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October 2013 Channels 2016 March 2016 pOFC Channels MIPTV16.indd 1 21/03/2016 14:20 SEE US AT MIPTV P.C DTVEpXX Scripps Channels Apr16.indd 1 14/03/2016 19:24 Digital TV Europe Channels MIPTV 2016 > Contents March 2016 Changing channels Channels channels business is changing, but there is little agreement 2016 The about how quickly. For all the buzz around on-demand consumption, millennial multitasking and the use of multiple screens to Published By: view content, there has been little sign of TV viewing going into decline. Informa Telecoms & Media Most TV viewing remains of live linear channels run according to a pre-set Maple House schedule. 149 Tottenham Court Road For all the strength of the linear channel, viewing habits are shifting, however, and the pace of change could accelerate as millennials pass into London W1T 7AD adulthood and a new generation follows in its path. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5000 In this special MIP TV issue of Digital TV Europe, we look at how content providers are Fax: +44 (0) 20 7017 4953 rising to the challenge of changing consumption patterns. We look first at the ways in Website: www.digitaltveurope.net which pay TV channel providers are experimenting with their own direct-to-consumer OTT services to complement their traditional channel businesses, and the risks and opportunities Editor Stuart Thomson associated with moves to bypass traditional distributors. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5314 Much of the debate around direct-to-consumer moves has been framed by the impact of Email: [email protected] Netflix on the pay TV business. In this issue we also look at now alternative movie content players are attempting to carve out a niche to offer OTT services that complement Netflix or Deputy Editor Andy McDonald Amazon’s broader offerings. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5293 Finally in this special issue of Digital TV Europe, we look at the evolution of the Email: [email protected] multichannel network and growth of digital brands – assessing moves by MCNs to develop their own distinct content propositions, carving out a more substantial place for themselves as channels for the digital age. Contributing Editor Stewart Clarke Contributors Kate Bulkley, Andy Fry, Adrian Pennington, Adam Thomas, Anna Tobin, Jesse Whittock Stuart Thomson, Editor Sales Director Patricia Arescy [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5320 Email: [email protected] Contents Art Director Matthew Humberstone Publisher Tim Banham 2. The direct approach Printing Wyndeham Grange, West Sussex Faced with growing demand for content to be available on multiple devices and in different formats, pay TV channel providers are increasingly looking at direct-to-consumer digital dis- tribution, but remain wary of destabilising their existing businesses. Stuart Thomson reports. SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE 11. Independence on-demand INFORMA GROUP The booming online video space has given rise to independent film services that are offering an TEL: +44 (0) 207 017 5533 increasingly compelling alternative to mainstream players like Netflix, reports Andy McDonald. 19. MCNs, digital brands and the future of online content © 2016 Informa UK Ltd As multichannel networks come of age, the future of online content looks increasingly geared All rights reserved towards rights ownership and multi-platform distribution, reports Andy McDonald. Reproduction without permission is prohibited Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net 1 p01 Ed Note Channels 2016v3am.indd 1 22/03/2016 19:54 Channels MIPTV 2016 > Digital distribution Digital TV Europe March 2016 The direct approach Faced with growing demand for content to be available on multiple devices and in different formats, pay TV channel providers are increasingly looking at direct- to-consumer digital distribution. Most, however, remain wary of destabilising their existing businesses. Stuart Thomson reports. TV channel providers, keen not their distribution partners. This has meant – in to deliver a strong, predictable revenue stream, Pay to break a model that works, the US context – TV everywhere, or making some perceive that viewing among the younger have until recently viewed digital distribution content available on multiple screens, but only generation may rapidly begin to shift away warily. Content companies know the value to ‘authenticated’ pay TV subscribers. In Europe from big bundle pay TV offerings. They also of established relationships with pay TV too, pay TV operators have developed their own believe that digital distribution could offer distribution partners such as cable, IPTV and multiscreen, catch-up and on-demand services an additional revenue stream that will not DTH providers and the affiliate carriage fee and channel provider partners have supplied necessarily cannibalise the existing business. model has served them very well. the necessary content rights. At the heart of this is the question of whether For this reason, digital distribution There are, however, signs that the ground or not to go direct to the consumer, bypassing initiatives on the part of channel providers is beginning to shift. While content providers the traditional distribution partnership. have typically dovetailed with the strategies of remain keen that pay TV partnerships continue In many cases, of course, international Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net 2 p02-04,06,08 Digital Distribution Channels MIPTV16v3am.indd 2 22/03/2016 19:25 Digital TV Europe Channels MIPTV 2016 > Digital distribution March 2016 A+E plans to follow up its Lifetime Movie Furthermore, says Cohan, international and Audience data will have, he says, “tremendous Club services with a similar History offering. digital development are the two areas where marketing value”. Digital distribution can A+E – like other media companies – has the provide incremental advertising revenue. channel providers have been going direct to greatest opportunity to grow. Cohan says that Subscription revenues from OTT services can the consumer for years, offering free-to-air while the environment is becoming more provide an incremental revenue stream. At the linear channels in addition to their core pay challenging in some areas, there is still growth same time, the digital services will enhance TV offerings to build an advertising funded to be had in linear channel distribution and in engagement with the audience and bring business to complement distribution fees. advertising sales, and there are still markets people back to the linear channel. But launching an OTT service, perhaps with where A+E will also launch free-to-air channels. “For me it about all three – learning, direct the kind of functionality that pay TV operators In the digital domain, however, A+E is revenue and indirect revenue.” Cohan says increasingly see as a way to differentiate their looking at direct-to-consumer initiatives to that there are other, less immediately tangible own services, is a bigger step. complement its partnerships with pay TV benefits to investing in digital. One is the ability distributors. In the US the broadcaster has of channel groups to use digital platforms to launched Lifetime Movie Club, which Cohan bring on new talent. “You can incubate talent Integrated approach describes as “a complementary niche product and intellectual property and content in a low- for TV move fans”. Based on its success with cost way. It’s less costly to produce something Big channel groups are in any case certainly Lifetime Movie Club, A+E is now moving than would otherwise be the case, and there is looking at digital distribution as a core part of ahead with plans to launch a similar product a creative opportunity and a financial benefit their overall strategic focus. Companies that around its flagship History channel called from that,” he says, adding that A+E has have targeted the OTT space include premium History Vault. “This is a complementary niche been developing content and talent on digital content providers such as HBO, with its HBO offering for real history junkies that they will platforms in a “below the radar way” but that it Now service, and factual giant Discovery, take in addition to our linear channel,” he says. plans to take a more strategic approach to this which recently said it was on track to hit a Cohan says that both Lifetime Movie Club in the future. million OTT subscribers by 2017 through and History Vault will be launched outside the Cohan says that A+E is well-placed to services such as DPlay and Eurosport Play. US “in a handful of markets where it makes experiment with alternative models because NBCUniversal, meanwhile, recently launched sense”. He is clear, however, that these offerings it owns the rights to the bulk of the content it reality-themed SVoD service hayu in the US, UK and Australia. A+E Networks, for its part, recently “These apps and direct-to-consumer combined its international and digital activities in a single structure under Sean Cohan, now initiatives are not substitutes for the channel. president, international and digital media. They are about digging deeper into these While conceding that the combination of international and digital “may seem curated categories.” unconventional”, Cohan argues that both Sean Cohan, A+E Networks businesses share many key characteristics. Digital, he says, now has an impact on are “not a substitute for linear channels airs on its linear channels – particularly on the everything and digital distribution is global, but a complement”. A+E does not wish to unscripted side. More recently, the company making traditional territory-specific distribution cannibalise its existing linear channel business has looked to hold the same rights to its less relevant. He says that digital initiatives and does not see digital offerings of the kind it scripted content, enabling it to provide content provide lessons that can be transferred from is building as a threat to its traditional channel on its own platforms globally.