Tag Archives: twx

Amazon Seen Prepping Cable-TV-Like Web Service, Live Content

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) is moving closer to launching a live TV streaming service to complement its Prime video service, which offers movies and on-demand content, analysts speculate in the wake of media companies’ earnings calls. In the pay-TV industry, “virtual MVPD” (multi-channel video programming distributor) is a term for a cable-TV-like service delivered via the Internet. “Amazon appears most likely to launch a virtual MVPD in 2016,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves said in a research report. “Amazon was hinted at multiple times throughout the quarter as being in negotiations with content providers in the hopes of launching a video product in the future.” AMC Networks ( AMCX ) referred to ongoing “experimentation” at Amazon on its Q4 earnings call on Feb. 25. Walt Disney ( DIS ), meanwhile, mentioned Amazon while discussing ESPN’s streaming strategy on Feb. 17. Satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network ( DISH ) has more than 500,000 subscribers to its “Sling” Web TV service, launched in early 2015, analysts estimate. However, Sling does not offer live content from the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC). Bloomberg reported in October that Amazon was in talks with Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) NBCUniversal, CBS ( CBS ) and others. Amazon’s challenge would be aggregating content licensed from major programming networks. Apple ( AAPL ) reportedly has, for now, broken off talks with the broadcast networks for a Web TV service. If Amazon’s offers live content, it would set itself apart from Netflix ( NFLX ) and Hulu, both of which do not. Amazon, like Netflix, has already moved into producing original content. One Amazon strategy could be licensing content for current seasons of popular programming now available mainly from pay-TV companies. Federal regulators are probing the influence of cable TV companies over content deals, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. In a report in mid-February, Jefferies noted that Amazon’s Prime video service offers the most content from CBS, including “Vegas.” Its on-demand shows, though, are from prior broadcast seasons. “Relative to Netflix and Hulu, Amazon Prime carries significantly less network programming,” said the Jefferies report. “Overall, the platform only carries nine fall shows aired between 2012 and 2015, six of which aired on CBS.” Amazon in 2015  licensed season-one episodes from NBCUniversal’s hit, “Mr. Robot,” which airs on the USA Network. Amazon also signed content deals with AMC Networks and Time Warner ( TWX ) for six seasons of HBO’s “Sex and the City.”

Amazon.com Content Push Takes A Woody Allen Plot Twist

In  Amazon.com ‘s ( AMZN ) latest bid to dominate the video streaming business — it added the service as a perk for its Amazon Prime loyalty program subscribers — the company announced Thursday that it had acquired the rights to famed film director Woody Allen’s forthcoming movie. The yet-to-be-named film is set to be released this summer in a standard theatrical release and then will be available exclusively to Prime members via video streaming, Amazon said. “Woody Allen is a brilliant filmmaker,” Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, said in the company’s press release. “We’re so proud to be in business with him for both his next film and his first ever TV series.” Amazon also said that it’s hired Allen to produce an as-yet untitled six-episode television series that will begin shooting next month and star Miley Cyrus and Elaine May. The Seattle-based company has been upping its portfolio in the increasingly crowded video-streaming sector vs.  Netflix ( NFLX ),  Time Warner ’s ( TWX ) HBO and others. Apple ( AAPL ), for example, has been trying to put together its own video-streaming service, it’s been widely reported. In January, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners released research that indicated that Amazon Prime had 54 million U.S. members, compared with 44.7 million for Netflix. But Netflix has more actual viewers; only 40% of Amazon Prime members (21.6 million) use the free video streaming service at least once a week, CIRP said. Amazon Prime also includes free two-day shipping. On Feb. 11 Netflix announced that it had completed its migration to Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services. The move makes Netflix one of the largest companies in the world to rely entirely on the public cloud. Netflix also develops its own original content, and content from Netflix and Amazon is getting more and more award nominations and wins. Several analysts say that Amazon is poised to roll out a stand-alone video streaming service. “As Amazon has begun to re-imagine the multichannel TV bundle, we believe they are looking to create their own stand-alone bundle of on-demand and potentially linear (live event) video programming,” BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield said in a research report last month. “In December 2015, Amazon announced it was offering add-ons to Prime such as Showtime, Starz, TriBecA Shortlist, Lifetime Movie Club, among many others. And this is just the start, as we expect other services such as WWE Network to become available in the future.” Amazon said that Allen’s film is a romantic comedy that stars Jeannie Berlin, Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll and Ken Stott. In afternoon trading in the stock market today , Amazon is up 1%, near 530. The company has an IBD Composite Rating of 73, where 99 is the highest. Image provided by Shutterstock .

Facebook Net Neutrality Set Back, Verizon Tests Regulatory Waters

In a closely-watched test case of net neutrality rules in emerging markets, India’s telecom regulators dealt Facebook ( FB ) a blow on Monday, deciding that wireless service providers may not engage in deals that subsidize content as part of free mobile-data programs. The decision from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) impacts Facebook’s “Free Basics,” which provides mobile users free access to a text-only version of the social network firm’s Web content. India’s wireless firms have six months to phase out data plans that charge different rates for Web access, depending on the content. Facebook said in a statement that it’s “disappointed with the outcome.” In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission last year extended net neutrality rules to wireless networks for the first time. Internet service providers are challenging the FCC’s rules in federal court. A court decision is expected in April. Net neutrality rules bar ISPs from throttling, blocking or prioritizing Web traffic. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) on Friday said that videos on its new Go90 mobile service will not count against data plans for its postpaid wireless subscribers. Verizon’s move “highlights how mobile video has become the new frontline in wireless competition and could hasten the convergence of the cable and wireless industries,” said UBS analyst John Hodulik in a research report published on Monday. “The FCC will surely look hard at this strategy,” he added. Verizon also recently launched its FreeBee sponsored-data program. Under the FreeBee business model,  companies would pay Verizon a fee so that users of their wireless apps could access Web content without their data consumption counting toward monthly limits. Verizon’s introduction of the FreeBee service follows a  T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) rollout of the “Binge On” video streaming service. Binge On exempts apps such as  Netflix ( NFLX ) and  Time Warner ‘s ( TWX ) HBO from monthly data caps. T-Mobile’s Binge On, however, does not involve payments from content companies to T-Mobile. With FreeBee, content companies pay for their traffic to be exempted from monthly data limits.