TV is TV- Want Good Stuff to Watch, No Matter How You Label It

TV is TV - Want Good Stuff to Watch, No Matter How You Label It posted: 30/06/2019

by Andy Marken

People like to make a big deal out of how folks are abandoning TV as though folks found something better to do with their free and down time. No they still watch TV just not on a specific day at a specific time. They watch what they want, when they want it, how they want it. Mom and dad still like to brag about their big 4K HDR screen and are already planning for a bigger 8K set next year. Kids are perfectly happy with their smaller screens. And whether the content is delivered through a fiber cable or magically through the air its still TV and fortunately for people in the creation industry folks seem to have an insatiable entertainment appetite of their TV stuff.

Sometimes we are asked to do things that are beyond us.

After attending The Pay TV Show a few months ago in Denver, we came to the conclusion that the M&E industry has a huge issue today and an even huger opportunity.

It cant figure out what it is, how to label itself or what it wants to be when it grows up.

And surprise, our son and his friends - tomorrows big content consumers - could give a rats behind.

The other evening, we asked him what he was watching on his phone and in typical cryptic fashion he said, TV.

Just to keep the conversation going we said, Yeah, we can see that but what?

Cobra Kai.

On his way home from school he had caught up on the news of the day on CBS and then settled in to catch up on Game of Thrones before his newest gotta watch show.

And that is why the cable (news, entertainment, sports) bill we were determined to dramatically reduce remains stubbornly at about $100 per month!

It was simpler when we were growing up because everyone huddled around the TV set and watched whatever was on.

Today?

We have choices and everyone in the family exercises her/his right to choose what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, how they want to watch it and where they want to watch it.

The only people who care are folks in the M&E industry - analog terrestrial, satellite and cable folks as well as digital terrestrial, satellite, cable people; OTT bundlers/providers; and on the bottom of the pile, the folks who make the stuff the content creators, developers, producers.

Increasingly, everyone is hellbent on becoming the sole provider of multi-channel services to the household - phone, internet, content.

The business used to be civilized. The cable guy had the pipe to the home and the network folks bundled a bunch of stuff - good, bad, mediocre - and sold it to the cable guy who put it all into an even bigger bundle and they didnt care if you watched the stuff or not.

As long as you didnt call em.

To make service better, they went digital and OTT started offering better stuff combined with convenience - on the viewers schedule - and things changed.

With the advent of OTT streaming content, people had the option of keeping, shaving, cutting their cable service and choosing their favorite service channel. Its great content but today, no one wants to watch just one channel.

When Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube started streaming; our smart TV gave us a choice with stuff on our EPG (electronic program guide and the old cable guide).

People in the content food chain - Hulu, HBO, BBC, Vimeo, Disney, Apple, Sling, Philo, CCTV, PlayStation, Pluto, Fubo, TenCent, Hooq, Iqiyi, Voot, Sky, Viacom, AT&T, Verizon, you name em - envisioned a painless, virtually zero cost way of having direct access to the consumer.

Today, about everyone we know has an embarrassment of riches - hybrid TV.

With todays Smart TVs and connection services, people can review their viewing/listening options, pick the channel thats serving the movie/show they want to watch and immediately begin watching at their convenience rather than planning their day/evening

We can thank (or blame) the introduction of the Internet for giving rise to the dizzying array of content services.

With all of the devices people now have at their disposal to access the content, the real race begins, Allan McLennan, CEO and chief analyst at PADEM Media Group, noted at the Pay TV Show. Everyone in the industry is now focusing on getting the largest number of eyeballs tuned in to their streaming service.

Right now, there are two technologies rushing to be the one most used to access that content:

5G wired and wireless is just beginning to build-out high-speed, low-latency (lots of data, little delay) service

Cable people are taking a two-pronged approach to keep their service relevant

ATSC 3.0 - doesnt exactly roll off your lips - or Next Gen TV

Addition of wireless service to their home internet/TV service

Not Everyone is a Target - We realize its difficult to believe that not everyone on the planet doesnt have a TV, smartphone or viewing device, but some people have other priorities than M&E and content.

If you just look at the numbers, there are plenty of growth opportunities for anyone/everyone in the TV/content development/distribution industry. After all, there are about 7.7B people in the world, about 1.7G TV households and 2.7B smartphone users worldwide.

Its little wonder everyone feels they are going to get their share because people just cant seem to get enough video content.

Viewing Growing - With the abundance of quality and interesting video content, people in the U.S. and most industrialized countries are spending more time watching more stuff and theyre doing it on more screens.

We have a hodgepodge of services - Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, YouTube - and may have to add Disney+ and Apple TV+ at the end of the year to satisfy the kids. Its not because we like all of their shows; in fact, we often sign up for one or two and each time rationalize to ourselves, yeah, well watch more of so-n-sos and drop one of th

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