Verizon's Prelude to All-Out War
Live TV would be an earth-shattering addition, and Verizon's done little to suggest that it won't go there ... someday. But Senior VP of Consumer Product Management Eric Bruno told Multichannel News that it's still "to be determined" whether the joint venture will include live programming.
I take that as code for "yes, if the programmers allow it," since there don't appear to be any major technical hurdles. But all the retrans headaches that go with adding live TV, local broadcast channels in particular, still make that a pretty big "if" for the immediate future.
But I think it would make perfect strategic sense for Verizon. After all, it's already made it clear that it won't deploy FiOS everywhere, and an over-the-top strategy would, in essence, give Verizon a national video footprint.
It's not like this idea isn't already underway at EchoStar Corp. LLC (Nasdaq: SATS), which is working on a platform that has the potential to spawn a great number of virtual MSOs, and perhaps give corporate cousin Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) yet another video weapon. (See EchoStar Readies Over-the-Top Video Play.)
The proverbial fly in the ointment is obtaining the rights. And they don't come cheap. That's one of the reasons Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc. analyst Craig Moffett is cool to the notion that virtual MSOs will be springing up like dandelions anytime soon. (See A Virtual MSO Shall Rise, Boxee CEO Says.)
He's not even sold on the idea that Verizon and Redbox will go in that direction. While the joint venture may pose a threat to Netflix and Dish's Blockbuster, "it almost surely is not the basis of a so-called 'virtual MSO' as some this morning have suggested," Moffett noted on Monday, wondering if the agreement is "another step in the transformation of Verizon into a marketing machine, à la its joint venture with the cable industry." (See Verizon Wireless: Cable’s New BFF.)
I agree that the virtual MSO concept isn't the goal early on. I suspect they'll try to out-Netflix an already wounded Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and focus on new, premium content alongside a solid menu of oldies but goodies, alongside a bunch of plain ol' oldies.
OTT war
But I still think it's a matter of when, not if, they'll take that big step into live TV. And once that happens, all bets are off. It will be a free-for-all. It'll force Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and other MSOs to do the same (I think they'd have to be crazy if they didn't have such strategies already underway) and, as I've said before, it'll spell video Armageddon and the end of the pay-TV world as we know it because everyone (MSOs included) would end up competing with each other. The clearly defined boundaries of the franchise area would be a thing of the past. (See Signs of the Video Armageddon .)
That could take two years. It could take five. But I'm convinced that it will happen. And it will be messy. After all, the cable guys have lived as kinfolk since the dawn of the industry. Plus, they still have lots of joint ventures and partnerships that have made everyone part of a big, happy family that would be difficult, if not impossible, to undo entirely.
Divorcing a portion of that family history won't be painless. But it may be necessary, and it might happen sooner than some are expecting.
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable
growing up in the 70's we learned about the military doctrine of m.a.d, mutually assured destruction.
this is what has prevented ott armageddon between msos thus far. but a company like verizon, having failed miserably at its me-too video play, is the perfect candidate to push the first button.
if i were roberts i'd have the national xfinity blueprint quadruple proofed by now and ready to enter the war room. he confessed that it was only their complacency that allowed a little dvd rental company to become a giant ,fleeting as thier triumph may be.