plans, roadmaps, production schedules, blood, sweat, and tears... After all that, is there any point in packaging this into a "so-so" viewing experience? Of course not.

When a media company delivers a brand-specific experience to their audience, they create a more personal connection with them which allows them to understand their needs better. 

Doing It Vs. Doing It Right
The biggest barrier to the OTT market is deploying TV apps across a variety of diverse platforms. It also requires an intimate understanding of the OTT ecosystem, platform SDKs, online Video platforms (OVPs), analytics, entitlement, monetization, etc... TV Apps often require dozens of third-party services properly integrated and configured to deliver the expected experience as well as report the correct information back to the service provider.

It's like the cross-country road trip you've been planning for months - the vehicle is essential to maximize the experience.

Vendors that offer TV Apps to service providers should have a proven track record of deploying OTT-specific services. Developing the apps isn't enough—it requires a deeper understanding of the ecosystem and how the various components are needed to work together. Considering how much effort it takes to develop and or acquire engaging content, the TV App should not be an afterthought; in fact, it's the most important part of the equation.

Thomas Schaeffer is CEO of Float Left, a Jupiter, Fla.-based developer of custom TV apps. Photo by KidStock/Getty Images

Just as broadcasters are looking to adopt a more mobile, interactive standard for TV transmissions, a Pew Research Center study has found that 85% of U.S. adults have gotten news from a mobile device, up from 72% last year and 54% in 2013.

The growth has been driven by older demos accessing more mobile news, Pew noted.

Two-thirds of those 65 and older said they get news on a mobile device (67%), up 24 percentage points in just one year. and three times the number who said they did in 2013, Pew said.

Among those ages 50-65, 79% get news on a mobile device.

The older demos are playing catch-up, as more than nine in 10 of those ages 18-49 get news on a mobile device, a figure unchanged from 2016.

Lower-income Americans are also increasing their mobile news use, with about 80% of those making under $30,000 a year saying they get news on mobile devices, twice the number in 2013.

The study was conducted March 13-27 among 4,151 respondents. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

CBS News Nov. 14 announced new TV Everywhere apps for Amazon Fire TV and Android TV, with both offering 360-degree video playback for the first time. A behind-the-scenes look at a gorillas-in-Africa segment for 60 Minutes is the first 360-degree video available.

“Our new apps for Fire TV and Android TV featuring 360-degree video capabilities mark a major step forward in terms of how viewers will experience and interact with news in the future,” said Christy Tanner, senior VP and GM of CBS News Digital, in a statement.

First launched in November 2014, the CBSN apps—also available on Apple TV, PlayStation and Xbox devices, Roku players and iOS—was responsible for 27.2 million individual streams in October, according to the network.

Read more at B&C.

Founded in 2013, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Jaunt has quickly become one of the bigger names in the virtual reality space. The company has perhaps the widest suite of VR offerings: a professional-grade VR camera system (the 24-lens Jaunt One); a suite of VR software solutions (including a cloud-based media manager and VR video player); and a free app with more than 100 cinematic VR videos.

It’s that last item that makes Jaunt stand out, according to Adam Somers, engineering manager for the company, and the reason is simple. Unlike most VR apps out there today, the Jaunt VR app will be ubiquitous upon release Oct. 13, working across platforms and devices, including Android and iOS, the Gear VR, the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, and the PlayStation VR system.

Somers sat down with Chris Tribbey to go over the company’s VR plans, the challenges VR companies face, and the importance of smartphones when it comes to the future of the technology. An edited transcript follows.

NTV: Would you say we’re still in the early days of VR apps, or has the category hit its stride? Why or why not?

ADAM SOMERS: When I joined Jaunt in 2013, we were five people in a tiny office tinkering with 3D printers, action cameras and Legos. Oculus was still a private company just coming off its Kickstarter campaign, and neither Google Cardboard nor Samsung Gear VR existed.

Now we have grown substantially and you could say what started as a loose-knit collection of hackers has become a full-blown industry. That said, we are absolutely in the early days of VR apps. The next three years will see exponential growth as more VR headsets hit the market, brands become more experimental with the medium, and people come to the realization that the smartphone they already own puts the power of VR in their pocket.

NTV: What are the top technical challenges behind VR app creation, development and distribution? What’s being done right, and what can be done better?

AS: As an app developer, Jaunt is intimately familiar with the challenges of VR app creation, but we are also a distribution platform for cinematic VR experiences. We have learned a lot about the challenges that content creators face and the process of multichannel distribution can be absolutely daunting. That’s one of the primary pain points we’re working to solve at Jaunt. We’ve created the only distribution hub that is truly platform-agnostic, capable of seamlessly delivering cinematic VR content to every VR platform. Creators can focus on making great content, and Jaunt seamlessly transcodes and distributes that content across apps on any device — iOS, Android, Gear VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

NTV: What VR app categories (gaming, sports, news, etc.) have worked best to date, and are there categories that haven’t been properly explored yet?

AS: One of the areas that has taken off the fastest is the music category. We’ve already worked with some amazing artists, across all genres, who are more open to pushing creative boundaries and trying new things. VR enables them to connect with their fans in an entirely new way. Paul Mc- Cartney took fans into his home studio for example; that’s an experience no front row ticket could ever buy you.

Travel content has also done really well. The power of virtual reality really lies in its ability to transport people anywhere in the world. So why not head to Nepal one day and the beaches of Rio the next.

NTV: What VR app features are absolute necessities, what features are worth exploring, and what features are overrated or unnecessary?

AS: VR presents a number of must-have features in order to provide a great immersive experience. First and foremost is performance. VR apps must be able to work smoothly at the elevated frame rates and resolutions required by head-mounted displays. This can be a challenge for streaming video applications, which is why Jaunt has put a lot of energy into optimizing our video encoding and streaming technologies.

Also important is responsiveness. Loading screens in VR is very frustrating to users. Jaunt has gone to great lengths in order to minimize loading times in our app and website, which led to some impressive innovations in streaming for 360º video.

Last, but certainly not least, is spatial audio. Audio cues have a direct impact on your sense of presence in the real world, so it is critical that all VR experiences provide spatial audio that reacts to your head motion. That’s why the majority of our content provides soundtracks authored in Ambisonic B-Format or Dolby Atmos.

For cinematic VR, one feature worth exploring is volumetric video or light fields. Room-scale experiences provide the greatest sense of immersion, and commercially viable volumetric video would be a real game-changer. I also think social will play an important part in the future of VR. As can been seen in some of the popular mobile apps, people love being able to share their experiences and ‘tune in’ to what’s going on in their friends’ lives. VR provides an unprecedented opportunity to connect people in a way that feels real but is still completely digital. This is an area that should be explored deeply, and I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon.

NTV: Just how difficult is it to make sure VR apps work across platforms and devices? And is the VR industry hurt at all when apps are tailored to just one headset or platform?

AS: Making VR apps work across platforms and devices is challenging, for sure. Aside from understanding the ins and outs of each computing platform, developers must deal with the idiosyncrasies of the various head-mounted displays and make sure the app adapts properly in order to provide a high-quality, comfortable and immersive experience. Add to that a matrix of PC and smartphone devices to support, and you have a beast of a challenge on your hands! That is why game engine platforms such as Unity and Unreal Engine are almost essential for VR development. The engines do a lot of the heavy lifting for you so you can focus on your technical edge and design a great experience around it.

Jaunt develops for each and every VR platform out there. At this stage, it is important that developers try to be as cross-platform as possible in order to reach a wide audience and boost adoption of VR as a medium.

The inclusion of a Netflix app on cable set-top boxes could unlock one of the few demographic segments that have so far been relatively immune to the Netflix streaming video phenomenon, and help solve what some critics have said is a sluggish growth outlook for the SVOD pioneer, according to Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne.

Netflix stock took a 15% nosedive in April after it said it expected to add about 2 million international subscribers in Q2, well below analysts’ estimates of a 3.45 million subscriber increase and about 500,000 U.S. net subscriber additions, below the 550,000 additions Wall Street anticipated. The stock has rebounded somewhat since that time – shares were trading at $100.59 per share in morning trading Monday – but are still down about 12% since the beginning of the year.

In his note, Swinburne said that integrating the Netflix app into cable set-tops – something that Suddenlink Communications and others have done via TiVo boxes – at larger operators like Charter and Comcast could help boost Netflix subscriber growth, especially with older customers.

“We think Charter and perhaps even Comcast could move to integrate Netflix into their video offerings,” Swinburne wrote, adding that many U.S. households that don’t subscribe to Netflix generally skew older and are much less aware of Netflix programming.

“However, they watch more TV than the average and have higher pay-TV penetration highlighting the potential of set-top distribution in the U.S., the analyst added.

Swinburne pointed to U.K. data, which showed that Netflix usage increased after it inked set-top distribution deals with Virgin Media's TiVo platform and video service provider TalkTalk.

“At two hours daily of viewing per member, cable operators - increasingly more ISPs than MVPDs – have [a] growing reason to bring Netflix into the tent,” Swinburne wrote. “While they may lose some PPV [pay per view] revenue (already declining for many MVPDs), operators could pick up leverage over programmers on content costs as a result of providing their customers with Netflix.”

Charter, which is in the middle of a two-year process to integrate its recent purchases of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, has said it is open to including the Netflix app, as well as other SVOD services like Hulu and Amazon, on its set-tops.

 “Most people who buy  Netflix buy cable or satellite; they see it as a premium service,” Rutledge said at a MoffettNathanson conference last month.

On the international front, despite the falloff in net adds given the recent rollout sof service in what Swinburne estimated were about 350 million homes, he still sees upside for Netflix, but suggests that investors should be patient.

“In time the model works,” Swinburne wrote, adding that he expects Netflix will have nearly 80 million international subscribers by 2020, up from about 40 million today.

Telemundo’s “super series” El Señor de los Cielos rocketed back onto the network’s lineup March 28, with its season-four premiere ranking as the highest-rated debut in network history.

The telenovela, starring Rafael Amaya as Aurelio Casillas, was the No. 1 broadcast program at 10 p.m. among adults 18-34 on March 28, according to Nielsen data supplied by Telemundo. It’s also a top social-media performer, ranking as Facebook’s No. 1 most-social primetime show among all networks, regardless of language. The show has garnered more than 6.3 million Facebook “likes” worldwide and has generated a total of more than 1.4 million Facebook and Twitter actions, Telemundo reported.

That should please AT&T, which signed on to be the exclusive sponsor of Telemundo's Double Acción app just in time for its extensive use by Señor viewers. The Double Acción app will be available on the Apple iOS and Android platforms.

Throughout season four, fans of El Señor de lost Cielos can directly engage with the show on the app through “Reacción,” which enables social-media conversation through live viewer participation and in-show interactions.

In particular, a new real-time media experience with the network’s Double Acción app complements the original content in season four’s final episodes. Fans can "insert themselves into the action through the app," which offers unique interactions that sync up with the series as it airs, the network said.

The app also offers exclusive content such as videos, photos and the El Señor de los Cielos interactive game, available on all Telemundo.com digital platforms and social media, including Facebook. The game lets fans interact face to face with “Aurelio” and help him escape from death. Users can customize the game and follow a range of alternative outcomes.

“AT&T is helping Telemundo raise the Hispanic media experience to the next level, applying the latest multi-screen innovation to one of our most popular shows,” Mike Rosen, executive VP of advertising sales, news and Hispanic groups at NBCUniversal, said in a statement.

Leonardo Torréss, AT&T’s executive director of Hispanic marketing, added, "Bringing this multiscreen, real-time experience to our consumers is one more example of our integrated approach to communications and entertainment as a premier first-choice provider."

The sponsorship’s on-air elements include content capsules during commercial breaks prompting the audience to participate; weekly segments on Un Nueva Dia, Telemundo’s weekday morning show; and primetime promos to drive viewers to the app. As part of the initiative, weekly social recap videos are posted on Facebook to keep fans engaged.

Additional digital elements include a “Rank It” tool, photo galleries and bonus “Reacción” questions. There are also AT&T-branded opportunities to interact with the Double Acción app during episodes of El Señor de los Cielos.

RELATED:Recruiting Tips for TV's Digital Age

As the pay TV industry continues its digital transformation, the makeup of the workforce required to keep it going is taxing recruiting efforts, throwing programmers and distributors into a talent competition that rivals anything on reality TV.

In this competition, job-seekers are the judges and employers are the contestants vying to be given a chance. Social-media specialists, cross-platform content producers, app developers, network engineers, IT security pros, data jockeys and other in-demand candidates are in command of the buzzers in the big black chairs, and pay TV recruiters hit the stage with their acts:

Wanted:Content developer and TV fan passionate about our brand who can create short-form video, post it online, tweet it, put it on Facebook and then parse who’s engaging with it and why.

Wanted:Cloud architect and TV fan passionate about our brand who can create infrastructure required to support future TV Everywhere strategy and interface with Big Data system to parse who’s engaging with TVE apps and why.

TV businesses have an overwhelming need for an elusive candidate who has blended skills across multiple platforms in an environment where the traditional lines between users and IT, production and distribution, even digital and analog platforms, have blurred. Pay TV companies are no longer simply recruiting against each other, but against an insatiable demand for digital and tech pros across all industries, particularly the digital companies they’re increasingly competing against for eyeballs.

Networks and multichannel distributors are trying to fill the same digital and technology roles, requiring the same scarce skills, as a group of companies many simply refer to as “the Googles” — Google, Apple, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are the most commonly cited — the über-aspirational digital companies for millennials coming into the marketplace.

While pay TV’s digital transformation has been swift and impressive to industry insiders, job seekers from outside the pay TV ecosphere are harder to convince.

“There’s a perception, whether true or not, that we aren’t as far along as we should be,” Renee Hauch, executive vice president of media and entertainment industry recruiter Carlsen Resources, said. “And that has affected the recruiting.”

RELATED:"The Pay in Pay TV," a look at compensation trends in the pay TV industry excerpted from CTHRA's 2015 Compensation Surveys of MSOs and programmers

Turner Sports found that an internship program originally created to give recent college grads, including student-athletes, a break into the sports media business yielded the kind of candidates it needed for wider digital initiatives.

The company designed the program in 2010 as part of its year-round partnership with the NCAA, selecting 10 recent college graduates to cover Turner’s NCAA portfolio. Six years later, the program draws 1,600 applicants, and the current class of 10 interns is working not just on content, but across product management, editorial, video production and marketing, “all with a digital focus,” Turner Sports executive vice president and general manager Matt Hong said.

“While we created the program principally as a way to help individuals break into the sports industry, something that has traditionally been tough to do, it also serves as a beneficial tool to Turner Sports to have a pool of incredible talent from which to fill permanent roles at the end of the internship year,” Hong said. About half of those who complete the program stay on with Turner Sports at the end.

Since then, Turner Sports has created a similar program to support its social media eff orts for its National Basketball Association, NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Major League Baseball, PGA and ELeague assets.

GOING OUTSIDE

“The pay TV industry is pretty small, and people maintain tight-knit relationships,” Chris Barksdale, Scripps’s vice president of human resources, said. “When you start trying to expand beyond our industry, it’s really hard to find someone with the right amount of industry knowledge and a fresh perspective.”

Add to that the tech credentials: Barksdale said Scripps is looking for cloud architects, cybersecurity specialists for “a wholly reimagined team, starting from scratch, to run and build our security going forward,” and developers. “Put anything in front of that, and we need it,” he said, citing content, apps and software developers as examples.

“Our challenge is, we have two voices,” Barksdale said. “We have strong linear TV brands, and that is really helpful in recruiting when we find people who are passionate about those. But we also have a second voice, around technology, and that is a whole brand that I am laser-focused on creating a voice for.”

He’s crafting that voice to counter any notion that an evolving traditional-TV company can’t play in the same sandbox with the Googles: “We play with cool new technologies, and we’re innovative and competitive with Silicon Valley, with great, fulfilling jobs.”

SIDEBAR: Embracing Digital to Fill Digital Jobs

As Scripps Networks Interactive copes with the fact that it’s as much a digital/technology company as a pay TV programmer, its human resources department has one overarching mission: Connect with the right candidate at the right time.

“iOS app developers are not hanging out on LinkedIn,” Chris Barksdale, SNI’s vice president of human resources, said. “You have to go find them in a place where they’re comfortable, like a forum for a technology they trust, and speak to them there. Recruiting for digital talent is a very different proposition now, vs. five to eight years ago.”

In its quest to connect with that talent, Scripps’s HR team is embracing digital tools to fill digital jobs — “technology that connects us to the places that our target candidates are and where we have a chance to define our voice,” Barksdale said.

When you’re recruiting against Google and Netflix, you can’t lose any time. Scripps HR has streamlined the way it recruits candidates, tracks applicants and fills positions by overhauling its backend HR system and giving staff mobile front-end tools.

“All of our stuff is in one system, within the same infrastructure, and it’s all current,” Barksdale said. “I can use it on my phone, my iPad, my laptop, and on each I can do all the things I need to do as an HR manager.”

With a new infrastructure and mobility in place, Barksdale is moving on to phase two: bolting on additional digital tools to maximize recruiters’ reach and efficiency.

“As jobs become harder to fill and we shift the way we look for talent, we need our recruiters to spend more time sourcing candidates and less time on tasks,” Barksdale said.

Three new studies dramatically emphasize the rapid adoption of "non-traditional" viewing and the decline of the "TV-centric living room."  At the same time the research underscores how second-screen usage, especially during special events such as the Super Bowl, are attracting more viewers than the naysayers want to believe. 

In the U.K., for example, only 50% of adults online "consider the TV set as the focal point of their living rooms," and 70% of adults routinely used a connected device while watching TV, the Internet Advertising Bureau UK found in a recent study. Among British viewers aged 16 to 34, 87% are using a second screen while in front of a TV set.

Although the data represent the current British experience, the numbers are comparable to North American usage. The situation should also spur programmers and operators to develop multiscreen approaches to content and advertising.  

“Second screening is ingrained to such a degree that all screens are now equal; there’s no hierarchy, only fragmentation of attention – actually switch-screening is a much more accurate term,” said Tim Elkington, the IAB-UK’s chief strategy officer.

“Connected devices have changed the living room and will continue to do so, and advertisers must plan for the living room of tomorrow,” Elkington added. “This requires a rethink about how to command attention in the living room because the opportunity to do so is far more limited, fragmented and competitive than ever before.”

The IAB UK analysis also tracked  viewers' various activities during commercial breaks. They most frequently turn to other online activities via their connected devices (35%). followed by talking to someone in the room (15%), leaving the room (13%) and changing the channel (8%).

To emphasize the U.Kk study, two reports on U.S. Super Bowl viewing attested to the non-traditional viewing patterns -- despite some problems with the streaming video delivery of the big game.

Think With Google,an advertising research unit within the media giant, monitored the ways in which U.S. TV viewers interacted with Super Bowl 50 and found that 82% of ad-related searches conducted during the game telecast were done on mobile phones, compared with 7% on tablets and 11% on desktop computers.  

Separately, Localytics tracked the average number of apps launched during the Super Bowl by mobile users. It found that app usage ran high throughout the game, with multitasking viewers using an average of 3.2 social networks and 1.9 sports apps.

Significantly, the distraction-seeking second-screen users also launched 2.4 music apps and 2.2 entertainment apps while they were tuned in to the Super Bowl, according to Localytics' research.  It found that the great length of "time in app" (measured by average app usage within each hour period) occurred at just before the actual start of the game. The peak average time in app was 8.7 minutes with a spike in usage during Lady Gaga's performance of the National Anthem.

The Localytics data showed that after 7 p.m. ET, fans began to spend less time in apps, "likely to focus on the fast-moving game."

Although these studies, from both sides of the Atlantic, are merely the latest entrants in the ongoing war of dueling data about multiscreen engagement and platform preferences, they add new evidence about the shifting preferences and screen savvy of a growing audience sector.

Android TV, Google’s video streaming and apps platform for smart TVs and other connected devices, will look to keep the heat on rivals such as Roku, Apple and Amazon as it expands to a wider range of devices in 2016.

Android TV, already supported by some TVs from Sony, Sharp and Philips, will expand to TVs from several other suppliers, including Arcelik, Vestel, RCA, Bang & Olufsen, and two current Roku TV partners – TCL and Hisense – later this year, Google “Streaming Media Maven” Adrienne McCallister announced in this blog post.

Consumers in Indonesia, she added, now have access to Android TV thanks to a deal with pay TV provider Linknet.

Google Cast, the system that’s baked into the Chromecast, is also weaving itself into more speakers, soundbars and A/V receivers. This year, several more of those  suppliers will tie in Google Cast, including B&O Play, Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Philips, Pioneer, and Raumfeld. Sony and LG were among the early integrators in that category.

“We believe the future of TV is apps,” Apple CEO Tim Cook declared in September as he unveiled the latest, greatest Apple TV streaming device. It was largely viewed as a prescient utterance.

Based on the current state of the TV world, though, Cook might has well have been talking about the present. Programmers and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) are continuing to launch streaming apps at a rapid clip for smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, smart TVs and streaming players.

It’s abundantly clear that the bulk of the pay TV ecosystem has taken on an apps-friendly approach, crafting strategies to help fight back against the small-but-growing cord-cutting trend while establishing a presence on increasingly popular connected consumer devices.

These programmers and MVPDs have realized they need to be where consumers are. In many cases, that’s no longer the old set-top box.

The shift toward an apps-centric paradigm also has huge regulatory ramifications. Cook’s comments and the ongoing deployment ramp fit snugly with the cable industry’s position as the Federal Communications Commission considers new video-security rules that would succeed the CableCard, a device that failed to create a vibrant market for cable-ready retail set-tops and TVs.

The FCC has yet to act on any new rules in this area, but it’s mulling its next move following a report from an agency-appointed group, the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee. DSTAC arrived at divided recommendations — an apps-based approach that is generally endorsed by the cable industry, and an “AllVid”-style approach that favors the implementation of a “virtual headend” and a government-specified gateway device.

The cable industry believes the market is being driven by apps, and has been backing that up with stats and numbers. For instance, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association recently estimated that 66% of the 460 million Internet-protocol devices in the market now can stream each of the top 10 pay TV provider apps. In a blog item posted in September, CableLabs chief technology officer Ralph Brown noted that 96% of those retail IP devices can be served by apps from one or more MVPD app, and 67% of them can be served by an app from all of the top 10 U.S. pay TV providers.

When it comes to video apps, 2015 will be remembered “as a watershed moment for the industry,” HBO executive vice president of global distribution operations Bernadette Aulestia said.

Although the cable industry agrees on the apps-based approach, the way those strategies have been put into play has been far from uniform.

While Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and other providers have developed apps for Roku players, Comcast has instead focused its apps on mobile devices. For their part, programmers have centered on iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, but vary in their support of TV-connected platforms. (For a representative rundown of programmer apps, see chart starting.)

But they all agree that use of their respective apps is on the upswing. “We are definitely seeing an increase in the usage” of the TWC TV app, now offered on eight platforms, Mike Angus, senior vice president and general manager of digital programming and content for Time Warner Cable, said.

That trend is gradually moving “mainstream,” as TWC and others remove some steps in the authentication process that used to be required for customers to obtain their credentials, Angus said.

And apps on TV-connected devices have given MSOs a path to distribution on retail platforms that can replicate most of the functions in a set-top box.

TWC is taking that idea to task in New York, where it is trialing a set of IPTV service tiers centered on the Roku platform. The trial, targeted to cord-cutters and video customers looking to avoid monthly set-top box fees, uses the TWC TV app to deliver live programming and VOD to Roku devices.

“You’ve got to be able to provide each of those customers with what they want or you’re potentially missing out on an important and new [customer] segment,” Angus said.

“It’s not one size fits all anymore.”

Comcast has been adding more utility (and unity) to its apps, which are used by customers in and out of the home. The Xfinity TV app for Comcast’s X1 platform, for instance, recently tacked on support for the MSO’s TV Everywhere VOD library.

That has incented customers to download the app as a primary video source, Comcast Cable senior director of TV Everywhere content and product strategy Vito Forlenza said. About one-third of Comcast’s customers are now using some form of TV Everywhere, via the MSO’s Web or mobile apps, or through an app operated by a programming partner, he noted.

“The most interesting thing is that users are growing, but hours per viewer are also growing,” he said, attributing that in part to an increase in the “stacking” of current TV seasons.

About 25% of programming hours viewed via TVE are live, Forlenza said, driven primarily by news and sports.

Comcast is also working to fill a gap in its TVE lineup by adding broadcast-TV stations to the mix.

“We think that will really have a big effect on increasing our reach and engagement and providing more value to our customers,” Forlenza said. Comcast is working with broadcasters to define the rules on access, he added.

Forlenza attributes some of TVE’s upward swing to the collaboration on guidelines, including iconography and language, developed in partnership with organizations such as the Cable & Telecommunications Asssociation for Marketing and the Open Authentication Technology Committee.

Programmers, and premium networks in particular, are also seeing increased traction with their respective apps.

Showtime said it has seen significant growth in TVE since launching its effort four years ago. Among the stats: Registered users rose 69% and app downloads nearly doubled from September 2014 to September 2015. “Program plays” — via the Showtime Anytime app and MVPD apps that provide Showtime content — increased 64% from August 2014 to August 2015.

Still, TVE remains an additional conduit, rather than a primary one. Showtime Anytime users are moving fluidly from the linear channel, the DVR, set-top VOD to the app, as just 6% of the network’s viewers watch Showtime content exclusively on the TVE app, Showtime executive vice president, research, program planning and scheduling Kim Lemon said.

HBO has seen similar usage patterns across HBO Go, its TV Everywhere offering, and HBO Now, its new standalone OTT subscription service, Aulestia said.

“For many years … consumer education was a big piece of what many of us spent a lot of time working on,” she said. “But once they [consumers] use it, they’re sold.”

And the apps-based approach has not cannibalized other parts of HBO’s business. For example, HBO Go, a mature product in TVE terms, has seen registrations jump 20% this year. “All boats have risen,” Aulestia said.

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

Traditional set-top makers are also working on ways to stitch apps to the traditional TV offering. While TiVo has been doing this for years on its retail and MVPD-tailored digital video recorders, Arris is also blazing that path with Arris Market, a platform that enables its MSO partners to blend OTT with TV.

Heading into next year, Arris aims to “drive wild and wide adoption” of its approach as it introduces a new pricing model for Arris Market, vice president of product management Ron Miller said.

Arris has already integrated Netflix, Pandora, i-Velozity (an IP video-on-demand service now owned by Evolution Digital), Toon Goggles, Weather Network, Newsmax and thousands of Web clips (via a partnership with Wurl) to its platform. It’s in the midst of obtaining certification for YouTube. “Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu … those are the four constants in the discussion,” Miller said.

OTT providers are also eager to be integrated on set-top platforms. “It’s called the fight for Input 1 on the remote control,” Miller said.

For our list of programmer OTT apps, please click here.

Cartoon Network has created a virtual reality adventure game.

Adventure Time: Magic Man’s Head Games is based on the animated series, allowing fans to experience Adventure Time in a new way and become part of the narrative, the network said. The game features voices from the show’s cast.

“Core to Cartoon Network’s strategy is our commitment to innovate and expand our content offerings and distribution platforms so that fans can immerse themselves in our brands and characters however and whenever they choose," said Christina Miller, president and GM, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

LGBTQ-targeted network Logo partnered with tech startup Snaps to create a RuPaul’s Drag Race-themed keyboard app. The emoji-filled addition went live on Wednesday (April 15). 

As of Thursday, the app had been opened more than 1 million times and downloaded onto more than 91,000 mobile devices. It was among the top trending offerings in Apple's App Store.

The keyboard add-on allows users to message emoticons and stickers of the show’s colorful cast of drag queens, including catchphrases like “You betta work” and GIFs.  613,000 of those images have been shared. 

The app is available for iOS and Android.  

Ready to get your hands into digital apps development? The Internet & Television Expo Show (INTX), in partnership with Comcast/NBCUniversal and Gracenote/Tribune Media, is hosting the first ever INTXHACK, a 24-hour hackathon competition for technologists and developers, in Chicago in May.

Teams of developers, designers and content creators are challenged "to rethink the future of digital entertainment," INTX said. They must create, from scratch, apps that sit at the intersection of the Internet and entertainment, and dovetail with the rebranded cable show's themes: TV Everywhere, online video, gaming, connected life, advanced user interfaces and navigation.

Competitors will have access to the latest APIs, tools, data and content from a long list of leading tech, media and entertainment companies, including the sponsoring partners, INTX said.

The live competition kicks off on May 2 at Chicago's digital start-ups hub, 1871. The hackers will have 24 hours to complete their entries. Judges will be looking for apps that innovate new ways to produce, present and experience TV, movies, games and other digital entertainment, INTX said.

The selected top teams will move on to the expo for the INTXHACK Finals, where they'll compete for cash prizes on May 6 during a one-hour live segment in Imagine Park — the "innovation events" stage located in the INTX Marketplace.

Finalists will also be featured in a special INTX showcase exhibit, gaining visibility among media, entertainment and investment executives to whom they can pitch their ideas. That, in turn, underscores the goal of the hackathon: to showcase the latest in interactive design and development, providing hackers access to top Internet and television companies at INTX and inside 1871, INTX said.

For more information on the competition and to register, visit the INTXHACK website (which also includes details for companies interested in becoming partners). On Twitter, follow the hashtag #INTXhack.

INTX, billed as "The Cable Show -- reimagined" by sponsor the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, runs May 5-7 at the Windy City's McCormick Place West.