Time Warner Cable Still Focused On Results

When a company is up for sale and employees fear losing their jobs, it is easy to expect that work becomes secondary while bitching becoming the top priority.  The same could be true for Time Warner Cable (TWC) who has been dealing with a sale for quite some time.  Yet despite that all blowing up, Time Warner Cable has kept their eye on their business targets and the results seem impressive.

For the first quarter of this year, TWC  has been successful in fighting back against cord cutting, according to Multichannel, "adding 30,000 basic video customers in the first quarter, its first positive basic video quarter since 2009."  In addition, broadband customers grew 315,000 and telephone customers grew 320,000.  These best ever increases demonstrate that the company stayed focus despite the uncertainty of future ownership.  And while that uncertainty continues with Charter Cable interested in a new bid, Time Warner Cable may just start thinking that they can survive and prosper without being acquired. 

Of course, in the long run, the question is can Time Warner Cable as well as the other cable operators figure out how to reverse the trend of cord cutting over the long haul.  It would be interesting to hear from TWC where these new basic subs came from; did they come from formers that were trying to live without cable, new build or new home owners, or from competitor platforms like U-Verse, FIOS, DirecTv or Dish.  A deeper dive of how TWC captured this growth might tell the industry a lot about what lies ahead.  

Can Apple Keep Rising

After reporting yesterday another quarter of results that beat expectations, the news today is whether Apple can continue to grow at such a pace or will it see less growth.  If that question sounds old, it is because it seems to be asked each time Apple releases its financial results.  The truth is that growth depends on innovation and adoption and in both cases, Apple seems to excel.

The focus is on the iPhone, and this past quarter Apple sold more phones than ever before.  Thanks to the international market and the appeal of the iPhone 6, consumers are both upgrading and switching from competing brands.  At the same time, Apple has created a closed universe that achieves simplicity by tying together each of Apple's other products, from the mac to the iPad, from the iPod to the just released Apple Watch.  They all are meant to work seamlessly together.  And they do.

And all these products are tied together by the infrastructure known as iTunes and their App Store.  From software to music, from books to video, users can easily rent or buy.  And it is the content that makes all these devices essential to our daily lives.  The more devices that Apple sells, the more content that needs to be purchased and downloaded. 

As to the future success of Apple, the market worries that iPhone sales will dip.  But history has shown that the longer trend is that sales continue to rise over time.  For as technology improves, so does the next iteration of the iPhone model.  Yesterday it was the 5, today the 6 and next year the 7.  And as the Apple Watch enjoys a greater percentage of adoption, improved models and lower price points, it will grow as well.  And as to the next likely new product, much speculation is that Apple will announce a subscription TV service that will be tied to an improved Apple TV box.  That might just be the next game changer and revenue driver for Apple. 

Television Is Not Dead

Technological change has created disruption across a vast array of industries.  And while some companies are born and others die on the vine as they refuse to adapt to change has been a hallmark of business over the years.  But the real truth is that as industries change, room still exists for the past to stay relevant, although not at dominant levels.

In the world of the media platform, we are watching as digital has surpassed both analog and physical media.  Print publications still can bring value even as digital subscriptions grow.  CDs and DVDs are still being sold, vinyl albums too, as streaming music and video continue to advance. Radio did not die when television came along and television and cable will continue to exist even as OTT platforms drive adoption.  This weeks's Adweek does a nice job telling us that linear networks will continue to survive and that Content is King!    Even through this constant change, according to the article, "Consumers want access to great content. Brands want to deeply engage with their consumers. And television will no doubt evolve to survive." 

Linear television will survive because of live events.  Consumers will turn on the TV because they want to simply watch in a lean back environment, letting one program follow the other.  Sometimes, we want our TV to be our background noise.  How linear is transmitted though will continue to change as cable companies shift to IP enabled technologies.  At the same time, we will become more proactive when we want to watch a show, as well as when, where, and how.  Mobile and social will become more important tentpoles of our viewing experience. 

And content creators now have more choices to sell their shows and movies, from traditional broadcast and cable networks to premium services like HBO and Showtime, and OTT platforms like Netflix or Amazon or Hulu.  The rise in original content being shown at this years NewFronts make the traditional upfronts vulnerable.  But that is nothing new.  A decade or so ago, cable networks were the ones challenging broadcast.  Traditional media didn't die then and it still has much life ahead of it.  The industry continues to change and the successful companies are the ones that can adapt and change with it. 

The Future Of Cable

With the death bell struck on the Comcast - Time Warner Cable merger, the future of cable will no longer be dominated by a Comcast Cable/Broadband platform.  And as a result of the non-merger, Charter Cable will no longer purchase Bright House Network, and a separate, smaller cable MPVD, to have been run by cable vet Michael Willner, will not be created.  So what will the future of cable look like?

Many wonder immediately what today's news means for the AT&T and DirecTv merger.  I suspect that it actually continues to move forward and gets completed.  It can be argued that they make the combined unit a better competitor to Comcast in markets.  For Time Warner Cable, their choice is to continue as they have or to allow themselves to be purchased by another cable operator, namely Charter.  Prior to the Comcast deal, Charter was mulling a deal for TWC and without Bright House to acquire, TWC is a better fit.  I also suspect that rising valuations for these platforms might finally make Cablevision interested in selling.  Certainly, Tom Rutledge would love a chance to take over his former systems and merge them into his current Charter universe.

As for Comcast, the loss of Time Warner Cable may force them to look at smaller deals in the next few years.  TWC might be too big, but acquiring Cablevision might be the next best thing for Comcast.  With systems in New Jersey, Comcast and Cablevision would make a nice fit; Long Island remains a stand alone market, powerful and wealthy, and can work nicely with any cable operator's portfolio.

But the cable platform should not be limited to the wired competitors.  Given Google's growth in specific markets and the possibility that they acquire a smaller cellular company, Google could expand its wired and wireless reach as a broadband player, delivering OTT programming and expanding the competitive field. 

And then of course we have Verizon and their FIOS platform.  They too bring a strong wired and wireless play to the consumer and are aggressively marketing smaller bundles to stop cord cutting.  It may lead to cord shaving of existing subscribers but the hope by them is that it encourages non-cable consumers to come back to FIOS.  It is an aggressive ploy that content companies like Disney, Fox, and NBC are not happy with.  In addition to claiming contract violations, they are also refusing to carry the new FIOS commercials on their channels, something you would think the FCC would be very interested in reviewing as well. 

So what does the Cable/Broadband platform look like in 2025, 10 years from now.  Expect more consolidation with Comcast and a much larger Charter owning 70% or more of the wired US.  Expect Google to become a much bigger entrant, most likely from an acquisition of a cellular company like Sprint or T-Mobile. AT&T/DirecTv will create a strong chemistry to excel in the space while Dish continues to find an opportunity to bring two-way broadband via satellite to the marketplace. And as to Verizon/FIOS, I expect that more investment will be made into its cellular operations rather than fiber to the home to bring a best of wireless experience to the home and its subscribers.

As the the content side of the business, and more to discuss on another day, I expect that the next 10 years will finally lead to drops of lesser performing cable networks and a consolidation of channels.  Given the rise of OTT subscription services like Netflix and Amazon, consumers are more interested in watching shows, not channels.  As to which networks we say goodbye to, let's discuss.

Will Comcast Drop Time Warner Cable Acquisition Plans?

Bloomberg is reporting that Comcast will give up on their efforts to acquire Time Warner Cable.  According to their report, Comcast is deciding today and could make their decision public by Friday.  Given all the time and money put into this huge deal, it is somewhat hard to believe that Comcast wouldn't continue to fight for its approval to the very end. 

Whether it is because they either see it as throwing more money at a losing fight or that they expect the conciliation that they would have to make to be too great.  Spinning off too many more systems to bring the penetration levels down to more acceptable levels for the FCC and DOJ or selling off assets like NBCUniversal may simply be unacceptable solutions.  It may simply be that Comcast is taking a page out of Sun Tzu and the Art of War, "If fighting is sure to result in victory, than you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding."  We will find out if this story is true pretty soon.  Stay tuned.

Future Of Advertising - Mobile And Social

As we engage more and more with our mobile devices, our smartphones and tablets, they become a much larger focal point for reach and frequency. More Facebook users access their accounts via through mobile rather than a computer. In fact, in Q1 of this year, Facebook's "mobile advertising revenue represented roughly 73% of advertising revenue", as mentioned in Business Insider. And given Facebook innovations, videos now automatically run as you begin to scroll down the timeline, hoping to snare you to watch and turn up the volume.  I know that I am like the majority, accessing these and other social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and others on my iPad or iPhone.  And whether it is a display ad, or sponsored content, or other banner or video, this is where the future lies.  We are easily reached, personalized, and presented with relevant and hopefully engaging messages.  

And so other ad platforms may need to worry as usage patterns shift and so to the flow of ad dollars from one bucket to another.  Cord cutting on cable TV is not just an issue for subscription dollars but advertising dollars as well.  As higher percentages of our time are spent on our mobile devices and interacting with others via social platforms, so to will ad spend. 

It is why TV Everywhere is so important  for content providers.  And why many today have apps for authenticated viewing on mobile devices.  It is why the DOJ and the FCC are looking so hard at the Comcast - Time Warner Cable merger and that together they would control a majority of the broadband pipeline in the US.  Monopolistic pricing, controlled or limited access to content, and lack of a competitive threat are key concerns.  

And as I look at the growth of mobile, I am struck with an interesting idea.  For companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and others delivering content to mobile devices, the thought of complementing these services with social networks for its members to discuss content that they have consumed on their respective apps. Consider a Netflix social app that is easily accessed and used to reach other "fans" of House Of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or other series and where they can discuss in detail.  Such a companion site would also enable these content providers to add an advertising revenue stream into their mix.  It may be a niche social platform at first but may just drive future growth.

For it is the increasing usage of mobile platforms in our daily lives and our desire to interact with others online that is driving new opportunities for advertising.  At the same time, traditional ad platforms, threatened by this new growth, must continue to play in the new space and become ubiquitous across all platforms, print, TV, radio, digital. By being accessible via the mobile platform, advertisers too will gain with better data based on individual preferences, not household ones.  And it is that one-on-one relationship that we have on our mobile devices that is the future of advertising. 

Can Yahoo Beat Google At Search?

There are a few truths, death and taxes are the big two, but another is that no one ever stays at the top of the mountain for ever.  In business, companies that are market leaders only need to make one wrong turn and their dominance is lost.  And those shifts can be self made or caused by external forces like environment, technology, or even societal changes.  So to say that Google, the leader in search can never be beaten, is simply not true.  The question to ask is Yahoo the company that can knock them off the top of the "search" mountain.

Today's Business Insider reports that Yahoo is working on a secret new product, code named Index, that will be used as a smartphone app and deliver a better mobile search experience.    Whether it will work or not remains to be seen.  At the same time, Google continues to dominate in the search world although mobile has opened up other search competitors.  Just recently, I did searches using Yelp to search for nearby businesses as well as restaurants.  It provided me both with choices based on my zip code or area on the map that I chose and it ranked them based on recommendations.  I found this search a more preferred experience than Google to help narrow down my choices and ultimately decide where to purchase and where to eat.  To me, companies like Yelp are already threatening Google's search dominance.

Whether Marissa Meyer, CEO of Yahoo, has the right idea and can translate it into an app that makes a better search experience remains to be seen.  I applaud the fact that Yahoo is trying to build a better mousetrap to overtake Google in the search game.  Given the rate of change in the mobile space, I am sure that there is an opportunity to succeed. 

Cable Mergers Derailed?

Will Comcast be allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable?  Will AT&T pick up DirecTv?  And does Charter get to buy Bright House Networks?  While the process seems to have been going on for an interminably lengthy amount of time, recent news has emerged that the DOJ might not be in favor of consolidation.  Comcast is scheduled to meet tomorrow with the Department of Justice to demonstrate why the merger should proceed.And should it not, it seems the above deals would fall apart as well.

The biggest concern seems not about carrying cable channels but having a powerful grip on the wired broadband marketplace in the US.  While competition has already been limited for broadband access, and Comcast and Time Warner Cable never competing with each other in any market, their combined entity would hold a powerful monopoly across the country.  And while DSL is a competitive option, the potential of cellular and wireless competitors could one day become a stronger force.

A bigger stumbling block may be the Comcast ownership of content including NBCUniversal and its broadcast and cable networks.  Already we have heard that issues with NBC carriage on OTT services like Sling TV and Apple TV.  In LA, Time Warner Cable airs Dodger games on its own cable line-up but has been unable to come to fair terms with the other cable providers in the market to air its sports network.  Would the DOJ or FCC require Comcast to relinquish majority control of their content networks as a compromise to their acquisition efforts?

With meetings this week, we will wait and see what happens next.  I suspect that ultimately approvals will occur. 

ESPN Objects To FIOS New Packaging Options

According to reports, Verizon's new packaging plan for their FIOS cable business violates the ESPN contract.  These contracts between cable network and cable operator are filled with a number of business and legal obligations including, how the network(s) are transmitted, packaged, ad inserted, data collected, on demand accessibility, confidentiality, and so much more.  In the case of ESPN, it is quite likely that the contract would stipulate that ESPN be carried on the most widely subscribed level of service and that the penetration of that level exceed 85-90% of all cable subscribers.  The FIOS plan specifically excludes ESPN in its planned new basic package and offers it separately in a sports tier.  For ESPN, that means the contract would not be in compliance.

Of course, it is not known the full extent of the contract, when it expires, and if FIOS expected to pay a penalty should early results of the new packaging program become too successful.  It will be interesting to see how FIOS responds and whether it continues to move ahead with its new packaging plans.  They certainly received positive reviews for upending the status quo model and responding to the competitive threats of OTT offerings like Sling TV and Playstation Vue.  But ESPN and parent company Disney may pose a big enough hurdle to force a delay.  With control of other nets like ABC, ABC Family, Disney, and more, it may turn into a very big and stretched out battle.

FIOS Favors Smaller Custom Packages

Following the trend of OTT rivals like Sling TV and Playstation Vue, Verizon's FIOS team is offering subscribers smaller, cheaper cable net packages to buy.  It is a clear attempt to win back cord cutters who have felt that their cable service has gotten too expensive.  And it seems the best way to deliver a cheaper package is to not include sports networks in their base line-up.

According to Multichannel, " Customers who sign up for Custom TV will get a “Base” (and ESPN-free) package with more than 35 channels – including the broadcast channels, CNN, HGTV, AMC, Food Network – plus two of seven available thematic 'Channel Packs' that each offer ten or more additional channels."  While not a true a la carte approach, it seems to be the next best thing.  And unlike some other OTT services, it does include broadcast networks.

The challenge for Verizon FIOS might be that today's millenial audience doesn't care for linear programming anymore and have already been weened off of traditional cable viewing.  Current FIOS customers might see this as an opportunity to cord shave or to cut back their service to a lower priced level.  This could be a big hit to the revenue line in the budget.  And costs of networks could rise, especially with sports nets that contractually may demand to reach 90% or more of the available basic subscriber base.  Failing to reach that penetration level could lead to license fee per sub increases.

Still, given today's digital climate, moving to a more flexible packaging scenario may be the only way to compete on a new playing field.  Further differentiation is necessary for FIOS and its cable brothers to maintain, or even grow, its subscriber numbers.  

Netflix Growth, Now And Future

Netflix is currently on a roll, growing faster than estimated, and delivering a streaming video experience worldwide.  With a library of older TV content, a rotation of popular movies, and a commitment to original series, Netflix has created a strong value proposition, given a subscription fee of less than ten dollars a month.  Whether traditional TV sees Netflix as direct competition or a complement to their own line-up remains to be seen; still, new consumers are continuing to subscribe. 

As of the close of the second quarter, their total international base is almost 60 million subscribers with the U.S. alone counting for two thirds of that total. If cable households in the US are over 100 million, than Netflix still has a huge opportunity base to continue to grow.    The launch of HBO Now may be seen as a competitor, as is Amazon and Hulu Plus, but it is likely that consumers who desire the shows and movies from each of these choices don't view subscription as a zero sum game.  That is to say, these services can all grow together. 

The possible challenge to subscription only services is that at some point growth levels out and could possible shrink a bit.  At today's U.S. sub base of 40 plus million, raising rates just a dime adds $4 million dollars more in revenue every month and a dollar a month increase means $40 million more each month, or $480 million plus a year.  But rates can rise only so much so quickly before subscribers balked.  Cable TV is learning that painful lesson.  So how else does Netflix try to grow revenue?

With original programming, the possibility of syndicating series like House of Cards or Orange Is The New Black back to cable is a possibility although the value may be low given the ubiquitous nature of streaming.  Netflix certainly has gained lots of data on its users that could be sold as well.  Perhaps Netflix might consider adding a small amount of advertising into its welcome screen.  Banner ads while searching for content to watch could make sense without being too much of an intrusion to the subscription value.  And if it keeps subscriber fees down, even better.  Yes, their current one revenue stream model is working quite well, but I suspect that there must be some discussion on how to derive additional revenue opportunities for its existing base. 

Digital Music Streaming Past Physical Sales

Last year, global digital streams and music downloads caught up to physical CD and vinyl sales.  Clutter be gone, consumers are preferring to listen to their music without having to open up a jewel case or LP cover.  Call it simplicity, convenience or simple ease of use, digital is poised to overtake physical sales this year. 

And in the digital realm, subscription services are more desirable than downloadable sales.  According to today's NY Times, "Subscription services like Spotify and Deezer accounted for $1.6 billion in trade revenue in 2014, up 39 percent from the year before, and have 41 million paying users around the world, up from 28 million in 2013. At the same time, downloads — not long ago the most important growth format in the business — were down 8 percent."  That could be spell a big opportunity for Apple's Beats subscription service and Jay Z's Tidal music service. 

Consider us moving into a rent vs buy situation where consumers like to have rental access to a full library of music choices for a monthly subscription fee rather than complete ownership of content.  Last year, notable exceptions included the Frozen album as well as Taylor Swift's 1989 album where consumers chose to buy.  Could any album this year deliver similar results or will we watch more consumers choose to subscribe to a music service or two?  Given the trends in music delivery, subscription seems the likely winner.

Embracing Branded Content

Getting your brand, product, or service noticed is an elusive business.  And in today's digital world, with so many advertising choices and the credibility from social media, breaking through the clutter becomes harder and harder to do.  Programmatic advertising has come along to aid in the efficiency of purchasing advertising and data is the most important component in driving where, when, how and who in ad placement.  But the challenge remains in breaking through the clutter.

General Electric, a former owner of NBC and its collection of broadcast and cable networks, certainly saw that challenge firsthand.  And as an advertiser, GE has chosen the branded entertainment route to drive home its message.  According to today's New York Times, "G.E. aims to create high-quality branded content that will highlight scientific innovation, some of it involving scientists who work for or with the company."  This six part documentary series will be aired on the Nat Geo channel later this Fall.  The plan it seems is not to overwhelm its audience with the GE brand but make it a cohesive part of the program.  "Marketing experts say this turn to branded entertainment is happening because the traditional methods of advertising are outdated and every piece of content, advertising or not, must compete for viewers’ attention."

That this article has already appeared on social media through Facebook and Twitter and that the NY Times chose to report this program as a bigger story certainly helps drive home the GE message. And the timing, just when GE is selling off its capital finance business from its core industrial business, may not be so coincidental.  Certainly we will have to wait and see if this story is revisited prior to the premiere of the broadcast.  Still, it speaks to a growing trend toward branded entertainment as a means to drive brand engagement and value. 

Apple Watch Preorders Surge

It may take weeks, perhaps months to put one on your wrist, yet despite the backlog, Apple has sold 1 million Apple Watches on just its first day.  A huge number consider that " just 720,000 Android Wear devices were sold throughout all of 2014"  according to Business Insider.   Whether the Apple Watch is considered a product winner will take years to finally determine.  In the meantime, it simply represents a small slice of the Apple marketplace which is fundamentally determined more by the number of iPhones sold then anything else they offer.  Heck, even their iTunes music and app store is a side business compared to the iPhone. 

The fact that a million customers were willing to pay $350 or more for a first generation device indicates how strong the Apple base is.  Certainly the number of sales will drop in the coming weeks, perhaps spiking a bit when inventory is available at their stores.  Still, their enthusiasm and love of Apple will encourage more apps to be created for the Apple Watch and more uses uncovered.  And as next generations of Apple Watches are released, more growth will be delivered.  Give it a couple years and you will probably find yourselves buying a new iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time.  And maybe then they will rename it the iWatch. 

Apple Watch Adoption

An important component to the successful adoption of the Apple Watch will be Apple's retail stores.  Just enter the please touch me world of an Apple store and immediately their devices are at your fingertips.  Play with an iPhone 6 Plus, try out the Apple TV, surf the web on a Macbook Pro.  And have a question, an Apple employee is easily spotted in their branded T shirt, happy to help.  Never is anyone told to not touch any of the Apple devices.  In fact, Apple makes it easy to become a fan. 

It is that approach to retail that should surely aid the introduction and adoption of the Apple Watch.  As long as the customer is allowed to play with it, touch it, figure it out, then they will build a connection and ultimately purchase.  The Apple Watch has a long life cycle ahead of it; the first generation watch will come with a lot of learning, some failure, but ultimately future success.  And while reviews were mixed on what was loved and hated on the watch, most expect future generations of the Apple Watch to succeed. 

I too may not be an early adopter of the first gen watch, but I like what I see so far.  The potential is enormous and the future bright.  Like other devices from Apple, price points will eventually come down, noticeable improvements of screen, battery, and memory will occur, and consumers will continue to demand more.  The best way to gauge the success of the Apple Watch might just be to watch consumers pour into their nearest Apple store to play with the device again and again.  For what Apple has learned through retail, the more they interact, the more likely they are to buy. 

Apple Watch Reviews Are Coming In

Not yet available for sale, the Apple Watch is being reviewed and as you would expect they include the good and the bad.  But like any first generation product, the key to longevity will depend on the value the consumer perceives from it.  Apple has a lot of experience with product launches.  Just look at the first generation of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad and see how the current generation compares.  Massive improvement and huge appeal.  So if history is any guide, the Apple Watch will follow the same curve.

But for those looking for some early reviews, I've attached some links:

CNET - "The Apple Watch is the most ambitious, well-constructed smartwatch ever seen, but first-gen shortfalls make it feel more like a fashionable toy than a necessary tool."

CNBC - "positive with caveats"

The Verge - "Apple has the marketing prowess, the retail store network, and the sheer determination to actually make this thing happen."

re/code - " If you’re an iPhone power user and you’re intrigued by the promises of wearable technology, you’ll like it, too."

Business Insider - "The watch is a really nice device that has lots of potential, but most people should skip it for now. It's good for early-adopting techies who live and breathe through their phones, but the rest of the world should wait for the next version of the watch."

NY Times - "It took three days — three long, often confusing and frustrating days — for me to fall for the Apple Watch. But once I fell, I fell hard."

Bloomberg - "The Apple Watch is cool, it’s beautiful, it’s powerful, and it’s easy to use. But it’s not essential. Not yet."

I'm sure early adopters will buy the Apple Watch just like they did the first gen iPod and iPhone, and iPad.  As battery life improves and more apps are written, I am confident the Apple Watch will become another integral part of the Apple ecosystem.  And for those homes that like the Apple Universe, the Apple Watch will be the next big must have device.

Has Battery Power Made A Quantum Advance

An interesting article in re/code has announced news out of Stanford University that may radically improve battery usage and recharging.  According to the article, "A research team at Stanford University says it has come up with a prototype aluminum battery that can recharge in as little as one minute, as compared to the hour or so it takes the fastest lithium-ion battery." In addition, the new battery is said to be safer, cheaper, and last longer on recharging.  while still a prototype, one can only wonder how soon before this product comes to market. 

How Big Could Charter Cable Get

Considering that the FCC has yet to approve the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal, Multichannel is already speculating just how big could Charter get.  Once that deal is approved, and many believe that if it wasn't the FCC would have already said no, Charter Cable would move forward with its deal for Bright House Networks and acquire subs from the TWC consolidation to exceed a 10 million cable subscriber base.  

Given Malone's penchant for growth, this domestic drive for a larger cable footprint could lead to more consolidation.  According to the article, the next targets could include "Suddenlink Communications (private), Mediacom Communications (private), Cable One (planned to be spun off from Graham Holdings as a separate public company this year) and Cablevision Systems (public), with the latter possibly involved in a later system swap with Comcast."  But first, Charter would have to successfully integrate the Bright House properties before chasing after these names.  

How would the cable landscape look after AT&T acquires DirecTV and Comcast acquires Time Warner Cable, here you go:

MVPD                                                  Subscribers

Comcast/Time  Warner  Merger*         30,000,000

AT&T/DirecTV  Merger*                         26,300,000

Dish Network                                           14,000,000

Charter/Bright  House Merger*           10,000,000+

Verizon                                                        5,600,000

Cox                                                               4,100,000

Binge Viewing Seems Like A Drug Overdose

The rise of streaming content and the access to entire seasons of TV shows has encouraged binge viewing by consumers.  Where new episodes of our favorite TV shows would appear once a week with a splattering of repeats to interrupt the flow, we got used to watching a season of a show, approximately 23 episodes from September to May.  But now a TV show can have a season of 12 shows to be watched from start to finish.  And we binge to get our fill as quickly as we can. 

And viewers are binging thanks to Netflix and others with seasons of House Of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and syndicated programming like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad.   We can't watch just one and Netflix encourages us by auto-playing the next show in order before the credits even finish on the last show.  Like an addict, we are hooked.

And no sooner are we finished, we are desperate for me.  But when we are done watching the latest season of House Of Cards or other shows, we are forced to dry out till a new batch of shows are produced, edited, and available to air.  And so we switch our habit to another series to satisfy our incredible thirst for more content.  And we are never quenched. 

Our need for immediacy, instant messaging over emails, on demand over linear, and a constant flow of ready to watch video content, might possibly be creating a monster in all of us.  We can no longer live without our smartphones, checking them throughout the day.  We lack patience.  And waiting through commercials to watch cable TV sometimes drives us mad.  We are binging on content with a demand that can't ever seem to be fulfilled.  And I doubt that we will ever slow down to smell the roses.  Binge viewing is simply one more drug for our need for getting it now. 

HBO Driving Aggressive Growth Strategy

No longer owned by a cable parent (Time Warner Cable), HBO has become fairly aggressive in fighting back Netflix, Amazon and other premium content providers.  They were early to the OTT game, offering HBO GO to authenticated cable subscribers.  They have always had a robust VOD library to drive value and retention of their cable subscription model.  And they have created a non-cable authentication platform called HBO NOW that will be exclusive to Apple TV for 3 months.  You almost need a scorecard to know what content is exclusive to any of these formats: VOD, GO, and NOW.

But even an exclusive HBO NOW offering with Apple isn't stopping HBO from being accessible to the streaming universe.  In their latest deal, HBO is offering a streaming package to Sling TV, different from Apple TV.  It includes one linear feed to their main channel HBO (not HBO 2,3, 4, etc.) and the cable VOD library and priced to consumers at $15/month.  If Apple thought that they had some exclusivity, then they must be feeling a bit cheated. But for HBO, it is an aggressive strategy to drive subscription whether a cable, Apple TV, or Sling TV customer.

So is there any content exclusivity across any of HBO's platforms? Will there be windows where one platform gets a TV series or movie and the others don't.  Or will shows like Game of Thrones be accessible regardless of the platform, VOD, GO, or NOW?  It may simply be that they are dressed up under different brand extensions but are essentially the same library of content. 

Being free of a cable operator has certainly allowed HBO and its other Turner siblings (TNT, TBS, etc) to negotiate deals without the threat of anti-synergy behavior.  With streaming access a big competitive threat to the traditional cable model, delivering their linear and on demand library as OTT streams, HBO and Turner are delivering content where and how the consumer wishes to watch it. 

Will The Key Business Die Like The Horse And Buggy

How many keys do you keep on your key chain?  The house key, the car key, an office key perhaps.  What if you could leave your keys at home and let your smartphone access all those locks and more.  That is the discussion in today's Business Insider.  But according to the article, both Apple and Google envision a keyless future. And according to the article, "Apple and Google both need these businesses because they are so big.

Consider the applications that your smartphone or Apple Watch could enable: entry and ignition in your car, entry into your home and office, access to a hotel room, and the ability to authorize access and use to others.  Wherever authorization is required, the smartphone can replace your key or smartcard to gain entry.  And wouldn't that be nice to no longer have to find your keys.