It's going to take some televisionary moves for pay-TV providers and big studio owners like AT&T to sort out what consumers want, how to package it and what to call it.

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

August 16, 2019

2 Min Read
Podcast: Where Does OTT TV Go Now?

What's going on with over-the-top TV (and why are all the names so confusing)? Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner, Alan Breznick and Kelsey Ziser join Phil Harvey to dig in and attempt to explain some of the silliness.

In this episode, we discuss why pay-TV and some OTT-TV services are losing subscribers and we attempt to sort through some of the consumer confusion caused by weird branding.

In segment one (starting at 2:00), we recap what TV services we all buy at home to make a larger point about how fragmented the market is becoming. In segment two (starting at 12:45), we discuss all the names for TV and video services that AT&T has trademarked over the years -- and we look back in amusement on AT&T's Mlife campaign from nearly 20 years ago.

Segment three (28:20) concludes with Jeff and Alan doing some public service broadcasting and explaining the differences between HBO, HBO Now, HBO Go and HBO Max. Then (around 45:00) Kelsey tries her own version of an Mlife-style voiceover touting today's OTT-TV services and as many old AT&T trademarks as she can remember. Yes, it's exactly as silly as it sounds.

Figure 1:

Will it be terrible or televisionary? Listen to the whole thing and let us know.

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Phil Harvey, US Bureau Chief, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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