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Ovum: The future of TV: first globalisation, then localisation – now nationalism

A couple of years ago, we at Ovum predicted that the globalisation of TV by the likes of Netflix and Amazon would be followed by an intense period of investment and innovation in local video content (see Ovum’s opinion piece “The future of TV: First globalisation, now localisation”). In 2019 and beyond, the battle will […]

Ofcom and public service broadcasters: securing the future

UK media regulator Ofcom this week this week set out a package of proposals designed to bolster public service broadcasting, including updating rules to ensure that PSB content can be found easily, endorsing commitments by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to increase their kids TV output, and calling for a ‘national debate’ on the […]

EE’s Apple TV move is the latest in a larger trend toward BYOD

EE launched its EE TV box – an EE-branded hybrid DTT and OTT TV unit provided by Netgem as a part of its telco TV service provider offering– in 2014. The device was released as an £8 per month add-on for broadband subscribers as an attempt to break into a market where (to quote a […]

Broadcast consolidation: Mediaset’s moves

Pan-European consolidation amongst broadcasters once again became a talking point over the last couple of weeks thanks to a couple of big moves by Italy’s Mediaset. First came the Italian company’s acquisition of a 9.6% stake in Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1in what CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi characterised as a strategic move. “The rapid process of globalisation that […]

Ovum: New types of content will drive video consumption on non-TV devices

The commonly-held assumption is that users will always seek out the “best screen available” when consuming video content. Smart TVs have the largest screens and highest-quality video (in both resolution and latency), and are usually considered the best screen for consumers to watch typical OTT or linear content (as evidenced by nearly 370 million connected […]

Cable in play: Liberty Global in Germany and Switzerland

Switzerland’s competition regulator this week launched an in-depth probe into Liberty Global’s proposed sale of its local operation to alternative telco Sunrise Communications, the latest fly in the ointment of Liberty’s plans to divest much of its business in Europe. Swiss regulator COMCO now has four months to complete its phase II probe after an […]

Sizing things up: Vivendi and Mediaset

Vivendi and Mediaset are not the best of friends. Few corporate fallings out have been more spectacular than that between the French and Italian media groups, which have been engaged in a running war of words, suit and counter-suit for the last three years. Vivendi’s decision to pull out of an agreement that would have […]

Starz and the Eye

Lionsgate chief Jon Feltheimer this week outlined ambitious plans for the international expansion of Starzplay, the subscription video-on-demand offering of the US studio’s Starz premium outfit. Starzplay has launched as an Apple TV channel across Europe and Latin American territories including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia. The expansion, which follows […]

Ovum: Traditional TV can fine-tune to survive but must change radically to thrive

On a global scale, it’s clear that traditional TV services alone aren’t enough to satisfy a growing number of viewers, with audiences moving swiftly to enhance their viewing experience by subscribing to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or other OTT video services. As recently as 2014, some 94% of households took only traditional TV – either […]

Disney’s SVOD supremacy might not be so simple overseas

Disney has never shied away from wearing its streaming ambitions on its sleeves, but from the moment the company was rumoured to be interested in acquiring 21st Century Fox’s entertainment division, the industry knew that it was very serious in its intentions to take on the SVODs. Now, with the news that the mousey monolith […]

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