Scalper1 News
Verizon Communications ( VZ ) will bite the bullet and include sports channel ESPN in its “Custom TV” package, giving Walt Disney ( DIS ) a boost amid worries over falling pay-TV subscribers, speculates Deutsche Bank in a research report. “We believe Verizon will soon adjust its Custom TV packages to include ESPN in the base tier, which will be one less source of pressure on ESPN subscribers,” said Bryan Kraft, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, in the report. Verizon launched Custom TV in April. Custom TV isn’t delivered via the Internet; it’s for pay-TV customers with set-top boxes. Plans start at $55 per month for 35 channels. Verizon’s base package has excluded Disney’s ESPN, which garners the highest fees among cable networks. Disney sued Verizon claiming it doesn’t have rights to exclude its sports channel from TV bundles under programming deals. On Verizon’s Q4 earnings conference call Jan. 21, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo spoke to the issue. “Look, this (dispute) will go its course,” he said. “They’re a great partner of ours; we will continue to work with them and I’m not going to speak to the actual lawsuit.” Speaking more generally, Shammo also said: “Custom TV . . . we will refresh that here in the short term to be in compliance with the contractual arrangements that we need to be in compliance with.” Disney, on its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, had good things to say about Sling TV, an Internet service offered by satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network ( DISH ). Disney CEO Iger: Sling ‘Quite Successful’ “We’re also pleased with what we’re hearing from Dish about the response to Sling TV, a light package that includes ESPN,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on the call. “The service appears to be growing nicely and is proving very attractive to young consumers in particular, significantly over indexing among millennials, and has been quite successful in bringing previous cord cutters back to pay TV.” Dish rolled out its $20-per-month Sling service in January. Dish did not include the four major broadcast networks, opting instead to go with ESPN. Sling had 240,000 subscribers as of June 30, analysts estimate. Dish Network did not update Sling’s subscriber total when reporting Q3 earnings. Goldman Sachs has forecast that Sling could hit 2 million by year’s end. Disney’s ESPN is also not part of Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) over-the-top “Stream” TV service. Comcast’s Stream is available in Boston, Chicago and, according to its website, parts of Indiana and Michigan. Stream requires that customers have a broadband connection from Comcast. The service works with Apple ( AAPL ) TV, Roku and other streaming devices. No set-top box is required. Comcast on its Q4 earnings call did not disclose how many Stream users were included in its 89,000 video subscriber additions. Comcast’s Stream service includes the major live broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — along with HBO and local TV channels. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News