OTT in Q2 2016

It’s once again time for our quarterly roundup of the major happenings in the OTT space. Below, find a monthly breakdown of what’s been occurring.

April

In April, cable network Starz launched its $8.99/month standalone streaming service.

“This is the direction technology is taking us, and we’re looking to explore that,” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht in an interview with CNBC.

Commenting on the overall industry, Albrech stated “I do think that people will be able to, probably, create their own array of television or entertainment choices. Whether they, you know, buy them individual apps or they’re companies that deliver apps, that can be a sort of virtual MPVD service, this certainly is the way of the future.”

Seeking to take on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video became a monthly service, also with a $8.99/month cost.

“Because we have this unusual way to monetize the premium content, we can charge less for the premium content than we would otherwise have to charge, if we didn't have the flywheel spinning to help sell more shoes,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said.

May

In May, CBS’ experimentation with streaming news updates was declared “the future of CBS News” by executive vice president Marc Debevoise.

It was also revealed that YouTube is planning an online TV service for 2017 – “Unplugged” – which would seemingly compete with skinny bundles and SVODs like Dish and PS Vue.

June

Harkening back to April, Lionsgate announced in June that it will be acquiring Starz in a $4.4 billion deal.

“Chris Albrecht and his team have built a world-class platform and programming leader, and we’re proud to marshal our resources in a deal that accelerates our growth and diversification, generates exciting new strategic content opportunities and creates significant value for our shareholders,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer.

It will be intriguing to see if/how the movie studio utilizes Starz streaming technology to distribute original film and television content.

Author: Brian Cameron

Image via Shutterstock.

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