Network-affiliated TV stations are again pushing the Federal Communications Commission to bring some over-the-top video providers under the retransmission consent regime so they will have to negotiate directly with TV stations for carriage.

That push came in comments to the FCC on the agency‘s latest quadrennial review of media ownership regulation.

They tried to get the FCC back in 2020, under former chairman Ajit Pai, to revive the proceeding, also citing the rise of OTT, but to no avail. The idea was originally proposed by then-FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, in 2014.

In asking the FCC to retain the rule against common ownership of two or more of the major national TV networks, the affiliate associations of the Big Four — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — said that it was necessary in part to keep the networks from exercising even more power over affiliation agreements.

Citing those networks launch of OTT direct-to-consumer platforms including Paramount Plus, NBCUniversal‘s Peacock and Disney Plus, the affiliates said the balance of power continues to shift to the networks.

“With every expansion of the networks’ reach within the video programming universe, and every platform geared toward direct distribution of their programming to viewers without a role for local affiliates, the power of the national networks grows, while affiliates‘ leverage vis-à-vis their network ‘partners’ diminishes in tandem,” they told the commission.

That power would grow even greater, they said, if networks were allowed to consolidate before negotiating affiliation agreements.

One way to try and tilt the balance back toward local stations, the affiliates suggested, would be for the FCC to follow through on its 2014 proceeding considering whether internet-based distribution should be classified as a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) for the purposes of retransmission consent negotiations between TV stations and national distributors.

They pointed out that in that proceeding, the FCC posited: “The ability of networks to achieve online distribution of network programming in a local market, without the need for local affiliates to consent, may give networks some additional leverage in the network affiliate relationship that did not exist in the pre-online video world.”

The affiliates said the FCC has proved prescient since OTT remains outside the retransmission consent regime and online video platforms are not required to negotiate directly with TV stations. Instead, the stations said, the Big Four have cut them out, negotiating with OTTs for their full network lineups and the associated affiliate signals, then presenting those deals to the stations on a “take it or leave it” basis.

“In cutting local stations out of the negotiations for the distribution of their news
and other programming, the networks dictate the value of both subscription (retransmission) and advertising revenues for local stations’ programming,” the affiliates said.

Already Miffed Over DTC

Affiliates have been unhappy for a while over direct-to-consumer OTT deals for network programming, particularly ones that dilute the audience for their local advertising.

They made that point again, in even starker and broader terms: “[T]he network-controlled process results in advertising funds being extracted from local markets and placed into network coffers, local retransmission consent revenues being materially diminished and shifted for the profit of the national networks and their vast cable portfolios, and, in the case of independent non-network affiliated local stations, virtually no distribution.”

They say that unless the FCC brings virtual MVPDs under the MVPD retransmission consent rules, it will perpetuate a market failure that adversely impacts local stations.

The idea behind Wheeler’s 2014 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was to give over-the top providers offering an online service that mimics a linear cable offering the same FCC-enforced access to vertically integrated programming. Wheeler was trying to promote new video competition to traditional cable, but eventually backed off the item after there was pushback, and an order was never voted on.

The 2014 item would define an OTT that delivers a linear stream of programming as an MVPD. That means those OVDs would have access to content through the FCC‘s program access rules, but also have to negotiate retransmission consent with broadcasters. It would not apply to IP-delivered versions of a cable operators traditional service, to which program access rules already apply.

Exactly which OTTs should be defined as MVPDs and what other obligations or rights might apply beyond that access — such as public, education and government (PEG) channel mandates or exclusivity — were all teed up in the many questions posed in the NPRM.

If the FCC votes to approve the NPRM, it would reverse a tentative, bureau-level conclusion in the program-access complaint involving Sky Angel, a Christian content-focused MVPD. That decision held that having a facilities-based transmission path was necessary to be an MVPD — something cable operators argued was necessary. The FCC tentatively concluded that an MVPD has to have control of both the content and the transmission path — copper, fiber or satellite signals — to be delivering a channel, and that an over-the-top distributor lacks that path since it is not using a facilities-based channel.

Not surprisingly, the networks disagree, and use the OTT platforms that their own online platforms compete against as their justification for preserving the rule.

In a joint filing, NBC, CBS and Fox (ABC did not joint the comments), said flatly that a basic review of the current marketplace leads to the "inevitable" conclusion that the dual network ban is not necessary now or in the future. "Netflix, Apple, HBO, YouTube, and Amazon are just a few of the ever growing list of providers producing and distributing content that competes alongside that of the four broadcast networks saddled with the Dual Network Rule," they told the FCC.

The networks also cited the siphoning of ads from their networks to digital platforms like Google and Facebook.

They also said that even absent the dual network rule, there would still have to be a fact-specific FCC (public interest) review of any proposed combination of broadcast networks.

WOW at this point is leaning toward marketing someone else’s video service, not its own. 

Englewood, Colorado-based WOW has stopped promoting in-house Android TV-based video service WOW! tv+ and is now instead marketing virtual MVPDs from other companies to WOW broadband customers. 

“As more and more cable customers choose to cut the cord and demand more flexible options for where, when and how they consume news and entertainment, WOW has shifted to meet those demands,” the company said. 

Currently, landing pages for specific regions within WOW’s footprint heavily promote WOW high-speed internet products. Clicking on the “Streaming TV” tab in those regions surfaces marketing for third-party virtual MVPD services YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling TV and Philo, with nary a mention of WOW! tv+.

In February, WOW said it would conduct a trial in Charleston, South Carolina, where it would market those four vMVPD services to its high-speed internet customers in the region. That trial has apparently been expanded to other parts of the WOW footprint. 

“Our strategic focus is on our broadband business and we have updated wowway.com to better serve consumers as they increasingly choose streaming services over traditional video,” the company said. “Most of WOW’s new customers are now choosing our HSD-only offering as they look for a viewing experience that better aligns with their budget and entertainment preferences.”

It was only early March when WOW also began testing WOW! tv+ in Columbus, Ohio. It expanded those tests to Cleveland and Central Michigan last month. 

“WOW! tv+ is very much a part of our product and services portfolio that is designed to offer consumers maximum flexibility and choice,” the company said. “We continue to introduce WOW! tv+ in new markets across our footprint. 

“If a customer requests a more traditional video experience, we are able to offer WOW! tv+ and our traditional video product, when WOW! tv+ isn’t available, through our call centers and sales teams,” WOW added. 

Since Sony first announced that it will shutter its five-year-old PlayStation Vue service at the end of January, the general reaction from the media-tech world has been a shrug. 

The rising costs of program licensing has rendered the business model for so-called virtual MVPDs like PlayStation Vue moot. In Vue’s case, further raising the price of its $50 base tier—a necessary move to sustain any level of profitability—meant encroaching into a dicey pricing proposition where there was little incentive for consumers to give up their full linear pay TV bundle. 

Certainly, in a business in which rivals Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV Now,  fuboTV and Philo are all live-streaming varying iterations of skinny linear network bundles at razor-thin profit margins, it wasn’t a matter of if a vMVPD—or two!—would go, but when. 

That the first to go was PlayStation Vue—which was labeled as “DOA” by a Diffusion Group analyst after the service rolled out in March 2015 without ESPN—wasn’t a surprise. 

“Unfortunately, the highly competitive pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected,” blogged John Kodera, deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, in an October statement announcing the pending closure of PlayStation Vue. “Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business.”

With the announcement coming about six months after Sony divested from Crackle, Vue’s shuttering was also seen as yet another awkward retrenchment by Sony from a digital venture. But Sony’s five-year Vue gambit can be, er, viewed from another perspective: as a noble, ambitious, somewhat quixotic media venture, with the Japanese media-tech conglomerate deemed successful merely for having tried in the first place. 

These days, vMVPDs are generally considered part of the old linear universe. The launches—and pending launches—of Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max and Peacock have officially ushered in the age of disaggregation of video services into on-demand, streaming platforms, delivered directly to consumers by media companies. In terms of any re-aggregation and bundling, it’s the Amazon Channels model that’s seen as the future. 

A Revolutionary

Going back five years, to that moment when Sony gestated PlayStation Vue, feels like five decades ago in OTT time. But back then, the live streaming of traditional, linear broadcast and cable networks was viewed as the revolution. Back in 2014, the Wall Street Journal had a string of anonymously sourced reports about Apple working on an ambitious plan to rope in hundreds—nay, thousands—of local broadcast affiliates. Not only would you be able to watch ESPN, TNT and Comedy Central on your iPhone, but you’d get your local ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC station, too. 

Apple was going to make good on the vision of its late founder, Steve Jobs, to “solve the problem” of TV. And that vision was, essentially, a robust version of the vMVPD as we’ve come to know it. 

But it was Sony that actually made good on the promise. 

Launching at CES in January 2015, Dish Network was actually the first vMVPD in the market, bundling a handful of major cable networks in a live-streamed service full of technical glitches, all for $20 a month. 

Sony slowly rolled out Vue, meanwhile, with a robust base-tier package, priced at $50 a month for 85 channels, usually unfurling into new markets only when it could deliver the local broadcast networks. Eventually, Sony came to terms with The Walt Disney Company, adding ESPN, and it began to amass a very linear-pay-TV-like collection of regional sports networks. Its distribution extended far beyond the PlayStation 4 video console to every major OTT and mobile platform. PS Vue even offered a cloud DVR. 

It was the full pay TV experience, signed up for without a contract or truck roll, positioned to be cancelled at any time the consumer chose. But starting with the arrival of AT&T’s erstwhile DirecTV Now back in November 2016, which was priced at only $35 a month, the market changed fast. 

Among the major OTT services, PlayStation Vue routinely ranked high in customer satisfaction, its technology underpinned by Disney’s acclaimed BAMTech. But Sony was never very forthcoming about how many customers Vue had (eMarketer pegs Vue at around 800,000 users). The platform’s traction in the marketplace—light in humble beginnings that included little in the way of national promotion—never seemed to improve as a flurry of new competitors like Hulu, YouTube and AT&T/DirecTV entered the vMVPD scene. 

Indeed, whenever a high-ranking Sony executive would address the topic of PlayStation Vue, words were carefully parsed to see how committed the conglomerate remained to the service. Kodera told Sony investors as recently as May of last year that Vue was still a vital part of Sony’s plan to emphasize subscription services that could play on its installed base of PlayStation 4 consoles.

In the end, though, Sony was never able to develop an edge for Vue with advanced advertising—an attribute that has kept Sling TV, Hulu Live TV and YouTube TV’s backers in the game. 

“Advertisers are eager to tap into the small slice of video ad inventory that operators get as part of most carriage agreements," wrote Seth Shafer, a research analyst with Kagan, a media market research group within S&P Global Market. "Sony largely lacked that same component, so it may have been more challenging for the company to monetize its video ad inventory through Vue."

Hulu announced that it is raising the price of its Hulu+Live TV service by $10 to $54.99 a month for its base service.

The price increase will affect all plans that include live TV.

The move comes as analysts note that the growth of subscribers to virtual multichannel video programming distributors has slowed, even as cord cutting increases. 

Last month Sony said it would be closing its Sony PlayStation Vue vMVPD and other services, including AT&T TV Now have increased their prices in order to improve profitability.

“The new price better reflects the substantial value of Hulu+Live TV together as the only offering that brings together live and on-demand television in one seamless experience,” Hulu said. “The new price will allow us to continue offering all of the popular live news, sports and entertainment programming including in the plan.

Hulu has been aggressively promoting its live service as a way streaming viewers can watch live sports events.

In its blog post, Hulu noted that it is relatively easy for subscribers to switch from the live plan to the lower-cost on-demand only service after the football season ends.

“We realize many Hulu customers want even more choice and control over their live viewing experience, so we’re actively exploring ways to provide additional, more tailored live TV options to you in the future. We’ll keep you posted on those efforts as they progress,” the Hulu blog post said.

The Walt Disney Co. this year acquired control of Hulu from partners Comcast, Fox and AT&T. Disney is offering Hulu’s ad-supported on-demand service in a bundle with the recently launched Disney+ and ESPN+ streaming services for $12.99 a month. Hulu's on-demand service costs $5.99 a month.

WASHINGTON — In what could signal a big change in regulatory approach, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai is proposing to set the precedent that streaming services qualify as “effective competition” to multichannel video programming distributors sufficient to trigger basic rate deregulation.

The FCC has said the presence in a market of direct-broadcast satellite service (DirecTV or Dish Network) can trigger an effective competition finding, but this would be the first time a virtual MVPD — in this case AT&T TV Now — filled the bill.

Pai said in an Oct. 3 blog post that an order would be teed up for a vote at the Oct. 25 meeting granting Charter Communications’s request (backed by ACA Connects) for a finding of effective competition. Pai almost certainly has the votes for approval or he would not have scheduled it for a public vote.

Historically, cable providers have cited the ubiquity of satellite as justification for removing rate regulations. But in this test case of sorts, Charter and the smaller, independent operators represented by ACA Connects are basing that OTT competition call on the availability of AT&T TV Now, the former DirecTV Now.

To avoid a return to basic cable regulations, cable operators are looking to establish the precedent now as cord-cutting continues to cut into subscriber counts for traditional competitors and as over-the-top becomes the video delivery system of choice for former satellite customers.

Cable companies fear that if the subscriber counts for DirecTV or Dish Network go south, local franchise authorities could cite that as a reason they were no longer subject to effective competition and reinstate basic rate regulations.

A finding of effective competition lifts basic-cable price regulation, which has now been eliminated in all but that handful of systems. Cable operators deemed subject to effective competition also do not have to provide broadcastTV signals on the basic tier.

“Adopting this order would be a major step toward the commission recognizing the realities of the modern video marketplace, and the increasingly important role that streaming services are playing in it,” Pai said.

The item raises the issue of just how the FCC should define OTT services beyond effective competition, and the specter of subjecting them to the same regulatory regime, such as program-access and program-carriage rules.

The Charter ruling could fuel that debate anew, given that the cable industry has made it clear that broadband video is the future of the business and also given that the current definition of the effective competition trigger is “at least two unaffiliated [MVPDs], each of which offers comparable video programming to at least 50% of the households in the franchise area.”

The FCC’s Charter order says OTT fits all of the definitions of competitive video provider for purposes of the effective competition trigger — comparable services, offered direct to home. The item says a provider does not have to have its own facilities to be a comparable video service, one of the sticky wickets in the debate.

Pai has said the FCC should not redefine OTT providers as MVPDs subject to FCC program-access regulations. But that was back in 2015.

His predecessor, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, proposed redefining linear over-the-top providers (with day-and-date channel lineups similar to those of traditional cable and satellite) as MVPDs, but got pushback from some OTT providers. as well as from cable operators.

Wheeler was looking to give OTT providers FCC-enforced access to vertically integrated programming to give them a boost as video competitors to cable.

WASHINGTON — In what could signal a big change in regulatory approach, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai is proposing to set the precedent that streaming services qualify as “effective competition” to multichannel video programming distributors sufficient to trigger basic rate deregulation.

The FCC has said the presence in a market of direct-broadcast satellite service (DirecTV or Dish Network) can trigger an effective competition finding, but this would be the first time a virtual MVPD — in this case AT&T TV Now — filled the bill.

Pai said in an Oct. 3 blog post that an order would be teed up for a vote at the Oct. 25 meeting granting Charter Communications’s request (backed by ACA Connects) for a finding of effective competition. Pai almost certainly has the votes for approval or he would not have scheduled it for a public vote.

Historically, cable providers have cited the ubiquity of satellite as justification for removing rate regulations. But in this test case of sorts, Charter and the smaller, independent operators represented by ACA Connects are basing that OTT competition call on the availability of AT&T TV Now, the former DirecTV Now.

To avoid a return to basic cable regulations, cable operators are looking to establish the precedent now as cord-cutting continues to cut into subscriber counts for traditional competitors and as over-the-top becomes the video delivery system of choice for former satellite customers.

Cable companies fear that if the subscriber counts for DirecTV or Dish Network go south, local franchise authorities could cite that as a reason they were no longer subject to effective competition and reinstate basic rate regulations.

A finding of effective competition lifts basic-cable price regulation, which has now been eliminated in all but that handful of systems. Cable operators deemed subject to effective competition also do not have to provide broadcastTV signals on the basic tier.

“Adopting this order would be a major step toward the commission recognizing the realities of the modern video marketplace, and the increasingly important role that streaming services are playing in it,” Pai said.

The item raises the issue of just how the FCC should define OTT services beyond effective competition, and the specter of subjecting them to the same regulatory regime, such as program-access and program-carriage rules.

The Charter ruling could fuel that debate anew, given that the cable industry has made it clear that broadband video is the future of the business and also given that the current definition of the effective competition trigger is “at least two unaffiliated [MVPDs], each of which offers comparable video programming to at least 50% of the households in the franchise area.”

The FCC’s Charter order says OTT fits all of the definitions of competitive video provider for purposes of the effective competition trigger — comparable services, offered direct to home. The item says a provider does not have to have its own facilities to be a comparable video service, one of the sticky wickets in the debate.

Pai has said the FCC should not redefine OTT providers as MVPDs subject to FCC program-access regulations. But that was back in 2015.

His predecessor, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, proposed redefining linear over-the-top providers (with day-and-date channel lineups similar to those of traditional cable and satellite) as MVPDs, but got pushback from some OTT providers. as well as from cable operators.

Wheeler was looking to give OTT providers FCC-enforced access to vertically integrated programming to give them a boost as video competitors to cable.

Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge told an industry audience Monday that he still believes there is ample room for growth in the video business, adding that pricing and margin pressure could continue to squeeze virtual MVPD competitors.

Charter is nearing the finish of its all-digital upgrade — Rutledge said it should be completed this year — and the cable operator has increased data speeds across its footprint. Today, about 60% of Charter’s footprint has a minimum data speed of 100 Mbps per second. For the remaining 40%, the minimum speed is 200 Mbps.

“We went through long, arduous integration process to build a company that was a single platform everywhere we operate,” Rutledge said. “We’re wrapping it up this quarter,” adding that Charter should be able to reap the fruits of those labors in 2019 with lower capital expenditures and better products.

Rutledge said that despite the rumors of the death of pay TV video, content is still an important part of the business.

“What we sell is a connective relationship to the customer,” Rutledge said at the UBS Global Media & Communications conference in New York Monday. “Video is important to that.”

Despite continued pressure around pricing and packaging that has caused disruption in the pay TV industry, he added that in two to three years, he expects the business to be pretty much the same.

“The trend lines will continue, but I don’t think it is going to precipitously restructure in that time frame,” Rutledge said. “Our view is there is an opportunity for us to continue to have video products integrated with our data, mobile and wireline voice products that are economically and from a product perspective better than our competitors,” Rutledge said. “We need video to do that.”

While margin pressure has been increasing on the video product for years as costs increase, Rutledge said he sees life there too.

“I don’t think margins go to zero in a three-year time frame,” he said. ”I think the overall margin in the business can be sustained, if not grown. Our competitors have the same cost structures we do, generally. I think we can mix and match video.”

As for those competitors, virtual MVPDs like Sling TV, DirecTV Now and others have experienced a slowdown in subscriber growth rates. Rutledge said it all comes down to customer relationships.

“I think that part of the issue with virtual MVPDs is your overall relationship with the customer and how sticky that is,” Rutledge said. “I think we have an opportunity to make a stickier relationship. That isn’t to say you can’t have a virtual MVPD that makes money, but it creates a very expensive product from a programming perspective and a marketing and churn perspective. Running a business with no gross margin and with a lot of marketing cost is a challenge over time. Unless someone wants to do it for another reason, there should be some lessening of price pressure.”

We face a new competitive media environment in which multichannel video programming distributors must gain a deeper understanding of their customers in such critical areas as:

• Understanding household relationships beyond RGUs.
• Gaining an overview of cord-cutters and over-the-top customers: Who is leaving? Who comes back? How long are they gone?
• The impact of OTT, or customer experience challenges and opportunities.
• Internet positioning: How can distributors leapfrog speed to become the best internet solution?

Addressing such strategic questions requires a paradigm shift. Due to the oligopolistic market structure for managed video, data and voice, the multichannel industry has focused on selling more revenue-generating units (i.e., acquisition), not on retention and loyalty.

Consumers, though, have more choices for entertainment and data services than ever, including the choice to leave managed services providers altogether. At this juncture, the industry must consider adopting a customer-centric mindset to adapt to the new marketplace. Shifting to a consumer-centric point of view is fundamental to approach strategic questions, including:

• How should we think about households as a collection of people with needs and desires distributors can meet?
• Who are the cord-cutters and why are they leaving traditional pay TV?
• Might building different levels of video services potentially cannibalize existing business?
• How do you position internet products to resonate with consumers?

In our view, success for the multichannel industry requires a new mantra:

Retain, Entertain, Relate

The first step is to understand subscribers as more than a collection of RGUs. Rather, they are households that you can delight and empower but with budgets and other bills to pay.

For households with multiple TVs, per-box rental fees and associated costs can make a reasonably priced introductory offer prohibitively expensive. Pushing additional services, including forcing customers to subscribe to products they don’t need for a “better deal,” creates a negative dynamic. Here, “personalization” has real meaning as each household should feel like it is getting a sensible offer after an honest needs assessment.

Highly relevant to this question is Horowitz Research’s proprietary segmentation of TV viewers, which identifies three segments: Content Omnivores, Content Paleos, and 5 O’Clock Diners.

Comprising 7% of the TV viewer universe, Content Paleos represent the smallest segment. Less likely to have children at home, they spend less time watching content on any screen, are much less likely to be multichannel subscribers and are largely cord-cutters and cord-nevers whose needs are easily satisfied by self-managed services.

5 O’Clock Diners comprise 32% and watch traditional platforms — live, VOD, DVR. They are the traditional TV counterpart to Content Paleos, focusing on news, broadcast and sports. They skew older and are less likely to have children at home; but are the most likely to subscribe to traditional multichannel TV.

Content Omnivores watch the most TV and have the most varied needs. They have the highest household income of all segments and are likely to have children at home. To keep up with the demand for content, they need managed and self-managed OTT services.

With new digital MVPDs entering the fray, Content Omnivores are the most vulnerable. With larger households, Content Omnivores likely pay the most for TV services. They need to be retained, entertained and engaged.

Being, on average, younger and more tech-savvy, Omnivores are the primary market of all players. While MVPDs may ask whether virtual providers can be as compelling as traditional ones, Content Omnivores have reversed the question: Can a traditional MVPD be as robust, compelling and convenient as a virtual provider? For these consumers, traditional MVPDs must ask how they can continue to be relevant to households as millennial and Generation Z consumers become key decision-makers.

Given the size of the Content Omnivore segment, it is imperative for MVPDs to understand how to retain these customers. Next-generation features, such as cross-platform search and discovery and voice control, deliver great perceived value to multichannel subscribers, especially young consumers.

Centering Around Consumers

In addition to technology advances, consumers express a desire for customer-centric experiences from TV providers, including:

• Flexible payment options (change billing dates or putting accounts on temporary hold);
• Empowering customer service representatives with greater flexibility to negotiate;
• Better communication about when promotional pricing ends;
• Engagement throughout the purchase and retention journey that relates to customer needs;
• Loyalty programs with material rewards.

As an industry, we must begin to think like our customers. The necessary technology exists but the industry’s willingness to adapt has lagged. The multichannel industry’s failure to anticipate consumers’ appetite for on-demand content and new viewing behaviors provided the entrée for Netflix to blaze a trail in this area. While adoption of streaming services has skyrocketed, usage of VOD, DVR and provider apps/sites has not experienced the same growth. It’s time for MVPDs to step up their game to include their customers as collaborators.

Adriana Waterston is senior vice president, insights and strategy at Horowitz Research.

After announcing a $75 million cash infusion in April, fuboTV is expanding its executive team.

On Monday, the start-up virtual pay TV service announced the hiring of former Warner Bros. Digital executive David Yoon as senior VP of product design. The company simultaneously announced that former Tidal executive Erik Gerson has been named senior VP of engagement.

Related: fuboTV Preps 4K Beta

Yoon will report to David Gandler, fuboTV’s co-founder and CEO. Gerson will report to Alberto Horihuela, co-founder and CMO.

“fuboTV is committed to raising the bar in user engagement and experience across our live TV streaming platform, and today’s appointments underscore this investment in our subscribers,” said Gandler, in a statement. “With the additions of Erik and David to our world-class executive team, we are in an even stronger position to build for the future.”

The moves come as fuboTV is trying to refocus public perception of well-backed fuboTV as an underdog in a market that also includes AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Dish Network’s Sling TV, Hulu With Live TV and YouTube TV.

“Look, I can’t tell you how many people since 2015 have told us we’re dead because there’s some company that’s going to kill us,” Gandler said in an interview published by Fast Company last week. “And we’ve been able to withstand some serious competition.”

FuboTV has noted, for example, that it’s the first vMVPD to launch a 4K beta. It also touts itself as the first to fully implement SCTE 224 blackout technology standards.

“Because they’re a startup, and they’re a small team, that agility shouldn’t be underestimated,” added Emma Lloyd, the group director of partnerships and startups for fuboTV investor Sky, speaking to Fast Company. “It’s amazing to see, as an investor in Fubo, what they’ve managed to achieve in a very short space of time–certainly compared to other bigger players in the market–with very little investment.”

fuboTV, the sports-focused OTT TV service, plans to launch a 4K offering in beta form this summer, according to co-founder and CEO David Gandler.

fuboTV hasn’t specified how much content in the pixel-packed format it might offer on a linear or on-demand basis, but the company expects to announce more details “in the coming weeks,” Gandler said.

The move will put fuboTV in some select company as a few traditional pay TV providers, such as DirecTV, Dish Network, Altice USA and Comcast have offered a limited amount of content in 4K. Layer3 TV, a managed, market-level, managed IPTV service now owned by T-Mobile that’s also working on a national OTT offering, offers a mix of linear channels and on-demand content in 4K.

RELATED: Altice USA Offering World Cup Matches in 4K

Among pure-play OTT services, DirecTV Now is working on upgrades to its streaming platform that will support 4K.

“This is a big push that we have,” Gandler said of fuboTV’s 4K initiative. “For us, [4K] is a big part of our future. Obviously, sports fans who buy expensive TVs certainly want to get the best picture quality.”

In addition to a 4K-capable TV, fuboTV customers that want to take advantage of the future offering will also need to have the app running on a streaming device, such as a Roku player, Apple TV or Fire TV box, that also supports the format.

fuboTV announced last fall that it had more than 100,000 subscribers, and expects to provide updated figures later this year.

While fuboTV’s core focus is the U.S., the company also offers a basic pay TV service  in Canada. fuboTV is also developing a version of its service for Western Europe that is expected to launch “very soon,” according to Gandler.

More from the discussion with Gandler and about industry trends and fuboTV's plans will be featured in an upcoming issue of Broadcasting & Cable. 

Hulu has tapped industry vet Jeremy Helfand to head up the OTT service’s ad platform and tech initiatives.

As Hulu’s new VP and head of advertising platforms, Helfand will lead the company’s ad strategy, ad product innovation, tech investments and partnerships as well as Hulu’s advertising organization’s engineering operations.

Helfand reports to Hulu CTO Dan Philips and will play a “critical role in scaling and expanding Hulu’s advertising platforms and solutions.” Helfand will also team up with Hulu’s ad sales organization, led by SVP and head of advertising sales Peter Naylor.

Hulu recently implemented a reorg that aligns the company around three areas --technology and products; content and advertising; and “Subscriber Journey,” a component that includes subscriber acquisition, engagement and retention.

RELATED: Hulu Moves on ‘Strategic’ Reorg

Hulu has about 20 million subscribers, a total that includes SVOD-only subscribers and more than 800,000 subs that take Hulu's new Live TV service, which also includes the SVOD component.

RELATED: Hulu: Average Viewer Watching 10 Shows

Prior to joining Hulu, Helfand was VP of Adobe’s Primetime business unit and its Media & Entertainment vertical, playing a major role in the launch of Adobe’s multi-screen, OTT platform. Prior to that, he was CEO of Auditude, a video ad management tech company acquired by Adobe in 2011.

Helfand serves on the IAB Video Board of Directors and is a trustee of the Viewpoint School.

He graduated from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

On the heels of closing its acquisition of Time Warner, AT&T has formally introduced WatchTV, a skinny bundle without sports or local broadcast networks that features a lineup of more than 30 live channels and a VOD library of about 15,000 TV shows and movies. 

AT&T said it will offer WatchTV (via the WatchTV mobile app, Web browsers and select streaming devices) at no added cost to mobile customers who sign up for two new unlimited wireless plans – AT&T Unlimited & More and AT&T Unlimited & More Premium – that are slated to launch next week.

AT&T said it also will “soon” offer WatchTV as a $15 per month standalone service.

Channels in the WatchTV lineup at launch include: A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, Audience (from AT&T), BBC World News, BBC America, Boomerang, CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery, Food Network, fyi, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, HGTV, History, HLN, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, OWN, Sundance TV, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, TLC, TNT, truTV, Velocity, Viceland, and We TV.

Networks set to join the WatchTV lineup “soon after launch” include BET, Comedy Central, MTV2, Nicktoons, TeenNick, and VH1. 

More detail about WatchTV emerge about a month after AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson dropped hints about the coming service when he gave antitrust trial testimony during the then-pending AT&T-Time Warner merger.

RELATED: AT&T Eyes Launch of Sports-Free Skinny OTT TV Service

In addition to being used as a perk for AT&T’s new unlimited wireless plans, WatchTV also presents competition for Philo, the sports-free OTT TV service launched last November, and perhaps less so for AT&T’s own DirecTV Now service as well as OTT-delivered pay TV services such as Sling TV, Hulu Live, PlayStation Vue, and fuboTV, a sports-focused service. 

Here’s how AT&T’s new unlimited mobile plans stack up feature-wise:

AT&T Unlimited & More Premium

• Option to add WatchTV
• Option to add one of the following premiums: HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora Premium, or VRV, the Ellation-owned SVOD aggregation service
• $15 monthly credit toward DirecTV (the satellite TV service), DirecTV Now (OTT TV) or U-verse TV (AT&T’s managed IPTV service)
• 15 gigabytes of device tethering
• Streaming at high quality

AT&T Unlimited & More

• Option to add WatchTV
• $15 monthly credit toward DirecTV Now
• Up to 4G LTE unlimited data.

AT&T said more details about the new plans will be available here when they are launched next week. The current plans – AT&T Unlimited Plus Enhanced and Unlimited Choice Enhanced – sell for $48 per line (or $190 per month for four lines) and $40 per line (or $160 per month for four lines), respectively. 

Notably, AT&T said subs on the unlimited plans could see lower data speeds (and video could be limited to standard-definition) when the network is congested. 

AT&T is enhancing its new unlimited plans with video-focused features amid ongoing competition with rivals such as Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, which is working on a national OTT TV service following its acquisition of Layer3 TV.

RELATED: Verizon CEO: Linear TV Model is Dead

Cable operators such as Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice have launched or are preparing to launch mobile services that lean on MVNO deals and their own WiFi networks.

RELATED: Charter Eyes June 30 Debut for Spectrum Mobile

Cheddar, a tech and business news network focused on younger audiences, said it has added another distribution outlet via a carriage deal with fuboTV.

RELATED: Cheddar Raises $22 Million, Eyes Expansion, New Network

fuboTV, an OTT TV service focused on sports programming, announced last fall that it had more than 100,000 subs.

The carriage agreement expands Cheddar’s reach with so-called virtual MVPDs, as it has similar pacts with Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, and Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service launched late last year.

RELATED: Virtual MVPDs: Platform Improves the Path to Content

Cheddar, which recently inked a deal to acquire Viacom’s MTV Networks on Campus distribution platform, also has distribution deals with more traditional pay TV distributors such as Comcast and Altice.

RELATED: Altice USA Adds Cheddar to Its New Platform

Cheddar Big News, a new digital network from Cheddar focused on the day’s headlines and top stories, launches today on Sling TV, the Dish-owned OTT TV service.

Cheddar Big News is available on the Sling Orange and/or Sling Blue subscription packages. Sling TV ended Q1 2018 with 2.3 million subs.

Cheddar Big News debuted in April and features updates and business news from Cheddar’s New York Stock Exchange studio, political and government news from Washington, D.C., and entertainment news from Cheddar’s Los Angeles office. Cheddar Big News’s content partners include AccuWeather, FanSided, Stadium and VSiN.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

Cheddar Big News has also been launched on Philo, the new entertainment-focused virtual MVPD, as well as YouTube TV. The Coca-Cola Company has signed on as Cheddar Big News’s first integrated sponsor.

RELATED: Philo Adds Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade to Baseline TV Package

Sling TV added the primary Cheddar channel in 2016. “Today we’re welcoming Cheddar Big News, a new way for Sling TV subscribers to stay in-the-loop on daily headlines that matter most,” Ankit Bishnoi, vice president of content acquisition and strategy at Sling TV, said in a statement.

“Sling TV is a very special partner for us. They were the first to launch Cheddar; they saw the vision and bet on our team and content before anyone else. They are extremely innovative, and we are so excited to bring Cheddar Big News to the platform,” added Daniel Schneider, VP of business development at Cheddar.

RELATED: Cheddar Raises $22M, Eyes International Expansion, New Network

Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service, has expanded its baseline package via the addition of three digital streaming channels – Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade.

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

Cheddar Big News is a new channel from Cheddar emphasizing the day's headlines. PeopleTV, formerly known as The People/Entertainment Weekly Network, features originals and specials from People and Entertainment Weekly. Tastemade is a streaming channel with shows and content focused on food, home, and travel lifestyles.

RELATED: People/Entertainment Weekly Network Becomes ‘PeopleTV’

Philo joins other virtual MVPDs that have begun to add digital channels to lineups that also feature more traditional TV channels.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

Cheddar Big News, Tastemade and PeopleTV join Philo’s base package that costs $16 per month and a lineup that includes networks such as A&E, AMC, BBC America, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Lifetime, MTV, VH1 and Viceland, among others. The additions expands Philo’s base package to 40 channels.

Philo also sells a $4 add-on package that includes nine additional channels: American Heroes Channel, BET Her, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, Logo, MTV Live, and Nicktoons.

Philo launched its national OTT TV service last November. The service has not announced a subscriber figure, but this week launched a referral program that offers a $5 credit for each referral and a $5 credit to the person they refer to the Philo service. Philo said there’s no limit to the amount of credit subscribers can earn.

“Philo is simply a better way to watch TV, and with the addition of Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade, we are thrilled to add even more value for our subscribers,” Andrew McCollum, Philo’s CEO, said in a statement. “We built Philo for everyone who feels like TV was no longer serving them, and this is one more way we can stand apart.”

Hulu has surpassed 800,000 live TV subscribers, company CEO Randy Freer told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at the Code Conference.

The revelation comes just weeks after Hulu announced it had about 20 million total subscribers, a number that includes both live TV and SVOD customers, and a little over a year after Hulu launched its live TV offering in beta form.

RELATED: Hulu Launches Live TV Beta

“We had one of our best months ever in April, and [the service] continues to grow,” Freer said.

He noted that active Hulu subscribers spent about 100 hours with the service in April. “And it looks like May is going to surpass that considerably,” Freer added.

The live TV subscriber milestone puts Hulu on a clear path to the 1 million mark, even as it faces stiff competition from a virtual MVPD sector that includes Dish’s Sling TV (2.3 million subs), AT&T’s DirecTV Now (1.46 million subs), as well as YouTube TV, fuboTV, PlayStation Vue, and Philo.

Freer said Hulu’s ability to package its live TV service with an SVOD offering with popular originals will help it stand from the pack.  

“What people lose sight of for us, in the $39.99 package [is] you get live TV plus you get the entire Hulu on-demand service – so that’s 75,000 episodes of television, it’s original programming, it’s short-form, it’s all of the things that people love,” he said. “When you look at that package…I think we’re going to see that tick up and we’ll do great against others in the marketplace.”  

Boorstin also pressed Freer for his thoughts about how the weight of ownership of Hulu could change as Disney and Comcast wrestle over Fox. He wouldn’t take the bait when asked which would make for a better controlling owner of Hulu.

“We don’t really think about it that way,” he said. “If we do everything we can, each and every day to make Hulu better for our customers, we drive subscribers,” he said. “When all of this shakes out, however it all shakes out, we’ll be in a great position to help that majority owner drive their business as well.” 

If the virtual MVPD market is headed for a shakeout, Sony doesn’t expect its entry, PlayStation Vue, to be one of the services that doesn’t make it.

RELATED: Virtual Pay TV Market Set for a Shakeout: Analyst

Sony has no plans to shut down PS Vue, as it is bringing in useful user data, Sony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida told reporters, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Speculation about the future of PS Vue swirled this week when a presentation (PDF) given at Sony’s investors relations day characterized that the market and future business model for PS Vue “remains uncertain.” Sony also said that market growth for PlayStation VR is below expectations, but added that utilizing those businesses to strengthen user engagement is also key.

News out of Sony this week also centered on word that the PS4 is in its “final phase,” which in reality means that the next iteration of the platform is still three years out. Notably, the majority of PS Vue streaming now occurs on non-PlayStation devices.

What is more certain is that Sony’s OTT TV service will continue to find new ways to get local programming to subscribers, as PS Vue announced it is now offering a new national live Fox feed in 34 markets that arrive in the wake of a dispute with Sinclair that resulted in the loss of Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC feeds in some areas.

Sony has not releases subscriber figures for PS Vue, which launched in March 2013 and is believed to be trailing behind other OTT TV services such as DirecTV Now and Sling TV.

However, from a customer satisfaction standpoint, it’s in the right video category – streaming.

RELATED: YouTube TV is Losing Money, But is There a Path to Profit?

Consumers are more satisfied with video streaming services such as Netflix and PlayStation Vue than they are with traditional TV services – and leading by a big margin – according to a new report from The American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The 2018 version of the ACSI Telecommunications Report, found that overall customer satisfaction with subscription TV services fell 3.1% to a score of 62 (out of a possible 100), an 11-year low.

By comparison, video streaming services, which includes SVODs and virtual MVPDs, pulled in a score of 75.

Netflix, PS Vue and Twitch led the streaming group with a score of 78.

Among traditional pay TV services, AT&T U-verse topped the charts in 2018 with a score of 70, followed by Verizon Fios TV (68), Dish (67) and DirecTV satellite TV (64). Optimum (Altice USA) was the highest-scoring cable operator with a 62, down from 66 in 2017.

Among the pay TV group, picture quality got high marks, with call center satisfaction on the opposite end

The disparity in customer satisfaction comes as people continue to defect to lower-cost online video services alongside OTT experiences that have “fundamentally changed buyer expectations,” ACSI said.

“OTT operators have raised the bar by providing greater personalization, lower prices, more mobility – and much better customer service,” ACSI said in the report. 

Verizon has been adamant that the OTT TV service it was developing would not be a “me-too” amid a growing sea of virtual MVPDs.

RELATED: Verizon Exec: Our New OTT TV Service Won’t Be a ‘Me-Too’

Mission accomplished (sort of) -- Verizon’s OTT TV service won’t be a me-too because it has also turned into a “never was.”

Realizing that creating something that is truly differentiated and given the general decline of “linear” TV, Verizon has shifted gears and decided it would rather partner up with an existing OTT TV player and try to create something a bit different by integrating digital content from Oath, the unit that runs Yahoo and AOL.

“Our view is that we should partner with those that are in the linear game,” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said earlier this week in this video interview with Yahoo Finance. “Let them be very good at what they do. We’ll add digital content into that mix, and we’ll position ourselves for where we become more of an over-the-top video culture versus the linear model that we have today.”

McAdam stressed that Verizon likewise won’t be investing more deeply into the linear TV arena, and saying he doesn’t believe that traditional TV has a bright future would be an understatement.

“I think the linear model is dead; it’s just going to take a long time to die,” he said.

“We’re much more into the digital area,” McAdam said, noting that Verizon will instead place its bets on things like Yahoo’s properties and some “limited entertainment.”

Back to that idea that Verizon wants to integrate Oath’s content with an OTT TV provider, McAdam said he expects to have a partner picked for an expected launch in Q4.

He didn’t say who Verizon will partner with, but he has ample choices. Two seemingly unlikely candidates (because: mobile competition) are AT&T’s DirecTV Now service and the one that T-Mobile is developing following its acquisition of Layer3 TV.

RELATED: T-Mobile’s Jeff Binder: 5G Is ‘Perfect Delivery Mechanism for Video’ 

Those that might make a better fit from a direct competitor standpoint include YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sony PlayStation Vue, Philo, Sling TV and, possibly, Hulu.

The good news for McAdam and Verizon is that some of these virtual MVPDs have already been starting to stitch digital content with traditional TV.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

That Verizon has altered its stance on creating its own OTT TV service isn’t a huge surprise, given that there’s already talk of a looming shakeout of the current market. Plus, OTT TV, with its mélange of smaller margins, programming costs, and exposure to churn, is simply a tough business to break even on, let alone profit from.

RELATED: Virtual Pay TV Market Set for a Shakeout: Analyst

CenturyLink tried its hand at an OTT TV service, found that business to be challenging, shut it down, and decided that partnering is the better approach. It’s also starting to back away from its managed IPTV service, Prism TV.

RELATED: CenturyLink Pulling Plug on OTT TV Beta Service

Hulu said it has hired former execs at Netflix and Samsung Electronics to head up its content and brand marketing teams for the company’s SVOD and live TV services.

Ryan Crosby, who last served as director of global creative marketing at Netflix, has been named VP of content marketing, where he’ll head up Hulu’s newly expanded content marketing function and oversee originals, licensed, live TV and on-channel marketing. Prior to Netflix, Crosby was with Activision Blizzard and at Microsoft’s Xbox unit.  

RELATED: Hulu Unleashes Updates for Mobile, Web Platforms 

Nick Tran, the former head of brand culture at Samsung, is now VP of brand and culture marketing at Hulu, heading up Hulu’s brand strategy, campaigns and social media. Tran previously was a marketing exec at Stance Socks and Taco Bell.  

Both will join Hulu in June and report to Kelly Campbell, the former Google executive who joined Hulu last year as chief marketing officer.  

RELATED: Hulu Hires Kelly Campbell as Chief Marketing Officer 

“During a critical time for Hulu, we’re excited to bring in two new Vice Presidents to anchor our brand and content marketing teams,” Campbell said in a release. “Ryan Crosby and Nick Tran are tremendous leaders with proven track records, who will join Hulu’s talented marketing team to lead the next evolution of our Hulu brand promise and content marketing campaigns.” 

 Earlier this month, Hulu announced it had surpassed 20 million subscribers, a number that includes SVOD and the live TV service that debuted about a year ago.  

Denver – Subscriber losses are continuing to plague the world of traditional MVPDs, but a new wave of OTT TV services believes that providing more intuitive experiences and platforms that connect consumers to the shows they love are sizing up to be a big difference maker.

RELATED: Pay TV Subscriber Losses Drop to 305K in Q1

That was one big takeaway here Wednesday (May 16) at the Pay TV Show on a panel focused on a new wave of virtual MVPDs equipped with slick, personalized interfaces that deliver various types of packages to a wide range of mobile and TV-connected devices.

Session moderator, Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar, the business and tech news service tailored for younger audiences, asked why traditional TV is in trouble and ran through a list of TV shows and series that tend to appeal to an older set of consumers.

Tim Connolly, senior vice president and head of distribution and partnerships at Hulu, said that many of those shows are also popular on Hulu, whose average subscriber is 31 years old.

“It really is more about the platform and not the show itself,” Connolly said, adding later that a case study found that shows like The Good Wife have done a decent job finding an audience of young women on the streaming service.

PlayStation Vue, the Sony-owned OTT TV service, serves an audience that’s mostly in the low 30s.

“The reason we built PlayStation Vue was because the PlayStation audience is largely millennial and wanted a better way to watch TV,” Dwayne Benefield, vice president and head of Sony PlayStation Vue, said.

RELATED: PlayStation Vue Busts Out

To keep TV relevant, service providers need to create a better product experience, agreed Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo, which launched a national, entertainment-focused package last November that starts at $16 per month.

Philo cut its teeth on a multi-platform TV platform tailored for college campuses, and found that 92% of those college users said they’d want to keep the service after they graduated. Philo has parlayed those learnings and those experiences into its new national OTT TV product.

“The content really isn’t the problem,” McCollum said. “It’s the cost and the delivery.”

Consumer cost isn’t an issue for Pluto TV, the free, ad-supported linear-style TV service.

RELATED: Virtual Pay TV Market Set for a Shakeout: Analyst

Traditional TV didn’t keep up with consumer expectations, Jeff Shultz, chief business officer of Pluto TV, said. He argued that while the customer experience continues to be an issue, the challenges affecting the overarching business model remains a more significant hurdle for the pay TV industry to overcome.

“We’ve learned that free and instant scales in a way that’s remarkable,” he said.

But Steinberg wondered if MVPDs, virtual or traditional, have a “tortured relationship” with Pluto TV, given that networks and programmers, including Cheddar, offer some content on the free streaming service as well as through pay TV distributors, creating a challenge to provide enough value across the board. Why not create a “front porch” that gives consumers access to that free content alongside an avenue to the paid product?

Shultz said Pluto TV is starting to do that, citing some work with SVOD service DramaFever, whereby season one of a multi-season series from DramaFever appears on Pluto TV’s free, ad-supported service while also giving viewers a clear path to DramaFever’s full SVOD offering.

Others see the path to success being paved by a mix of both free and paid.

France-based Molotov runs a freemium style service that offers some free content with an upsell option. Blanc said Molotov’s simplified approach has enabled the company to draw consumers of all ages.

“Everything is about the experience,” JeanDavid Blanc, CEO of Molotov, said. 

Hulu is introducing a wave of updates to its experience for mobile devices and web browsers to help meet the evolving needs and lifestyles of subscribers who view TV shows and movies on the go.

The updated experience have been optimized for smartphones and the web amid an increase in mobile viewing of both live TV and on-demand fare.

Though 78% of Hulu viewing is on connected-TV devices, a “strong cohort” of mobile-primary users has also emerged, Ben Smith, SVP and head of experience at Hulu, noted during an interview during this week’s Pay TV Show in Denver. He said mobile viewing on Hulu has increased 84% year-on-year.

Among the updates and changes, outlined in this blog post from VP of product Richard Irving, Hulu is providing direct access to its live TV product via a lightning bolt icon that’s accessible on the navigation bar as well as a dynamic live TV guide.

Hulu has also added a portrait player that lets users view the channel guide and switch between channels without leaving the content itself. When VOD content is being viewed in portrait mode, Hulu also provides recommendations on what to watch next.

The new mobile-optimized UI has also added some enhanced “scrubbing” capabilities that let users navigate more easily through the content and show a preview of the video frame.

Hulu, which recently passed 20 million subscribers (a number that includes both its live TV and SVOD customers), has also added features that provide more control of recommendations, including “Stop Suggesting” and a “Remove” from Watch History feature.

Among other additions, Hulu has added HDMI support to iOS for customers who like to link their mobile device to the TV, and enhancements that deliver the fuller navigation experience on iOS and Android smartphones that are delivering Hulu to the TV in tandem with a Chromecast streaming adapter.

Hulu is also set to bring its new, optimized platform for desktop browsers to live TV subscribers starting on May 22, with SVOD-only customers getting access to it throughout the summer.

Hulu said the new features will start to roll out to Android and iOS next week.

Smith said this marks the biggest set of changes Hulu has made since the company  introduced its next-gen experience on May 3, 2017 – also the date when Hulu launched its new live TV service in beta form.

Denver – The number of consumers that will gravitate to virtual MVPD services won’t be nearly enough to sustain a growing mix of players, setting the market up for an inevitable shakeout, a top video and TV analyst said.

The addressable market for those various OTT TV service providers is in the 10 to 20 million range, but it’s still not large enough to keep all of them fed, Joel Espelien, senior analyst with The Diffusion Group, said during a keynote presentation at The Pay TV Show, an event put on by Fierce and parent company Questex.

According to TDG’s latest forecast, U.S. virtual MVPDs will have 20.1 million subscribers by 2022 on the high-end model, 15.8 million for the mid-range estimate, and 11.6 million in the low case scenario.

That market is “too big to fail, but too small to succeed,” Espelien said.

Today’s players, which include PlayStation Vue, Philo, YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling TV, DirecTV Now, fuboTV and Sling TV, have combined to have between 5 million to 6 million subs.

For a nascent sector, that’s “not bad,” Espelien said, but stressed that there’s still not to share among a group of service providers, expected to expand in the months ahead, to be sustained for the long haul.

And while the expected rate of growth for the OTT TV sector would be seemingly a healthy one for a lot of industries, it’s a bit different in the pay TV arena in part because there is an ARPU tradeoff even when traditional MVPDs replace lost subs with those coming in via an OTT-delivered offering.

“It’s not a one-for-one trade,” Espelien pointed out.

OTT TV providers with the deepest pockets are best positioned to stay in the game and win, he predicted.

Espelien also shared some market data points about the market based on results from a sample size of about 1,000 consumers.

About 54.4% of virtual MVPD subs are cord-cutters, while just 8.9% are in the cord-nevers group. Notably, a sizable segment – 36.9% -- are also subscribing to a legacy pay TV service.

Some 52.6% of those OTT TV subs also supplementing their service by accessing local TV with over-the-air antennas. “They’re coming up with workaround” to get that local content, Espelien said.

Those consumers are more apt to build their own plans versus pre-set packages. And about 63% said they don’t want to pay for channels they don’t want to watch, a trend that is also true in the world of traditional pay TV subs.

Per TDG’s study, most virtual pay TV subs were looking for a change because their former pay TV provider had increased rates or the consumer was rethinking the household budget and how much was being allocated for TV and seeking a new value proposition.

SVOD service adoption is strong with the OTT TV subscriber group (91%) versus 70% among the larger group of adult broadband users.

Espelien is critical of the use of skinny bundles as a solution to the issue facing pay TV as younger consumers find less value in live TV, likening it to offering a smaller hamburger to a vegetarian.

As for who will benefit from the OTT TV movement, a clear one is the broadband service provider, which can transfer those margins to the data service, he said.

Services like Netflix and HBO also stand to benefit, as they look like “incredible values” when compared to a $40 pay TV package, Espelien added. 

Gracenote has introduced a new offering that’s tailored for a new class of virtual MVPDs and covers and integrates data for both live TV and VOD libraries.

The new TV metadata and electronic program guide offering is targeted to smart TVs and other streaming devices, including gaming consoles, that deliver live OTT TV services, and aims to make linear and VOD content more searchable and discoverable, the company said.

Gracenote, now part of Nielsen, said it’s adding that capability as a growing mix of streaming platforms extend access to vMVPD services along their own VOD catalogs and are challenged by integrating the live TV and on-demand worlds of video.

One such example includes sitcoms and dramas that offer new episodes on live TV through OTT TV services even as back episodes are made available on network TV apps and other OTT video service providers.

Gracenote said its new offering enables streaming services to show a unified search result.

“Our newest data solution, designed for cable and satellite operators who offer virtual services as well as standalone OTT providers, bridges the best of live linear programming with on-demand libraries to make content easier to find and watch across platforms,” Simon Adams, GM of video and sports at Gracenote, said in a statement. “By empowering all players in the market to deliver outstanding user experiences, Gracenote is helping them stay ahead of shifting viewing habits and position themselves for success.”

Gracenote hasn’t announced partners that will use the new platform, but is actively working to on-board customers.

Dish Network, the company behind Sling TV, recently migrated to TiVo’s metadata platform. DirecTV, which offers an OTT service called DirecTV Now, is among Gracenote’s listed customers.

Like other virtual MVPDs, YouTube TV is a money-loser.

That’s the bad news. “Even worse, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious path to not losing money,” Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger explained in a Weekend Media Blast analysis on YouTube TV issued Friday. “The financial model doesn’t scale.”

YouTube TV doesn’t break down its financials publicly, but Juenger estimates that YouTube TV is losing about $5 per month per sub, but readily admits that the toughest assumption in making that calculation is the CPM on the product. Given the current, relatively small size of YouTube TV’s sub base, that’s not a material number for a deep-pocketed company like Google and its parent, Alphabet.

Even at 1 million subs, YouTube TV, which is also exposed to annual price inflators from programmers, would lose $60 million per year. “Not even a rounding error for Alphabet,” Juenger noted. “No analyst would even bother modelling it.”

But what if the losses grow to $10 per sub and YouTube TV pulls in 5 million subs. “Now we have a loss of -- $600mm OI. Material yet? How about 10mm subs, now we exceed -$1bn in OI losses. Surely, that would catch investors’ attention.”

With that as the backdrop, it’s clear that YouTube TV’s financial overhang is greater the more successful it becomes from a subscriber basis.

“Google knows this. So what is their plan?” Juenger asks, holding that he doesn’t believe it’s their intention to lose money on every YouTube TV sub indefinitely.

Google hasn’t provided those details, but Juenger speculates on a handful of items – some more disruptive than others -- that could be part its plot to improve the business as it moved further down the road:

1. Google believes consumers will “fall in love with the product,” giving it the green light to eventually raise the price enough to generate a profit. Notably, it already has raised the baseline price of YouTube TV following the recent addition of networks from Turner. But raising prices will be difficult, Juenger said, because of video competition and “reference points” from SVODs such as Netflix and Amazon.

2. Google believes its ad model will prove so superior, they will generate CPMs will in excess of what Bernstein has modeled, and spread across Google’s video inventory in a way that helps put YouTube TV in the black.

3. Google believes their advertising model will prove so superior, TV networks will turn over national inventory for Google to sell. But Juenger says it’s unlikely that networks will cede the rights to any of their premium inventory (or semi-premium or dubiously-premium inventory) to a third party.

RELATED: YouTube Seeks TV Ad-Vantage

4. Google believes they will gain enough subs and importance in the marketplace to push back on TV network price demand, and possibly drop overpriced or unwanted networks. Juenger points that that this one is probably folly, as no MVPD, virtual or otherwise, has been able to pull this off.

5. Google has ambitions to get into the live TV business themselves and try to own the economics. If that’s to happen, Juenger sees it most likely in sports, by Google forming its own "network(s),” and acquiring sports rights. Rights for the NFL, MLB and NHL will be coming up in 2021/2022 timeframe, he points out. 

It's unclear what Google has in mind, but Juenger sees YouTube TV taking some of these paths to help the financials of the OTT TV model pay off, or at least pay better.  

Following a rollout on web browsers last fall and a mix of tests on other platforms, Hulu said it has rolled out its live TV guide and live TV “destination” on a handful of other streaming platforms.

RELATED: Hulu Optimizes Web Platform for Live TV

The latest to get those features include Xbox One consoles, Apple TV boxes (4 gen and higher), Amazon Fire TV devices, and the Nintendo Switch.

The expansion comes about a year after Hulu introduced its live TV service.

Since that launch, “[W]e’ve learned a great deal about how our viewers like to enjoy their live TV,” Richard Irving, Hulu’s VP of product, explained in this blog post. “One thing, in particular, we've heard from you is that at times it can be difficult to see what’s on another channel or flip between two channels you’re watching simultaneously.”

Hulu brought its live guide to the Web last fall, and found that it helped fulfill the need for viewers to get to the live TV offering in one click and have the ability to channel surf, he added.

On platforms with the new live guide/live TV destination, a lightning bolt icon will take Hulu subs to live playback on their most recently viewed channel. Users can also personalize the live TV guide by sorting by “All Channels” or “Recent Channels,” which present the last ten channels watched.

Irving said Hulu plans to roll out the new live TV-focused features to more devices/platforms “soon.” 

Hulu has more than 20 million subscribers, a number that includes its SVOD and live TV service. 

fuboTV, an OTT TV service that’s been focused on sports programming, has introduced a broader-focused and pricier package that offers more than 80 channels for $49.99 per month.

The new Fubo Extra tier, offered for $19.99 for the first month following a seven-day free trial, expands on the baseline package and features channels such as BabyTV, BBC World News, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Game Show Network, INSP, Sony Movie Channel, Revolt, and Stadium, as well as People TV and music nets from XITE.

The base package, now called Fubo and formerly called Fubo Premier, starts at $44.99 per month. Both tiers feature a cloud DVR service and two streams. Fubo TV also offers premium cloud DVR option and a way for subs to purchase an additional stream.

RELATED: fubo TV Offers a Third Stream

fubo TV subs “have been asking for additional options and more premium content, and Fubo Extra meets this demand by featuring everything in our base Fubo package, plus more lifestyle, entertainment, news, kids and sports content, movies and music videos, all for less than $50,” Ben Grad, fubo TV’s head of content strategy & acquisition, said in a statement.

fubo TV is also adding the new option amid growing competition in the OTT TV sector that includes Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and PlayStation Vue.

Other channels new to the service via the Fubo Extra package include BBC World News, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, and GSN.

RELATED: fubo TV Raises $75M More

fubo TV, which announced having more than 100,000 subs as of last fall, also sells several add-on packages, including Adventure Plus, Fubo Latino, International Sports Plus, Sports Plus or Showtime, among others. Fubo TV subs with the Sports Plus package also get Stadium and Stadium Plus. 

Philo, the entertainment-OTT TV service, recently booted up a promo that offers new subscribers three free months of the Pandora Premium.  

The six-month promotion, for new and existing paying Philo customers, runs through October 26, “or until code quantities are exhausted.” 

Philo’s baseline package of 37 channels runs $16 per month, or $20 per month with an add-on package that pushes the lineup to 46 channels. The ad-free Pandora Premium service sells for $9.99 per month.  

RELATED: Hulu Sparks Spotify Bundle

Philo, which cut its teeth on IP-delivered multiscreen services for college campuses, launched its national OTT TV service last November.  

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service 

Philo has raised about $51 million, with backers that include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, Scripps and Viacom, New Enterprise Associates, Rho Ventures, XFund, HBO, CBC New Media Group, and Mark Cuban’s Radical Investments. 

Hulu, which now says it has more than 20 million subscribers, announced new programming plans and important changes in its advertising business during its NewFront event Wednesday in New York.

The streaming service unveiled new series from Mindy Kaling and Blumhouse Television, a third-season of the Emmy Award winning original series The Handmaid’s Tale, the acquisition of ABC’s The Good Doctor and a multi-year deal for kids and family programming with DreamWorks Animation.

Hulu also said it will launch dynamically inserted advertising in its Hulu with Live TV product later this year, it will offer ad-supported downloadable content, it will use Nielsen’s Digital Ad Rating for over-the-top as its currency for sales across the platform, and it expanded sales effectiveness metrics with tools from IHS Markit, Nielsen Buyer Insights, IRI and Experian.

READ MORE: Advanced Ad 2018: At Hulu, 'Things Are Good'

“Hulu is the complete TV experience for consumers, offering both live and on-demand programming and more consumer choice than ever before,” said Hulu CEO Randy Freer. “We are the only place that delivers award-winning content, ad loads less than half that of traditional television, with ads that are always viewable and always in a brand-safe environment -- and we are leading the TV and advertising industries into the future.”

Hulu in January said it had 17 million subscribers. In addition to increasing the number of subscribers, Hulu said engagement with subscribers was up 60% and that 78% of viewing was taking place in the living room on connected TVs.

Hulu made several announcements about new programming.

· Four Weddings and a Funeral: Hulu said it ordered Four Weddings and a Funeral, a limited series produced by Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton from Universal Television and MGM Television based on the 1994 rom-com. It is the second Hulu project for Kaling.

· Ramy: Based on the life experiences of American Muslim comic Ramy Youssef, the comedy series Ramy has been ordered by Hulu. It is being produced by A24.

· Into the Dark: Into the Dark is a new horror event series from Hulu and Blumhouse Television. The first story, The Body, premieres Oct. 5. The second installment, Flesh and Blood, debuts Nov. 2.

· The Handmaid’s Tale: The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for a third season. The series is based on the book by Margaret Atwood, who will be a co-executive producer for season three.

· The Good Doctor: The hit ABC series will be streaming on Hulu. The first season is now available to subscribers. Future episodes will become available the day after they are broadcast on ABC.

Hulu’s deal with DreamWorks Animation gives it exclusive rights to future DreamWorks Animation film as well as DreamWorks library films. Upcoming DreamWorks titles include How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; The Boss Baby 2, and Trolls 2.

Hulu will also work with DreamWorks to develop original kids and family series to be streamed exclusively on Hulu.

READ MORE: CES 2018: As World Turns Digital, TV Ads Remain Powerful

Hulu’s launch an ad supported downloadable content experience is unique and would create a new opportunity for advertisers to reach consumers at a time when more programming is available commercial free.

“Our launch of the industry’s first ad-supported downloadable content experience is yet another example of how Hulu is innovating viewer-first ad solutions to drive powerful results for brands” said Peter Naylor, senior VP of Advertising Sales at Hulu. “With downloadable content, we're offering brands more ways to connect with engaged viewers who love the experience of watching television, wherever they may be.”

Hulu’s decision to use Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings for OTT means advertisers can use DAR to measure, guarantee and report campaign audience delivery across all desktop, mobile and connected devices, providing vital insight into viewership on the platform. With 78% of Hulu viewing taking place in the living room, DAR provides accurate, holistic measurement for everyone watching, according to Hulu.

At a time when TV networks are looking for ways to show how powerful their advertising is, Hulu’s deals with companies that measure ad effectiveness is a solid step in the attribution field.

When working with IHS Markit for Polk Campaign Measurement Solutions, Nielsen Buyer Insights, IRI and Experian, brands will be able to bring their own CRM data and Hulu’s first party data to the party.

fuboTV has teamed with Roku on a promo that offers a free month of the sports-focused OTT TV service to consumers who buy and activate a new Roku streaming player or integrated Roku TV.

The promo, offered on Amazon and retail outlets such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy, runs through July 8, and represents a $44.99 value, they said.

fuboTV’s baseline service includes a cloud DVR component and two simultaneous streams. Users can buy upgrades for a premium cloud DVR service and access to an additional stream under its “Family Share” add-on.

RELATED: fuboTV Launches ‘Advanced DVR’

fuboTV, which recently closed a $75 million “D” round, announced last fall that it had more than 100,000 subscribers, but has not announced a sub update since.

RELATED: fuboTV Raises $75M More

Sling TV has made its optional cloud DVR service available to most of the devices supported by Dish-owned OTT TV service.  

The latest platforms to get access include Google Chrome, Google Chromecast, Xbox One consoles, and certain Samsung and LG Electronics smart TVs. That expands on earlier support for Sling TV on Roku players and Roku TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire tablets, Android TV devices, iOS and Android mobile devices, AirTV Players, Apple TV boxes, and Windows 10 devices.  

RELATED: Sling TV’s Cloud DVR Does Windows 10, Reaches AirTV, iOS Devices 

Sling TV’s cloud DVR service provides 50 hours of storage for an additional $5 per month (Sling TV subs on the original Cloud DVR beta offering have access to 100 hours of storage).  

Sling TV reiterated that DVR functionality is not available on select channels (that list includes Disney and ESPN channels), and that it’s not presently supported on Samsung 2018 model smart TVs or its implementation on Comcast’s X1 platform.  

RELATED: Comcast Streams Sling TV’s International Programming Slate to X1 Boxes 

Sling TV ended 2017 with 2.2 million subs, but has not broken out how many take the Cloud DVR service.  

fuboTV, the sports-focused OTT TV service, has introduced an upgraded app for iOS devices that tacks on several new features.  

Among what’s new in the version 4.0 release includes features such as Start Over, Lookback for Sports (replays of days that aired in the last three days); and My Fubo, a section where subs can stream and schedule cloud DVR recordings.  

Also new is an upgraded, faster version of the guide.  

The new release also comes on the heels of the 4.0 launch of fuboTV’s Android app.  

fuboTV announced in October 2017 that it had surpassed 100,000 subscribers. 

From a pay TV perspective, AT&T’s Q1 results delivered some good news and some bad news.

On the good side, 312,000 subscriber gains at DirecTV Now, AT&T’s OTT TV service, more than made up for losses on the “linear” side of the house – DirecTV’s satellite TV service shed 188,000 while U-verse TV, AT&T’s managed IPTV service, actually gained 1,000 subs.

RELATED: DirecTV Now Gains Offset AT&T’s Traditional Pay TV Losses in Q1

The bad news is that DirecTV Now subs are worth less. They aren’t on long-term contracts, so they are exposed to higher levels of churn, and the margins are significantly lower than they are for AT&T’s traditional pay TV business.

But AT&T also believes that a mix of new product-enhancements underway will help to bridge that margin gap.

In addition to beta-testing a new interface that aims to improve the experience, DirecTV Now is also kicking the tires on a cloud DVR service, and options that let subs pay more to add streams to their account. Later this year, DirecTV Now will also introduce an improved VOD service and release new pay-per-view options. Further out, it hopes to bring in more revenues from advanced advertising.

“We do expect revenue and margin pressure as we manage through this, especially this year, but we're excited about DirecTV Now’s product improvements” that will be rolling out soon, John Stevens, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and CFO, said Wednesday on the company’s Q1 earnings call.

“We’ll see a replacement of the margins and a growth in those margins on an extremely low capital expenditure basis…so we’ll transition through that,” he added later in the call.

Stephens also pointed out that AT&T, thanks to help from the OTT bucket, has more video subscribers than it did two years ago.

“This is especially important at a time when the industry is seeing increasing pressure from customers cutting the cord,” he said. “Transitions such as this are never easy, but we have shown that we're able to do this time and time again, whether it'd be with our voice or broadband or wireless services. We don't expect video to be any different.”

Stephens didn’t have much to add about AT&T Watch, a no-sports skinny TV bundle that will be offered for free to customer’s on AT&T’s unlimited mobile plans, and for about $15 per month to anyone else.

RELATED: AT&T Eyes Launch of Sports-Free Skinny OTT TV Service: Reports

AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson alluded to AT&T Watch during antitrust trial testimony for the pending AT&T-Time Warner merger, noting that it would launch in the coming weeks.

Stephens said he’d leave it up to others at AT&T to shed more details on it. “I think the more important message is that we are willing to innovate,” Stephens said.

Turning to broadband, AT&T continues to transition off from legacy DSL, with only about 800,000 residential subscribers still using it, compared to 4.5 million about four years ago.

Stephens said AT&T’s fiber build now passes more than 8 million customer locations, and expects to reach 10 million by year-end toward a goal of 12.5 million tied to commitments from AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV.

Those deployments and fiber builds to millions of business locations will serve as the backbone of the wired network that will support and backhaul AT&T’s shift to 5G, he noted.

AT&T’s initial 5G efforts will focus on fixed wireless broadband services using millimeter wave spectrum that requires solid line-of-sight. Stephens said AT&T is seeing speeds of 1 Gbps-plus at distances of up to 900 feet and latencies as low as 9 milliseconds in tests.

RELATED: AT&T and Mobile 5G: The 'Puck' Starts Here 

“These trials as shown in millimeter-wave is able to penetrate foliage, glass and even walls better than anticipated with no discernible signal performance impacts due to rain, snow or other weather issues,” he said. “Granted, these are early results in trial conditions, but we are excited about what we have seen so far. 

AT&T is preparing to introduce a $15 per month, sports-free OTT TV service called AT&T Watch, in the coming weeks, according Twitter-based coverage of AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson’s antitrust trial testimony for the pending AT&T-Time Warner merger. 

Update: AT&T is also looking to make this package available for free to customers on its unlimited mobile service plans. 

RELATED: AT&T’s Stephenson Says Need for Scale Led to Time Warner Buy

Brian Fung, a tech reporter for The Washington Post, was on the scene and tweeted that AT&T Watch would be an OTT TV service, like DirecTV Now is, but start at a less expensive price point and not include sports programming:

[embed]https://twitter.com/b_fung/status/987062529338826752[/embed]

AT&T has been asked for further details, but Fung noted later that the company confirmed some of the basic details mentioned by Stephenson:

[embed]https://twitter.com/b_fung/status/987080231235346433[/embed]

AT&T hasn’t detailed pricing and packaging for this new OTT TV offering, but it would appear to be most akin to an entertainment-focused national offering from Philo that launched last November and starts at $16 per month, and on the complete opposite end of the spectrum of fuboTV, the sports-oriented virtual MVPD.

Update:Per CNN, AT&T Watch will be available for sale to all, but will be offered for free to consumers who take AT&T’s unlimited wireless service.

CNN added that AT&T alluded to this offering in a pretrial brief, holding that a combination with Time Warner would enable AT&T to bring those content assets to its wireless platform to “develop new and more valuable services especially for mobile video devices.”

Among examples, AT&T noted that it would “launch a new service with Turner and a small number of popular cable networks, which would be made available for free to AT&T's wireless customers on unlimited plans and for a nominal price to anyone else."

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

Philo hasn’t announced subscriber figures or ramped up a bunch of marketing for its new service, so it’s difficult to determine how its sports-free offering is resonating in the market. As for AT&T, a skinny bundle without sports would address a part of the market not covered as directly by DirecTV Now, which ended 2017 with 1.15 million subscribers.

Cheddar, the business and tech news service focused on younger audiences, said it has locked in a deal with Hulu, the OTT service that launched a live TV offering last May.

Under the deal, Cheddar’s primary live network will join Hulu’s TV lineup and feature custom daily news previews and recaps (including exclusive morning and afternoon news briefs), with other Cheddar content coming to Hulu’s SVOD service in the “coming weeks.”

Cheddar, which recently landed a $22 million Series D round, will launch on Hulu later this month.

Hulu ended 2017 with more than 17 million subscribers, a number that includes subs of its SVOD and new live TV service.

Tim Connolly, SVP and head of partnerships and distribution at Hulu, noted in the release that the company’s live TV viewers watched more than 24 million hours of news in Q1 2018.

“We’re happy to partner with a post-cable millennial-focused network like Cheddar to pack even more value into our live offering and give our younger viewers access to a greater, more diverse selection of live news options,” he said, in a statement.

The Hulu deal adds to Cheddar’s growing distribution network that also includes YouTube TV (for Cheddar and a new network called Cheddar Big News), Sling TV, Layer3 TV, Comcast, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitter and Twitch, among others.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

“Both Hulu and Cheddar are reinventing TV. We are thrilled to partner with Hulu and to bring our news to its 17 million subscribers," Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar, said. "It’s amazing that anyone planning to watch season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale, catching up on Atlanta, watching some Rick and Morty, or enjoying the NBA playoffs can tune to Cheddar for tech and business news, live or on demand, and on any Hulu-supported devices."

Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service, said it has opened access to TV Everywhere apps and websites for most of the networks in its lineup.  

TVE support for OWN’s authenticated TVE apps and site will be coming soon.  

Philo subs can tap into programmer-run TVE offerings using their login credentials.  

After an initial focus on multiscreen TV services for college campuses, Philo branched off in November with a national virtual MVPD service that starts at $16 for a lineup of more than 35 channels, along with a mix of add-on packages. Philo users can access up to three simultaneous streams per account and set up profiles for individual users.  

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service 

Philo’s national OTT TV service is currently supported on web browsers, iOS and Android mobile devices, and Roku players and Roku TVs. Support for Apple TV and Amazon Fire devices is slated for this summer.  

Philo, which is working on the integration of a bevy of social features, has raised about $51 million, with backers that include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Discovery, Scripps and Viacom, New Enterprise Associates, Rho Ventures, XFund, HBO, CBC New Media Group, and Mark Cuban’s Radical Investments. 

RELATED: Five Spot: Andrew McCollum (subscription required)  

This blog is the third in a three-part series. Click through to read Part 1, OTT: The Exciting, Scary Wild West, and Part 2, OTT: Challenges and Opportunities.

ESPN has now joined CBS, HBO, WWE, Showtime and a few others that have blazed a trail to deliver their content directly to consumers. 

RELATED: ESPN Makes Direct-to-Consumer Pitch With ESPN+

Others, including Fox News, and Discovery (with Scripps), have also announced plans to also pursue the direct-to-consumer model. While CBS and WWE are finding this model compelling, others should carefully consider both the opportunity and the challenges. Many of the challenges are the same as outlined in my column on skinny bundles. 

First and foremost, they need to analyze the market, potential demand, cost of acquisition and revenue for their services. Content creators must evaluate if their content is strong enough to go it alone or if they should join forces with other content creators.  

One example of a successful go it alone entrant has been WWE. To date, they have been successful in changing their model from one dependent on traditional MVPDs to primarily going direct. Keep in mind, they have a global brand/market and a very passionate audience. 

In most cases, programmers must consider the risk to the existing distribution through MVPDs.   

CBS, with its tremendous leverage, has been successful in not losing distribution and truly building an incremental business.   

As a result of the number of networks now available via OTT or announced, it is somewhat less risky and they’re unlikely to be dropped as result. Still, content creators must take into account that going direct may, in fact, weaken their leverage to protect both licensing fees and carriage, given risk of being dropped (perhaps temporarily) and/or moved to less favorable tier positioning. 

Content creators must ensure they have streaming rights for the content or determine what content to replace. Further, to boost subscription some programmers are adding original or exclusive content increasing required investment. Content creators need to either build or outsource both the technical and business infrastructure including streaming, App development, marketing, billing and fulfillment. Most content creators do not have experience in marketing direct to consumers and instead have relied on distribution through traditional MVPDs.   

Finally, content creators must understand and manage churn. Many direct-to-consumer providers are experiencing more than 100% churn in a year, meaning they have to replace current customer base just to stay even. Churn becomes even more challenging as initial demand and sign-ups wane.   

In the years to come, it is foreseeable that most content traditionally delivered via MVPDs will be available direct-to-consumer as well as by virtual MPVDs. Navigating these changing business models will require not only intestinal fortitude, but new capabilities, willingness to take risks and less certain revenue streams than the old traditional business models. 

Glen L. Friedman is president of Ideas & Solutions!, a Los Angeles-based firm helping media and technology companies transform to respond to the changing business landscape. This is the third of a three-part series. Click through to read Part 1, OTT: The Exciting, Scary Wild West, and Part 2, OTT: Challenges and Opportunities.

Las Vegas -- The origins of PlayStation Vue, initially launched to a set of U.S. markets about three years ago, are rooted to PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles, but adoption of Sony’s OTT TV service has rapidly expanded to other supported streaming platforms.  

In fact, about 70% of streaming of the PS Vue service now takes place on non-PlayStation devices, Dwayne Benefield, VP and head of PlayStation Vue (pictured), said here Wednesday (April 11) at the NAB Show’s inaugural Streaming Summit. 

In addition to the PS3 and PS4, PlayStation Vue, considered a whole-home offering because it allows for up to five simultaneous streams per account, is supported on Android TV devices, Apple TV boxes, Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku players and Roku TVs, Chromecast streaming adapters, web browsers, and Android and iOS mobile devices.  

Among other stats, Benefield said PS Vue subs average five hours plus per session, with live TV making up 80% of viewing time on the streaming service.  

Looking back, Benefield recalled that PS Vue started in select cities where it could offer access to certain local TV broadcasts, but later launched a version of the service under the “Slim” moniker that provided PS Vue a national reach (and included next day VOD access to certain broadcast TV shows) and way to enter markets where PS Vue didn’t offer live locals.  

Slim, which cost $10 less per month, was “surprisingly successful,” Benefield said.  

Local TV is “valuable, but it’s not a make-or-break…I think [OTT TV] services can succeed without broadcast,” he added, noting that many consumers still have the option to get those channels with an antenna.  

PS Vue offers four pay TV packages, but also tries to differentiate with its cloud DVR service, multi-view capability (allowing viewers to watch up to three linear channels at once), and by offering a la carte access to services such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Fox Soccer Plus, and Epix Hits.  

“There is value in the bundle,” Benefield said in a keynote conversation with Dan Rayburn, conference chairman of the NAB Streaming Summit. “As it does fray, you’ll see us add more a la cartes.”  

Benefield was also asked about the challenges ahead as PS Vue faces off with a growing number of virtual MVPDs that today includes DirecTV Now, Hulu, YouTube TV, fuboTV, with a couple more on deck from T-Mobile (via its acquisition of Layer3 TV) and Vidgo.  

RELATED: Vidgo IDs Two OTT Tech Partners  

While the addition of new players raises awareness that consumers have live TV streaming options, he likewise he doesn’t expect many more to jump into the game.  

“This is not a faint-of-heart business,” Benefield said.  

RELATED: PlayStation Vue Mobilizes More Features 

He said PS Vue, which continues to add more live local TV feeds in various markets, has plans to bring more enhancements and features to the service, but declined to detail them. However, he said PS Vue updates its apps every two to three weeks.  

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Despite this being the “Golden Age of Television,” Benefield also expects there to be a winnowing of some channels that are unable to put in the investment to continue creating enough high quality content to sustain a 24/7 offering.

He also pointed out that MVPDs, including OTT-delivered ones, are also benefiting from stacking rights of TV show that are continuing to pivot more toward the pay TV ecosystem and away, to some degree, from SVOD services. 

Hulu has added a mix of new streaming platforms to its repertoire while also moving ahead with a new bundled offering with Spotify, the subscription music streaming service.  

On the device front, Hulu said its SVOD and live TV service is now supported on all 2017, 2018 and select 2016 LG Electronics webOS-powered TVs, as well as all 2018 Samsung TVs running Tizen, and two additional Roku devices – the Roku Streaming Stick (3500) and Roku 2 (4210X).  

Hulu’s new interface and live TV service is also supported on Apple TV (4th gen.), Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku devices, Xbox One, iOS and Android mobile devices, Nintendo Switch and Chromecast.  

Hulu’s mass market bundle with Spotify Premium runs $12.99 per month (with Hulu’s SVOD plan with limited commercials).  

To help prime the pump, existing Spotify Premium subs can get a 99 cent promotional offer to try Hulu’s limited commercial plan for three months.  

That mass market deal follows an earlier bundle that Hulu and Spotify made available to students starting last fall.  

“Based on the outstanding performance of the Spotify and Hulu student package, it’s clear that consumers love to combine their music and television experiences together,” Tim Connolly, SVP, and head of distribution and partnerships at Hulu, said in a statement. “Hulu and Spotify are brands that are defining how fans connect with entertainment in the future, and we are excited to expand our partnership to bring this combined package to all existing and new Spotify Premium subscribers.”

"Our student launch with Hulu was incredibly well received and we are excited to extend our reach by bringing Hulu to more of our Premium members in the US,” added Alex Norstrom, chief premium business officer at Spotify. “Hulu's TV content is highly acclaimed, and with this exclusive Spotify offer we are bundling two top media platforms for an unbeatable price. This is just one example of how we can add value to our premium members day after day." 

Though there are lingering questions about pricing, packaging and a precise launch date for an OTT TV service being developed by Vidgo, the company has revealed two key technology partners – Float Left and Harmonic – in tandem with this week’s NAB show in Las Vegas.  

Among them, Float Left and its Flicast platform will help Vidgo bring its coming virtual MVPD service to major platforms such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, web browsers, and iOS and Android mobile phones.  

RELATED: Fragmentation Remains a Major Factor in OTT Video World 

Vidgo has also tapped Harmonic’s VOS media processing platform, including encoding and transcoding via the vendor’s VOS SW Cluster, to help underpin its OTT services. It will also use Harmonic’s PURE Compression Engine, a software-based media processing technology that will help Vidgo deliver high video quality across screens at the “lowest possible bitrates.”  

Though specifics about Vidgo’s offerings are yet to come, it does plan to offer a lineup of more than 40 linear channels and a “robust” VOD library under a no-contract model that’s also free of box fees. Vidgo, which had once planned to introduce services sometime in 2016, currently expects to launch a beta version of the service this summer across “all major platforms.”  

Still unclear is how Vidgo will be able to differentiate amid a competitive mix of virtual MVPDs that includes Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, fuboTV, and Hulu.  

Some 12% of consumers 18 to 34 years old, a group that accounts for 53% of U.S. adults, subscribe to an internet-delivered pay TV service such as Sling TV and DirecTV Now, according to new data from Leichtman Research Group.  

Overall, about 11% of adults 18-44 currently have an OTT TV service, compared to 3% among those who are 45 years or older, LRG found in an online survey of 6,947 U.S. homes that were part of its broader Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services study. This marks LRG’s inaugural study on the topic.  

OTT TV services tend to complement other ways consumers are fulfilling their video needs. For example, LRG found that among those with an OTT TV service, 93% also subscribe to an SVOD service from the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and/or Hulu.  

Some 49% of those OTT TV subs have a TV antenna to view over-the-air broadcast TV, and 35% also have a pay TV service from a traditional MVPD.  

Among other findings, 12% of adults that moved in the past year have an internet-delivered pay TV service, versus 6% of non-movers, and 69% of current OTT TV subs said they are very satisfied with their service, yet 27% are likely to switch from an internet-delivered pay TV service in the next six months.  

Additionally, 24% of those without an OTT TV service are very interested in getting one, LRG said.  

Representing a challenge to any OTT TV service focused on skinny bundles, the study also found that 76% of adults agreed that there are specific networks or programming genres that are “must haves” for the home’s TV service.  

“There is clearly a growing niche market for lower-cost/lower-channel live streaming pay-TV services – particularly among younger, more mobile renters, and those living in households with more people,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, said in a statement. “Currently, these Internet-delivered pay-TV services are augmenting other sources of video in home, and consumers are experimenting with the various streaming pay-TV services to discover what combinations of video offerings work best for their household.”  

This blog is the second in a three-part series. Click through to read Part 1, OTT: The Exciting, Scary Wild West.   

It is certain that there will be more OTT offerings in the years to come.

Let’s focus on skinny bundles, though many of the challenges are the same for content creators deciding to go direct.   

There are currently three types of bundles, they include: MVPD offerings, whose motivation is to learn the new field of play AND to try to maintain subs who would otherwise depart entirely; new distributors (e.g., Sony), who want to capture a piece of the new TV pie and capitalize on an existing asset (e.g., PlayStation boxes); and potentially collections of individual channels, who decide that they can't do a direct offering themselves. 

While the consumer dynamic and receptivity to big bundles is waning and there is now a plethora of choices, it is critical to understand the fundamentals of a direct business and the challenges. The announcement of CenturyLink’s exit from OTT demonstrates that the business is not for the faint of heart.  

RELATED: CenturyLink Pulling Plug on OTT TV Beta Service 

First, the dirty little secret is there is very little margin in OTT, even in the smaller packages, as evidenced by YouTube TV’s recent price increase. Even their superior advertising acumen could not achieve sufficient financial results.  

Next, the business needs to be able to support the subscriber acquisition costs, known as SAC. YouTube’s sponsorship and spots on the World Series, Super Bowl and All-Star game are upping the arms race for promotion and the costs! With so many options, it is mandatory to cut through the noise in a big way to gain consumer awareness/customers. Targeting and leveraging owned and operated advertising channels such as online, or in Hulu’s and PlayStation Vue’s case, the existing customer channels help but will not be sufficient alone.  

Providers need to either build or outsource both the technical and business infrastructure, including streaming, app development, marketing, billing and fulfillment. Additional critical challenges are managing churn and growing customer base.  

In the “old cable” days, it was darn hard to cancel and/or switch providers, requiring appointments, returning equipment and long hold times. Now, with a few clicks, you can cancel and subscribe to a new service. Retaining customers will require diligent attention to service and being flexible to respond to viewer behavior changes and new competitive offerings. 

RELATED: ‘Offer Surfing’ of OTT TV Services a Growing Concern 

The OTT, direct-to-consumer business is here to stay, so what does all this mean?  

There will likely be other exits of major players, like CenturyLink, that decide the business model is not attractive, while other major programmers and MVPDs will see no choice but to enter the fray. 

The first step is to go in with eyes wide open and a full assessment of likely margins, SAC costs, understanding fulfillment, ensuring technical quality/ease of use, and planning for churn and retention efforts.   

Glen L. Friedman is president of Ideas & Solutions!, a Los Angeles-based firm helping media and technology companies transform to respond to the changing business landscape. This is the second of a three-part series. Click through to read Part 1, OTT: The Exciting, Scary Wild West.

Sling TV, Dish Network’s OTT TV service, has been dealing with service issues through the night, with customers complaining that they can’t get the service to run on several streaming platforms, including Roku devices, smartphones and Android TV-powered devices.  

Sling TV, which ended 2017 with 2.2 million subs, has been asked for more details on the root of the issue and when it would be resolved. The @SlingAnswers Twitter handle acknowledged the issue more than 12 hours ago, but has not said when it expects for the problem to be fixed.   

Sling TV Ends Year With 2.2M Subscribers 

The last tweet from @SlingAnswers was posted about an hour ago:  

[embed]https://twitter.com/slinganswers/status/981501270170140672[/embed]

Some Sling TV customers speculated on DownDetector that the problems are partly due to authentication errors.  

Michael Kilgore, who runs FreeTVBlog.com, noted in an email that Sling TV has been unavailable on many devices, with content choices becoming visible and updated, but the content itself fails to load. However, he verified that Sling TV was working on a Chrome browser.  

Update: Kilgore confirmed around 11 a.m. ET that some channels are starting to return, including  FX, Cartoon Network, BBC America, and A&E; however, cloud recordings and other channels still aren't loading. 

Sling TV is also tweeting that channels are starting to be restored: 

[embed]https://twitter.com/slinganswers/status/981545427689443328[/embed]

Update (12:58 p.m. ET): Customers are indicating that the Sling TV service has been restored across multiple streaming platforms. 

Update (3:48 p.m. ET): Sling TV said its engineers worked through the night to identify the root cause and have implemented a fix. “Service has been restored to normal operating conditions,” the company said in a statement. “If customers are still experiencing issues, they should restart the app and the service will stream as expected. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the service interruption.”

Critics of AT&T’s pending $108.7 billion purchase of Time Warner have pointed to the myriad dangers of consolidating large content and distribution companies – but some analysts say the environment is already headed in that direction.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice has already said it would block the AT&T-Time Warner merger, with the parties scheduled to go to court to state their cases on March 19. Whatever the outcome, the rush for scale won’t be slowed, UBS Securities telecom analyst John Hodulik said.

Related: Feds Lay Out Court Strategy for Blocking AT&T-Time Warner

Hodulik — who believes the deal will be approved — cited in a research note the steady decline of traditional TV distributors, the accelerated push for heft and the inevitable move to direct-to-consumer services as catalysts for more deals. Subscribers to traditional pay TV providers have declined by about 50% since 2010 and dipped 14% in 2017 alone, he noted.

OTT Has Changed Everything
“OTT is clearly the future of video distribution,” Hodulik wrote, and is likely the main driver behind the mega content deal between The Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox, Comcast’s unsolicited bid for British satellite TV company Sky and CBS’s moves to revisit a recombination with corporate sister Viacom.

Hodulik argued that government fears that a combined AT&T-Time Warner would limit content choices and drive up prices run counter to the OTT-inspired shift. And if AT&T isn’t allowed to purchase Time Warner, another company will.

Earlier this month, at an industry conference, CBS chief operating officer Joe Ianniello called the current environment an “arms race” to accumulate content needed to drive direct-to-consumer products.

Ianniello said CBS All Access, the broadcaster’s own OTT product, will add six to seven new shows in the next 12 months, just to compete with the likes of Netflix and other providers. “We’re doubling down,” he said.

Hodulik thinks the land rush for content is warranted. He predicted that virtual multichannel video programming distributors such as Sling TV and DirecTV now will nearly triple their subscriber bases from about 5.5 million in 2017 to 15.1 million by 2020.

Watch MCN: vMVPDs by the Numbers

At the same time, pay TV subscribers, down 3.6% in 2017 to 95.4 million customers when vMVPDs are included, are expected to dip another 4.4% in 2018 to 91.2 million, according to the analyst.

Cable Gets Into the Act
Hodulik said traditional distributors dipping their toes in the vMVPD waters — like Comcast and Charter Communications — will make the full plunge in the next few years.

Comcast introduced Instant TV in late September, a package of broadcast and education channels for $18 per month, to compete with Sling TV and DirecTV.

Charter unveiled its “Choice” package — 25 channels for $21.99 per month — earlier this year.

Mostly because of a desire not to cannibalize existing, higher margin businesses, the offerings haven’t been broadly offered. That is about to change, especially as streaming services gain scale, Hodulik believes. He said he thinks it won’t be long before their OTT offerings mirror their existing video packages.

“We believe scale benefits will eventually lead cable to offer streaming TV services out of region, likely in conjunction with a wireless offering,” he wrote.

fuboTV, the sports-focused OTT TV service, has released version 4.0 of its Android app, which includes an overhaul of its user interface.

The update also aims to boost content discovery and introduces My Fubo, a central location for subscribers to manage what they watch, stream and schedule cloud DVR recordings and to continue watching a show that’s been recorded.

This video shows the new Android app in action:

Also new to fuboTV is a Startover beta feature for its new Android app that’s also currently available on its apps for iOS devices, web browsers and Apple TV devices.

Startover lets viewers go to the beginning of games or TV shows on “select channels.” fuboTV has been asked to elaborate on which specific channels support this feature early on.

UPDATE: fuboTV said more than 25 channels, including beIN Sports, NBA TV, Pac-12 Networks, as well as recently launched channels such as AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sundance, WE tv, and Fox and NBC (in certain markets) are currently supported by the Startover feature, with more channels expected to be added to that mix daily. 

fuboTV announced in October 2017 that it had surpassed 100,000 subscribers.

Sling TV, Dish’s OTT TV service, has unleashed a mix of updates and enhancements for its app on Roku devices, leading off with in-app upgrades that enable subs to purchase add-on packages, premium channels and the service’s relatively new cloud DVR option.

UPDATE: Sling TV, which ended 2017 with 2.2 million subs, confirmed that it will roll out these features to other supported TV-connected platforms such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Android TV at a future date, but here’s a quick rundown of what else is part of the Roku upgrade:

-Add VOD to MyChannels: Subs can add VOD “channels” from programmers such as Nat Geo Wild and Fandor, as well as from NBC and Fox (for Sling Blue customers who don’t live in a market where the local live  TV feeds from those networks are available.

-Quicker access to channels set as “Favorites,” indicated by a heart in the guide, which are now appearing first at the top of the service’s grid guide and on the left of the channel guide, and the new Micro Guide.

-A new Micro Guide that that reduces the size of the guide that appears while a sub watches a show.

-Updated arrow controls that are part of the updated full-screen video navigation functionality. Pushing up on the D-pad will bring up the Micro Guide, and pushing down on it will call up the old guide.

-Safe Exit: Pressing the exit button on the Roku remote will issue a pop-up that gives subs the option to go back to their show or movie instead of leaving the service.

-Binge On: In an apparent homage to a term originally coined by T-Mobile, the updated player view for Sling TV on Roku will automatically go back to a show’s “franchise page” after they’ve completed an on-demand show title.

Sling TV, Dish Network’s OTT TV service, has launched a new national ad campaign -- under the “We Are Slingers” banner -- that takes a cheeky spin on a video-consuming lifestyle that applies a focus on Sling TV’s programming packaging options and contract-free model.

The campaign, which also marks The Martin Agency’s debut as Sling TV’s new agency of record, is being rolled out nationally on TV, digital, mobile, social channels, and other “new media platforms,” noted Sling TV, which ended 2017 with 2.2 million subs and, three years after its launch, finds itself fighting for share with a growing array of OTT TV rivals that include DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, fuboTV and Philo.

RELATED: Dish Campaign to Focus on Listening to Customers

"Slinging is about breaking norms and connecting people with TV that satisfies through choice and control at a reasonable price; it's a way of life," Colleen Sugarman, head of marketing at Sling TV, said in a statement. "Anyone can be a 'Slinger' and invite their friends to enjoy the choice and control that only Sling TV can offer; after all, millions are doing it."

Tied into the campaign launch, Sling TV has set up a YouTube page with its initial set of 60-, 30- and 15-second ads created and produced by The Martin Agency, which is now in charge of managing the strategic planning, creative development and production efforts for the Sling TV brand.

Watch the 60-second version below:

The largest U.S. pay TV providers, representing about 95% of the market, lost about 1.49 million net video subscribers in 2017, versus a pro forma loss of about 760,000 in 2016, according to a new tally from Leichtman Research Group (LRG).

Broken down further, the top six cable MSOs lost roughly 660,000 video subs in 2017, widened from a loss of 275,000 in 2016. That translated to a cumulative loss of 1.4% of video subs last year, versus a loss of 0.6% in 2016, LRG said.

Satellite TV providers – Dish Network and DirecTV -- together lost about 1.55 million subs in 2017, versus a loss of 40,000 in 2016. Last year, DBS services lost a cumulative 4.7% of video subs, widened from 0.1% in 2016.

The nation’s largest telcos shed about 885,000 video subs in 2017, narrowed from a loss of 1.59 million in 2016. Among individual providers in that category, AT&T shed 624,000 telco TV subs in 2017, compared to a loss of 1.35 million subs in 2016.

LRG also found that the top, publicly reporting, OTT TV services added about 1.6 million subs in 2017, up from net adds of 1.14 million net in 2016.

On a comparative basis, traditional pay TV services (non OTT) lost 3.09 million in 2017, compared to a loss of 1.9 million in 2016.

At the end of 2017, the top pay TV providers accounted for 92.2 million subs, with the top six cable operators having 48.1 million of that total, while satellite TV providers had 31.5 million, teh top telcos had 9.2 million, and the top OTT TV services had nearly 3.4 million, LRG found.

“The pay-TV market saw net losses increase in 2017, and the continuation of a share shift from traditional services to newer Internet-delivered services,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, said in a statement. “Satellite TV services, DIRECTV and DISH TV, had more combined net losses in 2017 than in any previous year, yet these losses were offset by gains from their Internet-delivered flanker brands, DIRECTV NOW and Sling TV. Overall, the top pay-TV services lost 1.6% of subscribers in 2017 compared to a loss of 0.8% in 2016.”

Looking to expand its subscriber base, Sling TV has launched a refer-a-friend program that gives both parties a total of $15 back -- $5 off their respective Sling TV subscriptions for three months.

Sling TV customers can take advantage of the program by accessing their accounts and clicking the “Get $15” button to send the referral by email or use a unique link to share it on social media channels or through a text message.

Following a seven-day free trial for the referred subscriber, the $5 discount is then applied to the Sling TV bills of the referrer and to the referred customer for the following three months.

Dish Network-owned Sling TV said one $5 discount is applicable per monthly billing cycle for up to 12 months, and multiple discounts can’t be combined within the same billing cycle.

Sling TV, launched in February 2015, ended 2017 with 2.2 million subscribers.

RELATED: Tracking Sling TV

fuboTV, the sports-first OTT TV provider, is adding more sports-focused programming to the menu via an add-on package.

That package, called Adventure Plus, costs an additional $4.99 per month and includes MAVTV Motorsports Network, Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks – Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, and Outside TV.

RELATED: fuboTV Updates Roku App

fuboTV subs can add that package to Fubo Premier, its primary package with 65-plus channels that starts at $19.99 per month for the first month, then $44.99 per month thereafter.

Other fuboTV add-on packs include International Sports Plus ($5.99 per month); Sports Plus ($8.99 per month); Portuguese Plus ($14.99 per month); Mundo Plus ($5.99 per month); fubo Latino ($12.99 per month); Cycling Plus (8.99 per month); and Kids Plus ($2.99 per month). fuboTV also sells Showtime, a package with nine channels, for $10.99 per month.

RELATED: fuboTV Offers a Third Stream

fuboTV announced last fall that it had crossed 100,000 subscribers.

fuboTV, the sports-oriented virtual MVPD, has released a new version (2.5) of its app for the Roku platform that includes some new VOD- and network-focused features.

The latest release, for example, lets subs continue watching a VOD title from where they left off, and the updated EPG includes a seven-day look-ahead.

The new version also includes updated network pages, as well as some functionality fixes such as a “What’s New” card that provides users with a tutorial of new features whenever the app is upgraded.

fuboTV has also developed apps for Apple TV boxes, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV devices, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, web browsers and also works with Chromecast.

Last fall, fuboTV said it had more than 100,000 subs.