By Steve Donohue, FierceCable, December 13, 2013
| While executives at major programmers like Viacom and Walt | Disney Co. have predicted in recent weeks that a virtual | multichannel programming distributor could soon emerge, I'm | beginning to wonder if the concept is little more than hype. | | The last straw for me came yesterday, after spending more than | four hours listening to DirecTV's Investor Day webcast. On | Wednesday, a top Wall Street analyst predicted that DirecTV | would announce plans to stream its entire programming lineup. | I waited patiently for the announcement, listening to DirecTV | executives spend more than two hours discussing the company's | Latin America division. | | CEO Mike White finally responded to a question about a | virtual DirecTV service at the end of the conference, telling | attendees that rights issues remain an obstacle. | | "I am optimistic that over the next 12 months we'll have more | to say about [over-the-top video]. But we think it is an | opportunity," White said. "What we are looking at is niche | ideas--if we get the rights," White added.
Continued:
MVPD = Multichannel video programming distributor, the FCC's lump-sum term for cable TV, DBS (Dish, DirecTV), MATV and SMATV systems.
"...if we get the rights...." That statement points directly to the underlying problem: the "basic tier." EVERYBODY wants to be on basic. As I've noted before here, full-power and some LPTV broadcasters have a legal right to have their signals carried on basic (and commercial stations can even charge for it). Local franchising authorities have the right to require basic-tier carriage for PEG (public, educational, and government access) channels. Advertising supported non-broadcast programmers write basic-carriage requirements into their affiliation agreements.
There's no such thing as "basic tier" for signals carried over the internet, but it seems to me that it's possible to create one. DirecTV does essentially the same thing right now with its "Watch movies and shows anywhere, on your laptop, tablet, or cell phone" option. The only difference would be the source of the signals: if DirecTV offered such a package as an OTT service, signals would come directly from DirecTV rather than from the subscriber's home receiver.
Unless I'm missing something here.
Neal McLain