The New York State Gaming Commission approved four licensed mobile sports wagering operators to begin taking mobile bets in the state beginning at 9 a.m. on January 8, and cable networks are gearing up for what they hope to be a big financial windfall.

Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Rush Street Interactive, which operates the BetRivers Sportsbook, got the green light from the Gaming Commission on Jan. 7, about a week prior to the January 15 start of the National Football Leauge playoffs and around a month before Super Bowl LVI on February 13, the biggest betting day of the year.

In a press release, Rush Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said New York’s decision came just in time. 

“With the college football championship game on January 10th and NFL playoffs approaching, and the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, in addition to countless other sports and betting options available for play, fans have endless entertainment at their fingertips at BetRivers,” Schwartz said in a press release.

Eyeing a $10 Billion Opportunity

New York State expects mobile sports gambling to represent a $10 billion revenue windfall annually. On Nov. 8, the state agreed to allow mobile sports wagering — about 18 other states, including neighboring New Jersey, have allowed it for months —- with the government taking 51% of gross revenue generated by the providers. 

With New York in the mix, however, other states that have been on the fence regarding mobile sports betting — including Connecticut, Delaware, Ohio, Louisiana, and Maryland, which have approved mobile gambling but haven’t gone live — will give them a needed push. 

“When it starts in New York, it becomes a national story,” said sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO of LHB Sports Media & Entertainment. “You’ve got four of the biggest sportsbooks starting on this, they’re creating New York-specific commercials, it’s going to become a subject of New York-based media outlets,” which should give any fence-sitters a needed push.

Another incentive for states: the enormous amount of money to be made. Some reports estimate that New York could reap about $1 billion in yearly profits from mobile sports betting. The state also is charging each mobile sports wagering operator a one-time $200 million licensing fee, and other providers are expected to join the fray. Initially nine providers were conditionally licensed by the state — Bally Corp.’s BallyNets; BetMGM, WynnBET; PointsBet New York; and Empire Resorts, doing business as Resorts World — were the others. The state Gaming Commission is still considering those five other applicants.   

“The remaining five conditionally licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operators continue to work towards satisfying statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to launch and will be approved on a rolling basis when requirements are met,” the Gaming Commission said in a statement.

New Jersey has said gross revenue from online sports wagering was about $1 billion in September, most of that from mobile transactions. New York allowing mobile betting might cut into that handle — New York City gamblers were known to travel into the state just to make mobile bets. According to some reports, New York gamblers made about 25% to 30% of the sports bets in New Jersey. 

For television networks, the initial windfall is likely to be in the form of additional advertising — already Caesar’s Sportsbook, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street, have been ramping up ads leading to Jan. 8. While sportsbooks have been advertising on sports channels ever since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed legal sports wagering in 2018, Berke said the introduction of the largest media market in the country to mobile wagering is a game-changer. 

“As it becomes more national in scope, the economics change in terms of being able to offer up a range of national content in a range of national media outlets,” Berke said. “Even six months ago, buying on the NFL, people were starting to do it, but it’s inefficient because half of the country can’t bet. When New York kicks in, suddenly, things change.” 

Berke said that viewers should expect similar programming on other sports channels, as “the line blurs between what is sports programming and what is sports betting programming.”

At YES Network, the home of New York Yankees baseball, Brooklyn Nets basketball, New York City Football Club soccer and New York Liberty basketball, the initial impact will mainly be on ad sales. But the RSN, the most-watched in the country, already has strong relationships with sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings, so New York's entry into mobile sports betting “just makes YES all the more valuable to these entities,” said spokesman Eric Handler. 

FanDuel and DraftKings probably have the biggest relationships with television networks, having inked a deal with Turner Sports in October 2020 to integrate betting information into content from TNT, TBS and Bleacher Report. That pact also included the ability for Turner to collect referral fees if bettors placed wagers through their sites. 

MSG Moves Aggressively

Across the board, sports networks have long been anticipating this day, and many have spent the past few months forging partnerships with casinos and sports wagering outlets and creating programming geared toward gaming aficionados.  

One of the more aggressive networks on the programming and deal fronts has been New York area regional sports network MSG Networks, which has expanded its sports betting-focused programming. In October MSG Networks launched Odds with Ends hosted by former New York Giants players Mathias Kiwanuka and David Tyree on Sunday mornings during the NFL season; and The Bettor Half Hour hosted by Alex Monaco to complement its existing betting shows including The Betting Exchange with sports gaming experts Katie Mox, Jeff Johnson and former New York Jets safety Erik Coleman.

Also last year, MSG Networks struck marketing partnerships with FanDuel, Bet 365, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook.   

Caesars Sportsbook also plans to launch a new series on MSG Networks and its social media channels featuring actor and comedian JB Smoove — who also stars in the sportsbook’s national commercials. The show, One Course with JB Smoove, will integrate Caesars Sportsbook betting odds and content. In addition, the gaming giant and MSG Networks will launch a 20-part programming marathon to bring back the 2013 series Four Courses with JB Smoove, where the actor and comedian conversed with athletes and celebrities over dinner and which will now be updated with Caesars-themed content.

Caesar’s Sportsbook also will sponsor a special month-long programming block tied to former New York Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. ■

The value of digital content is predicted to reach $432 billion by 2026, led by gaming, a whopping 105% increase from $211 billion in 2021.

That's according to a new report from Juniper Research, which factored in pay-per-download revenue, in app content, subscription revenue--including news subscription models expected to fuel some of that growth, and ad spending. Games accounted for 45% of the total.

The report predicts that there will be more than 3.3 billion game users by 2026, up from 2.7 billion this year. Two big growth areas will be immersive reality headsets and smart speakers, with those two the best opportunities for monetizing the growth in gaming. North America and Europe are predicted to account for the majority of revenue from both of those.

"Over half of digital content spending will come from smartphones," said report co-author Saidat Giwa-Osagie remarked. "[A]s subscriptions become increasingly competitive, niche areas, such as augmented and virtual reality, will need to be considered when onboarding content partners."

As we move into 2021, media and entertainment leaders will be operating in a landscape that has been permanently changed by the pandemic. U.S. consumers have adopted new habits and preferences while the forces buffeting the industry have increased in intensity. Here are five trends to watch in the year ahead as we shift — eventually — into a post-COVID world.

Industry Under Renovation

EY research released in January 2020 found that 50% of media and entertainment executives believe they can no longer rely on traditional business models to drive future growth, highlighting the imperative for strategic and operational reinvention.  

The impacts of COVID-19 accelerated and amplified long-running secular changes, including streaming growth, cord-cutting, fading movie attendance and an increased focus on the price-value relationship by media consumers. COVID-19 also resulted in shorter-term cyclical shocks. Lockdowns and travel restrictions walloped virtually every business that relies on the physical aggregation of people. Industry executives are responding by taking bold steps to reposition their companies to align with new market realities.

Looking ahead, the sweeping restructuring actions already announced by several media majors will take hold throughout the industry. A primary motive is cost reduction, of course. However, the changing nature of the industry is forcing companies to rethink how they are structured and how they go to market.

The steps taken by media and entertainment companies to streamline their operating models for efficiency and effectiveness will remain on center stage as the entire industry plots a course through disruption.  

Time to Partner Up

Consolidation catalysts for media and entertainment companies are clearly defined. Most notably, they include the strategic necessity to acquire content to fuel streaming growth and the tactical reality that increasing size enables efficiencies and unlocks incremental investment capital. However, the window may be closing for studios and network owners hoping to sell to larger players in media or adjacent sectors due to questions around feasibility and demand. 

Media competitors that lack mega-scale face a crucial choice: attempt to forge ahead alone through turbulent waters or move rapidly to tie up with a similarly positioned peer to improve competitive and financial positioning. They must also set their strategy while navigating the uncertainty arising from the pandemic.

In 2021, we will likely see further combination activity involving midsized and smaller network owners and studios, motivated by the need to create a bigger platform to fund the investment in content, marketing and technology required to make the pivot to a direct-to-consumer model.  

Connection Has Value

Cable companies are achieving record results from their high-speed data offerings as consumers rely more than ever on fast internet connectivity for work, school and entertainment. Pay TV packages, once the cornerstone of the subscriber relationship, are being deemphasized in favor of broadband speed tiers and other connected services. According to EY’s 2020 Digital Home study, 40% of respondents purchase internet-only packages from cable companies, up 8% year-over-year, further reinforcing the market dynamics.

Going forward, cable companies will seek to expand more deeply into the household by deploying a broader suite of products that build on the core internet connection, including in adjacent “smart home” areas such as home security, a variety of connected devices – thermometers, doorbells, appliances — and potentially telehealth applications.

Embedding further into the household makes good strategic sense for cable companies as wireless providers begin to roll out 5G networks at scale.  

Live Events Return, Differently

In-person events will see a robust return in 2021 as the human need for shared experiences remains uniquely powerful. We are already seeing this at selective sporting events where limited crowds are back in stadiums cheering for their teams. Even so, absent a fully distributed vaccine for COVID-19, mitigation strategies will be required as fans return. This will change the dynamics for events — and will potentially open innovative new channels to enhance the consumer experience.  

Business conferences will continue to utilize digital platforms to extend reach and include remote participants who remain wary of business travel. Music venues will push ahead with creative audience layouts to encourage attendance, while also promoting interactive options. Owners of large stadiums will utilize their vast capacity to design ticket blocks that meet social distancing guidelines. Theme parks will promote safety measures and offer attractive deals to drive admissions.  

While serving as a bridge to a full reopening, these solutions also will keep audiences engaged and establish new multichannel, customized connections — mobile and powered by sophisticated data analytics — that will become part of the consumer value proposition.

Gaming, Esports Level Up

Esports and video gaming will build on a user base that multiplied in size during the pandemic. When sporting events were shuttered, teams, leagues, athletes and promoters embraced esports competitions involving simulations of “IRL” [in real life] events to maintain fan engagement and fill broadcasting slots. From auto racing to basketball, to cycling and even horse racing, millions tuned into virtual events, opening a wide new consumer engagement pathway that we expect to grow in 2021.  

Meanwhile, video game revenues have almost doubled over the last five years. New game launches from publishers — combined with the growth of in-game microtransactions and advertising — are leading to another record year for the industry. Upcoming releases of next generation consoles and the launch of gaming cloud streaming services will further stoke demand well into 2021.

Success in 2021 will depend on industry leaders adapting strategies to meet unforeseen market opportunities and threats. With disruption as the constant, the only way to survive and thrive in exceptional circumstances is to build systemic agility and execute at lightning speed. In 2021 and beyond, companies will be successful not because they are better at predicting the future but because they can better orchestrate a wide-ranging ecosystem of in-house talent and external partners and pivot in a timely, confident manner. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group has made a big move into gaming, reaching a long-term partnership with Bally’s.

The deal will give Sinclair warrants and options to own a minority stake in Bally’s while Bally’s will be able to integrate its content across Sinclair’s 190 TV stations and sports networks.

Sinclair’s regional sports networks, disrupted last season as COVID-19 canceled and postponed games, will be rebranded using the Bally's moniker. Over 10 years, Sinclair’s RSNs will receive naming rights fees and a committed percentage of Bally’s Interactive’s marketing spending.

Related: Sinclair Talks $4.2 Billion Writedown on Sports Nets

Sinclair is one of the largest TV station owners in the country. It has also been one of the most controversial for some of the conservative commentary it has inserted into its newscasts.

For the past few years, Sinclair has been making investments in sports, first buying The Tennis Channel, then acquiring the Fox Regional Sports networks from the Walt Disney Co., which had to divest them after buying 21st Century Fox.

Related: Sinclair RSNs: Timing Is Everything

While some investors have questioned the acquisition of the RSNs as they've been dropped by distributors, reducing their subscriber revenue, Sinclair has been saying that it had big plans for sports, and that those plans include gaming.

"Since acquiring Tennis Channel a few years ago and the RSNs last year, we have been working on developing an innovative experience that changes the way people think about and view live sports across all our platforms,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley.

"Bally's, with its strong brand name, premier sportsbook technology platform and expansive market access, is the perfect partner to help us change the paradigm of sports viewing across all our assets," Ripley said. "By integrating gamification elements that allow audiences a more personalized and interactive game experience, consumers of live sports in the future can look forward to a more dynamic and engaging sports viewing experience. With the U.S. sports betting and iGaming market expected to ultimately reach $50 billion at maturity, this partnership perfectly positions our sports portfolio to fully capitalize on changing audience behavior."

Related: Sinclair Trying to Restructure Debt from RSNs: Report

The deal is designed to position Bally's as a premier omni-channel gaming company with physical casinos and online sports betting and iGaming solutions united under a single brand. They expect Bally's to capture a significant share of the fast-growing U.S. sports betting and iGaming market.

“This arrangement represents an opportunity to revolutionize the U.S. sports betting, gaming and media industries," said Soo Kim, chairman of Bally's Corporation's Board of Directors. 

"Sinclair, with its broad holdings of stations, channels and RSNs, provides immediate, national brand recognition that will support the development of Bally's player database for both our traditional casinos as well as our future online offerings, and ultimately deliver significant shareholder value,” he said. “We look forward to integrating our first-in-class, omni-channel sports betting and iGaming offerings with Sinclair's expansive broadcast network to create a more engaging and tailored experience for sports fans, positioning Bally's to become one of the top U.S. sports betting and iGaming operators."

Sinclair is holding a conference call with investors Thursday morning to discuss the deal.

Online video gaming platform Discord is not an online service directed to children, so it complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

That is according to the Children's Advertising Review Unit of BBB National Programs, which took a closer look at the platform as part of its routine monitoring of sites with child-directed content. It also concluded the site met CARU's own guidelines for online privacy protections for the kids that do use the site.

The site has taken flak as an "unsupervised playground" where gaming mixes with a darker side.

CARU found a number of Discord channels that featured games with significant numbers of users under 13, including Fortnite, Pokémon Go, and Roblox, as well as YouTube influencers with large teen followers that encourage them to use Discord. But it also said that after assessing information provided by Discord demonstrating its intent to direct the site to adults, including the mature content on its most popular channels, the lack of ad campaigns directed to a young audience, and the fact that it is subscription based rather than on monetizing online behavioral data, CARU concluded it was not child-directed.

“Though it isn’t always the case, the outcome we hope for is proactive corporate accountability on children’s privacy, and that is exactly what Discord delivered,” said Dona Fraser, SVP of privacy initiatives and director of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU).

CARU said it was also persuaded by Discord's privacy by design measures and Discord's decision to implement an age screen and take other steps to try and keep kids off the site.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, looking to generate new revenue from its sports units, said it hired J.R. McCabe as chief business officer of D2C/Gamification, a new post.

Sinclair owns Tennis Channel and recently acquired a string of regional sports networks at a time when legalized  sports gambling is spreading, creating new business opportunities for media companies.

McCabe most recently was chief business officer for Poker Central & Estars Studios, which launched the subscription channel PokerGo. 

At Sinclair, he will oversee efforts around gamification and launch media assets that unlock new revenue streams and maximize consumer engagement, the company said. 

“Throughout his career, J.R. has excelled at staying ahead of consumer trends, bringing together highly-skilled innovators to create new, engaging digital and live experiences,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley. “His skill at conceptualizing and launching new and innovative business models at the intersection of media, sports, and gaming will be an important component of Sinclair’s efforts to expand in a rapidly growing area. We look forward to his leadership in driving Sinclair’s direct-to-consumer growth opportunities in the years ahead.”

Before Poker Central, McCabe was with Time Inc., Meredith, Paramount and Universal Studios.

“As a leader in the media space, with an unparalleled portfolio of assets, Sinclair’s strong content base and history of innovation and strategic thinking is the ideal match for my passion to build high-performing, high growth businesses in gaming,” McCabe said. “I look forward to the challenge of taking the potential of this great organization and helping it monetize the myriad opportunities the company has to drive future growth.” 

In what appears to be a massive and decade-long data heist, the Justice Department has successfully indicted two hackers allegedly working both with China's Ministry of State Security and for their own profit, who DOJ said stole terabytes (and hundreds of millions of dollars worth) of intellectual property, confidential business information and personal information over 10 years and in over 10 different countries, including the U.S. 

The ll-count indictment, which was returned by a grand jury in Spokane, Wash., charges Li Xiaoyu (李啸宇), 34, and Dong Jiazhi (董家志), 33, with conducting the hacking campaign, targeting industries as divergent as high tech manufacturing, gaming software and solar energy, as well as COVID-19 research. 

The hacks involved hundreds of companies, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), dissidents, clergy, and human rights activists, often targeting companies in countries with strong tech industries. 

DOJ said they conducted the hacks from a safe haven provided by the Chinese government, and with help from the government.

Related: Justice Charges Chinese Hackers

One hack involved a California software gaming company (not identified other than as a subsidiary of a Japanese company). They allegedly stole the source code for two games, one of which had not yet been released. Another was of a U.S. educational software company and included the personally identifiable information (PII) of millions of teachers and students.*

There were also gaming software hacks of companies in Sweden and Lithuania. 

“China has now taken its place, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, in that shameful club of nations that provide a safe haven for cyber criminals in exchange for those criminals being ‘on call’ to work for the benefit of the state, here to feed the Chinese Communist party’s insatiable hunger for American and other non-Chinese companies’ hard-earned intellectual property, including COVID-19 research,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers in announcing the indictments. 

Related: FCC Seeks Input on Excluding Foreign Tech 

The hack was first identified on Department of Energy computers in Eastern Washington state.  

The hackers allegedly placed malicious shell programs and credential-stealing software on the computers they hacked--often hiding them in the recycle bin--allowing them to hijack those computers. 

The indictment charges the hackers with "conspiring to steal trade secrets from at least eight known victims, which consisted of technology designs, manufacturing processes, test mechanisms and results, source code, and pharmaceutical chemical structures." 

The defendants could face up to 50 years in prison. They are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud (a maximum of five years in prison); one count of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets (a maximum of ten years); one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, (20 years maximum; one count of unauthorized access of a computer (five years maximum) and seven counts of aggravated identity theft (a mandatory sentence of two non-consecutive years).  

Related: House GOP Leaders Tell President to Get Tougher on Chinese Hackers

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans, who just this week called on the Trump Administration to come down harder on China's hacking regime (see link, above), praised the move but want more. 

"Earlier this week, Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-Ore), Foreign Affairs Committee Republican Leader Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), and Financial Services Republican Leader Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) wrote a letter to President Trump urging action from the administration, including imposing sanctions, to hold China-linked hackers accountable," they said in response to the DOJ action. "Today, the Department of Justice indicted two Chinese hackers – working on behalf of the Chinese government – on 11 counts of hacking in an effort to access critical information, including sensitive data about potential COVID-19 vaccines. This is a strong step in the right direction, but more must be done."

Among the more they are looking for it more transparency. They have asked for a briefing from the Department of Treasure (and State) as well as whichever other agency the President deems relevant, so they can get a sense of the scope both of the attacks and the U.S. response.

* A spokesperson for major distance learning player Discovery Education said it was not the unnamed ed tech company cited in the DOJ indictment.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai said he thinks the entertainment category that will see the most 5G-fueled growth is gaming. 

That was one of his main messages in a virtual speech to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Thursday (July 9), where he said 5G would mean "no more buffering" or "slow load times" or "midstream interruptions," plus the rise of AR and VR.

The chairman said he agreed with market analyst Matthew Ball that gaming could be the entertainment space’s biggest beneficiary from 5G.  

Related: Anthem Strikes NCTC Deal for Game Plus

Ball argues that gaming's growth is more closely tied to technological changes than TV, movies, or music. While streaming replaced digital downloads, which replaced CDs, which replaced cassettes," Pai said, new tech "unlocks additive growth" in gaming and grows the existing pie rather than replaces it. "Console gaming has held relatively steady for 20-plus years, while PC-gaming has become almost as big as console gaming," Pai said. "Mobile gaming, which didn’t exist 15 years ago, is bigger than both combined. With 5G and other technological advances, like the aforementioned VR, we can expect to see entirely new gaming experiences." 

Pai said that 5G-fueled growth included both for consumers already spending $120 billion per year on digital games worldwide in 2019--three times as much as was spent on movies when folks were still going to them--as well as for the millions watching the gamers gaming as a spectator sport. 

Pai pointed to the esports auto racing carried on major networks when the pandemic scrapped the in-person races. Then there are the 200 million people who log more than 50 billion hours watching gaming content on YouTube annually. Ticking off more stats, he said that Twitch had more than 7 million users who watched over 1.6 billion hours of content.  

Related: eSports Flip the Script

The chairman also pointed to efforts to include esports in international sporting competitions including the Olympics and Asia Games. 

The fact that professional games can earn thousands of dollars a month gives hope to millions of parents, including himself, said Pai, "who have spent the last four months watching their kids play video games seemingly nonstop." 

The ultimate beneficiaries of the growth in gaming will be the marketplace and consumers, he said.   

"CEO Reed Hastings once said that he believes Netflix’s biggest competitor is the video game Fortnite," said Pai. "When Netflix is trying to figure out how to offer a better value proposition than not only cable multisystem operators and other streaming video services, but also video-game makers, all competitors will have to step up their efforts," he said. And while that free market cycle of competition-driven creativity and investment and lower prices may be daunting for media companies, it is great for consumers, he said.

Crunchyroll, Ellation’s Anime-focused subscription VOD service, is branching out into games.

Crunchyroll, in partnership with Sumitomo Corp. and GREE, has launched its first game, called Memoria Freese, an adventure title for iOS and Android devices.

The game, released amid season 2 of DanMachi (the anime off which the game is based) is set in the world of Orario, where bands of adventurers gather to seek treasures in an underground labyrinth, known as Dungeon. The North American release of Memoria Freese features dialogue of the original Japanese version with English subtitles provided. GREE developed and designed the game, while Ellation and Sumitomo Corp. are in charge of the game’s distribution, localization and marketing under the Crunchyroll Games brand.

RELATED: SVOD Shakeout: The Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

Crunchyroll, a service with more than 1 million paid subscribers, is offering the game for free, with in-app purchases. Crunchyroll said 90% of its users identify as gamers.

Crunchyroll’s move into gaming comes as it, and other SVODs, attempt to differentiate in a growing and fragmented market, establishing stronger ties with their audiences through ancillary but relevant products and components that extend beyond their core video offerings.

In Crunchyroll’s case, the move into gaming follows other initiatives tied to the service, including events like Crunchyroll Movie Night and Crunchyroll Expo. 

Expanding on its recently renewed strategy to offer games on the set-top box, Comcast has recently integrated Jackbox Games with its X1 platform.

Jackbox Games, which started to appear on X1 earlier this month, offers packages of multiplayer, party-style games. Early on, Comcast is selling two such packages – Jackbox Party Pack 3 and Jackbox Party Pack 4 – for $24.99 each.

Individual games in those packages, such as Quiplash, Trivia Murder Party, Fakin’ It, Fibbage and Survive the Internet, are streamed over the internet to X1 set-top boxes. Players connect to the game and play along with their laptop, smartphone or tablet by visiting http://jackbox.tv and entering a custom game code that is displayed on the TV.

According to Comcast’s FAQ about the Jackbox Games integration, customers can access the app from the X1 apps menu or saying “Jackbox Games” into their X1 voice remotes. Purchases of Jackbox Games will show up on the customer’s Comcast cable bill. Because Jackbox Games is an OTT app, it is subject to Comcast’s internet data usage policies.

RELATED: Comcast Deploys 1-Terabyte Data Plan

The X1 integration offers Jackbox Games another sales outlet, complementing its reach on several other TV-connected platforms, including Xbox One and PlayStation gaming consoles, Fire TV boxes, web browsers, Android TV devices, Apple TV (fourth gen) boxes and the Nintendo Switch, among others. Jackbox Games is best known as the company behind the You Don’t Know Jack franchise.

The addition of Jackbox Games also expands Comcast’s renewed exploration of gaming on X1 set-top boxes, following the recent addition of several free, casual games through a partnership with Transgaming, and the availability of an episodic, interactive game called The Walking Dead from Telltale Games.

RELATED: Comcast Teams with Transgaming to Bring Free, Casual Games to X1 Boxes

Those recent gaming additions arrive almost two years after Comcast and Electronic Arts closed down a free beta offering that streamed EA games to X1 boxes and enabled customers to control the games with tablets and smartphones.

Comcast ended Q3 2017 with about 57% of its residential video subscriber base on X1. 

Comcast’s X1 platform is indeed getting back into the game.

The cable operator has teamed with London-based TransGaming to offer more than a dozen casual gaming titles on compatible X1 set-top boxes. The new service, coming way of TransGaming’s GameTreeTV offering, began to appear on the X1 apps section late last week.

Early on, X1 has teed up more than a dozen games, including Tomb Runner, Text Twist, Solitaire, Yeti Getaway, Doodle Jump, World Poker Tour, Mahjong, Tetris, and Darts, among others. All of those games are played and controlled with the X1 remote.

Comcast’s new free gaming offering is delivered to X1 boxes via the internet, so it will be subject to the operator’s usage-based broadband data policies. Comcast has also integrated a batch of other OTT services, including Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and iHeartRadio, with its X1 platform. 

RELATED: Comcast Deploys 1-Terabyte Data Plan

The launch also marks a return of sorts by Comcast into gaming on the set-top box. Comcast, which had tested (and later shut down) a console-style gaming service with EA on X1 boxes, is also using those devices to offer and sell an episodic, interactive game called The Walking Dead in partnership with Telltale Games.

RELATED: Comcast’s X1 Set-Top Platform Might Get Back Into the Game

Earlier this month, Comcast noted that it’s currently in the exploration phase with respect to offering casual, interactive games on X1. Consider the deployment with TransGaming to be an extension on that exploration.

In Comcast, TransGaming, a major MVPD to its list of partners. TransGaming, which has been offering games and game services with MVPD partners for more than a decade confirmed that also works with Dish Network (for its Hopper Arcade service) and is live in nine countries with Liberty Global. It also works with France’s Freebox Revolution, and offers games on Roku devices as well as connected TVs from Samsung, Vizio and Philips.

TransGaming’s GameTreeTV service currently has a library of more than 100 games, and a “very big focus on HTML5,” an official noted.

TransGaming’s business model is based on advertising and in-app purchases, as well as subscriptions and licensing deals. 

Its deal with Comcast will center on ad inventory. TransGaming said it plans to support ads for its service on Comcast’s X1 platform “very shortly.”

“Leveraging our expertise in HTML5 games and the X1 platform, TransGaming continues to push the envelope of Connected TV entertainment,” Tamir Goren, TransGaming’s CEO, said in a statement. "Games are universally loved on all platforms. We continue our focus on bringing family fun gaming direct to the living room without the hassle of purchases or downloads. In parallel we create very much needed TV advertising inventory and help TV operators to enrich their offering to subscribers and diversify their revenue streams.”

Comcast is exploring the notion of offering casual, interactive games via its X1 platform more than a year and a half after it ended a trial with Electronic Arts to offer console-style games on X1 set-top boxes. 

RELATED: Comcast, EA to End X1 Gaming Trial

In recent weeks, Comcast has been selling an episodic, interactive game called The Walking Dead for $9.99 in partnership in partnership with Telltale Games. X1 customers currently have the option to play the first chapter/episode of the game (six episodes make up the game’s first season on X1) for free.

Comcast has been promoting the game alongside other OTT apps supported on X1, such as YouTube, Netflix and Pandora. The Walking Dead, like those other OTT services, is streamed to X1 boxes via internet connections so data for the game is subject to Comcast’s internet usage data policies.

RELATED: Comcast Deploys 1-Terabyte Data Plan

There are a lot of differences between this game and the games Comcast had offered to X1 boxes in partnership with EA, which had included titles from the game-maker's FIFA and PGA franchises. 

Rather than centering on sports and fast-twitch action titles controlled by tablets and smartphones such as it was in the Comcast/EA set-top gaming trial, The Walking Dead is a slower paced, cinematic graphic adventure game in which the narrative changes based on the decisions made by the player. The player makes those decisions and navigates the screen using the arrow keys and “OK” button on the X1 remote.

Additionally, the EA/Comcast trial was free; X1 customers have to pay in order to get access to the full version of The Walking Dead.

Comcast is not making any further commitments, noting that it’s currently in the exploration phase with respect to offering causal, interactive games on X1.

The TV-MA-rated game is set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman’s comic book series, which, has also been adapted in the popular AMC TV series. The user plays as Lee Everett, a convicted criminal who gets a second chance at life in a world of the undead. The choices made by the player affects how the story unfolds.

Telltale Games also sells The Walking Dead games on other platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices. The version being sold by Comcast limits access to the set-top box.

To get a sense of the game, here’s the trailer for season one:

And here’s a video posted to YouTube showing the game running on X1 (again, it’s rated TV-MA):

Vubiquity said it’s entering the $32 billion PC gaming industry with a new subscription service that will be offered via an exclusive global distribution deal with Utomik.

Under the deal, Vubiquity will be the global business-to-business commercial distributor for Utomik, a service that provides unlimited gaming,  including a library of hundreds of popular and classic PC games, for a monthly fee.

Vubiquity said its affiliate partners will have the option to either bundle Utomik’s monthly service with subscription broadband packages or offer the service separately on an a la carte basis.

Vubiquity will lead marketing and sales efforts while Utomik will continue to operate its service directly to consumers through its standalone system.

Silicon Valley-based Utomik was founded in 2014 and currently offers a service with a library of more htan 650 titles to more than  30 markets.  In April, it inked a deal with Sega to offer more than 20 titles, including Total War and Sonic the Hedgehog.  Other Utomik publishing partners include Codemasters, Paradox Interactive, Nordic Games, and Plug In Digital, among others. It’s currently operating an “open beta” service that offers a 14-day free trial, and then $5.99 per month thereafter.

“This relationship allows our partners to capitalize on new opportunities in today’s dynamic content landscape,” Michele Edelman, Vubiquity’s EVP, marketing & content strategy, said in a statement. “As the development and distribution of gaming continues to evolve, Utomik’s library of games and instant download technology combined with the broad reach of our distributors creates new and exciting opportunities for our partners and their gaming customers alike.”

Facebook continues to preach cautious optimism about Oculus Rift, the high-end virtual reality headset/platform that will start to ship to consumers in April.

Regarding pre-orders, which opened up earlier this month, Facebook isn’t offering any sales figures yet, but seems satisfied with the early results.

“Yes, I am happy,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday on the company’s Q4 earnings call, when asked about pre-order activity. “I don’t show much joy, but I am happy.”

And he reiterated that gaming will be the core focus of the Rift early on, expecting to see more than 100 VR games and “experiences” come to the platform this year.

“It’s going to be gaming for the beginning. That’s the initial market,” Zuckerberg said, noting that about 250 million people have an Xbox, PlayStation or Wii. “I think we’re off to a good start.”  

But Facebook also knows that it’s shooting high-end – the core Oculus Rift bundle (which includes the headset, a remote, an Xbox One Controller and two games) starts at $599, with Rift-PC combos starting in the $1,500 range.

Facebook CFO Dave Wehner tempered the near-term expectations, noting that “it’s early to be talking about large volumes...At this point I don’t think we’re giving a lot of color around supply chain and that sort of thing. It’s not going to be material to our financials this year.”

Some analysts are taking that to heart. “We have heard from investors whose estimates for VR-related 2016 revenues are $2 billion, and, in some cases, more than $3 billion. Both seem excessive to us, or at least too speculative,” Carlos Kirjner, senior analyst at Bernstein Research, said in a research note issued Thursday. He rates Facebook shares at “market-perform” with a 12-month target price of $150 per share.

VR was just one area of focus during the call, with Zuckerberg calling video “an important part of the Facebook experience,” as users now watch 100 million hours of video on the social media platform each day.

He said FB is experimenting with video discovery tools and opened the door for even grander plans --  “exploring ways to give people a dedicated place on Facebook for when they just want to watch videos. “We’re also exploring ways to give people a dedicated place on Facebook for when they just want to watch videos,” he said.

Facebook has also opened up a video channel for Instagram that, in a Twitter-like twist, lets users share and watch “moments” from events. 

It’s been a long time since Comcast and Electronic Arts began testing a service that brings “console-quality” games to X1, the MSO’s IP-capable video platform.

The trial, originally called Xfinity Games Powered by Origin, first appeared back in the second half of 2013, enabling a select group of Comcast invitees to play games on X1 using remote controls and mobile apps to control the action. 

According to DSL Reports, the service is nearing the launch phase. Citing an unnamed source familiar with the plan, DSL reports said Comcast and EA will offer a rotating package of about 50 games for about $10 per month, adding that it will be offered as a beta to about 100,000 subs by late July, and perhaps follow with a broad commercial launch by late August.  

Comcast isn’t commenting on the report.

It’s not clear why it’s taken this long for the service to launch or if this EA offering will be delivered over-the-top or as a managed IP service, but Comcast would certainly have a much larger X1 addressable to market for it now than it did back in 2013.  

Based on the MSO’s earlier estimation that it is deploying about 20,000 X1 boxes per day, Comcast should have about 10 million deployed by now (last fall, the MSO announced it had shipped 5 million X1 boxes).

As we mentioned in 2013, Comcast’s work with EA might remind some of The Sega Channel, the long-defunct subscription service that used cable connections and a specialized adapter to download game titles to  the 16-bit Sega Genesis console. The Sega Channel, originally backed by Time Warner Cable and Tele-Communications Inc. (now part of Comcast), was shut down in 1998. 

It also takes me back to circa 2001, when U.K.-based Pace trotted out a prototype set-top box (with a 40 GB hard drive) that integrated Sega's Dreamcast console. It was ahead of its time, not to mention clunky-looking...but it ran Crazy Taxi without issue when I had a chance to give it a test drive.