Our weekly news brief summarizes cord-cutter news from around the Web. In this week's round-up: The DVR just won't die, Comcast may enter Internet-based TV streaming market, Netflix has plans for global domination, and more.
Although it seems to be a relic of the days when linear TV ruled, the DVR just won't die. TechHive's Jared Newman explains why but summarizes by blaming it on "...the industry being so resistant to change, users have no choice but to drag an archaic viewing method into the streaming age."
Traditional linear TV viewership continues to fall. An analysis of the latest Nielson numbers shows that in February "English-language broadcast and ad-supported cable viewing dropped 10.3 percent among adults 18-49." However, TV viewing using streaming devices like Roku and Apple TV rose, accounting for nearly 10 percent of TV usage among those in the 18 to 49 age group.
Research shows that an increasing number of consumers pay for three or more streaming services, with 19% of US viewers doing so. Most popular, according to this research, are Netflix (95%) and Amazon Video (82%).
TV viewing habits have already greatly changed to streaming devices like Roku, but even more change may in store. According to analysts at UBS, "[t]he catalyst of this change will be new live-streaming TV packages like DirecTV Now, Sling TV, and YouTube TV," and they expect that over 15 million people (about 13% of all US homes) will subscribe to streaming TV services by 2020.
Comcast may offer nationwide live-streaming TV delivered over the Internet, following in the footsteps of rival pay-TV providers Dish Network (with Sling TV) and DirecTV (with DirecTV Now). Bloomberg reports that "Comcast Corp. has acquired rights from cable network owners to offer their channels nationwide... giving the biggest U.S. cable operator a backup plan if rival online-TV services catch on with consumers."
Traditional TV rights for major sports leagues may be locked up for years, but the NFL is interested in raking in more money by selling streaming rights for next season's "Thursday Night Football" games. According to recode.net, "at least four big tech companies are interested... Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Google's YouTube have all submitted proposals to the NFL in the hope of streaming the games."
Did you know that Netflix is available in over 190 countries? Cindy Holland, VP of original content, talks with Fast Company about Netflix's plans for global domination.
If you already own a movie on DVD or Blu-ray, you don't want to pay again to buy or rent that movie in order to stream it if you don't have a DVD player connected to the TV you're watching. For a small per-title fee, Vudu will let you stream digital "copies" of videos you own on disc. Variety notes that there are some limitations.
FilmOn has lost a copyright fight to retransmit OTA broadcasts over the Internet. An appeals court held that "a service that captures copyrighted works broadcast over the air, and then retransmits them to paying subscribers over the Internet without the consent of the copyright holders, is not a 'cable system' eligible for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act." FilmOn appears to be suffering the same fate as startup Aereo, which rented a tiny antenna to each customer and then transmitted OTA broadcasts from the antenna to the customer's home over the Internet.
There's power in bundling! A Deloitte poll of US consumers found that "74% of U.S. households subscribe to pay TV and about two-thirds of these people say they keep it because it's bundled with internet service."
