Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Apple to Launch New Streaming Video Service?

Now that Dish Network, HBO, CBS and NBCUniversal have announced plans to market new streaming video services, it perhaps was inevitable that Apple would do so.

The Dish Network and Apple services offer bundles of perhaps 20 to 25 channels at prices between $20 and $40 a month. HBO will cost $15 for a single channel. Pricing for  the CBS and NBCUniversal offers are not yet public.

As always for a content-driven and content-based business, value and price will matter. Given the emphasis on reaching a customer base that, it is believed, does not want to spend $90 a month for linear video, as well as the demographics of the resisters, the initial content focus will be on channels or bundles of channels believed to appeal to a Millennial demographic, with or without children.

The initial thinking seems to be that broadcast TV and HBO, plus sports content, are the key demand drivers. The other bit of thinking is that Millennial buyers with children will want programming for them as well.

Eventually, we are likely to see experimentation with other bundles or channels, aimed at other possible segments of the market, with or without devices, with or without multi-network access.

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