The latest on the ongoing evolution of the home entertainment paradigm. (Well, what else are we supposed to call it? Ain’t really just “TV” anymore, is it?)
by Nellie Andreeva and David Lieberman
It’s not easy being an indie standalone channel in the era of cord-cutting and “too much TV.” Participant Media learned that the hard way, moving in to pull the plug on its three-year old network Pivot TV, writing off a $200 million initial investment and further tens of millions in costs.
Cord-cutting “continues to dominate investor outlooks,” RBC Capital Markets’ Steven Cahall said this week. Pay TV providers– cable, satellite and telcos — lost 665,602 subscribers in Q2, according to researcher Bruce Leichtman.Their annual rate hikes have become risky as consumers, especially Millennials, warm to low cost alternatives including Netflix. Many cable owners fear that cord cutting and shaving will accelerate when they face planned live streaming services from Hulu and AT&T’s DirecTV — and possibly Apple.