We’re just a few months into 2015 and pay TV networks in the US are already entering the Internet TV space at a quickening pace. Reports this week about NBCUniversal, Discovery Communications, Sling TV and Time Warner’s HBO all point to 2015 as the pivotal year in Internet TV. Content owners are aggressively looking for viewers away from the TV set and outside pay TV, and are launching Web video services to find them.
Add NBCUniversal to the growing list of pay TV networks that are straying outside the pay TV ecosystem. NBCUniversal is considering launching a comedy-themed subscription Internet TV service in 2015, according to a report out this week in the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources. NBCU’s comedy assets include “The Tonight Show” and “Saturday Night Live.” NBCU may enlist its comedy stars to develop original and exclusive content for the Web service.
A caveat to this rumor is that NBCUniversal has already licensed the “Saturday Night Live” library – all 38 seasons – to Yahoo, where they are available for free.
NBCU is looking to Internet TV services as a means to reach those viewers that are spending their evenings watching YouTube or Netflix. NBCU’s CEO Steve Burke recently revealed that 70% of “The Tonight Show” views occur online.
Earlier this year, NBCU launched a subscription streaming fitness service, called Radius; it has also launched a completely-digital live streaming news channel, called Shift by MSNBC.
NBCU joins Viacom’s Nickelodeon, CBS, HBO, and Sesame Street as TV networks operating in the Internet TV space:
Time Warner’s premium pay TV darling, HBO, is currently working with MLB Advanced Media for its streaming service. Rumors were confirmed this week that HBO is working with Apple and other OTT device makers to be distribution partners for its upcoming launch, slated for April in conjunction with the new season of “Game of Thrones.” The subscription OTT service, called HBO Now, is expected to be priced at $15 per month.
Those pay TV networks that haven’t yet considered launching subscription services are more than likely already in the Web video space and a hop and a skip away from that step.
This week, pay TV network Discovery Communications’ Web video division, Discovery Digital, launched Seeker, an adventure-themed online video network. It offers 15 new original series to stream. The content is all documentary and non-fiction, topics range from abandoned buildings and people around the world living off the grid, to hunting. Seeker is available on a browser at www.SeekerNetwork.com, and on iOS and Android apps.
It’s the fourth such online video network Discovery has launched. Discovery began taking online video seriously as early as 2012 when it acquired online video network Revision3. Its current online properties include Revision3, with tech and video game news; Science-themed TestTube.com; Animal Planet Live, which offers live streams of various animals; Animalist.com, a network that repurposes archive footage into Web videos; and Celebrity news network SourceFed
Discovery stands out in the pay TV ecosystem as the network with the most Web video available online, but it isn’t alone in the space.
Disney now owns the online video network Maker Studios, whose Web series span celebrities, gaming, technology and music and Univision launched an online video network called The Flama last year, with five Web series and new videos posted daily.
Scripps Networks Interactive launched its online video network Ulive in 2013. Ulive offers over 150 Web series exclusive to the network. Some of that content is related to its pay TV programming, and the rest is original video content produced for the OTT service.
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter