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Cable execs say Netflix is killing TV ratings
Fortune ^ | 03/11/2015 | Benjamin Snyder

Posted on 03/11/2015 10:37:37 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Viewership was down in the third and fourth quarters

It might be time for cable to start worrying about online streaming. The Wall Street Journal reported that a drop in TV ratings and viewership can be chalked up to subscription-based streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

People familiar with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau told the newspaper that as much as 40% of TV-rating declines in the third and fourth quarters were attributable to streaming services. The news comes as TV viewing has declined by an estimated 10% from a year previously in the third quarter, and by 9% for the fourth quarter year-over-year, according to the Journal, citing Nielsen data.

“We believe the U.S. television industry is entering a period of prolonged structural decline, caused by a migration of viewers from ad-supported platforms to non-ad-supported or less-ad-supported platforms,” according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger in a March 9 statement.

According to the Journal, Scripps Networks Interactive chief revenue officer Steve Gigliotti said that working with Netflix once “sounded like a good idea, but “now there are some serious misgivings about it.”

Netflix reported fourth quarter earnings in January, posting big gains. The company reportedly finished 2014 with a 26% gain in revenue in the year’s last quarter, while over four million people subscribed. Netflix notched $1.48 billion in revenue during the quarter, up from $1.18 billion last year. Profits also rose 72% year-over-year for the fourth quarter to $83.4 million, or $1.38 per share.

Meanwhile, HBO announced a streaming service that will begin as an exclusive partnership with Apple. Plans were unveiled at a March 9 event, featuring the Apple Watch. While HBO Go will cost $14.99 per month and require access to an Apple TV, Netflix costs $8.99. During the event, Apple also announced it’d be reducing the price of the Apple TV to $69 from $99.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: apple; cabletv; hbo; lgbtfallout; netflix
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To: kevkrom

Netflix gives people what they want. That is how capitalism works.


81 posted on 03/11/2015 11:31:59 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftist totalitarian fascism is on the move.)
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To: Chickensoup

No doubt about it. And they’ve demonstrated, in the process, that a streaming-based subscription service is a viable alternative to cable/satellite. Beyond the technical, it simply becomes a matter of content and pricing.


82 posted on 03/11/2015 11:33:26 AM PDT by kevkrom (I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
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To: dfwgator

Hot Asians. I may have to check it out.


83 posted on 03/11/2015 11:33:43 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: tumblindice
with endless commercials/laugh tracks that amp the volume to make sure you hear them in the kitchen or behind the bathroom door when you flee from the family room.

This is why God invented the MUTE button.

84 posted on 03/11/2015 11:34:23 AM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: BunnySlippers
TV is done with anyway.

LOL! Right.

The Internet and chocolate will never catch on either.

85 posted on 03/11/2015 11:35:00 AM PDT by Eaker (You are really amazing Eaker. - Swordmaker 02/14/15)
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To: kevkrom

Other than boxing they put on once every blue moon, I almost never watch HBO. They are about worthless.

I have all the premium movie channels and watch very little of it.


86 posted on 03/11/2015 11:35:10 AM PDT by Beagle8U (NOTICE : Unattended children will be given Coffee and a Free Puppy.)
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To: kevkrom
"Plus, the Apple TV also has the AirPlay feature which allows me to directly stream anything off my phone directly to that TV. It's more than just a dumb box for dumb users."

Wow that IS really special. Of course I do that with my smart phone and my wifi/bluetooth system and I didn't need Apple to show me how.

87 posted on 03/11/2015 11:35:33 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: TomGuy
"My cable on-demand is lousy. It has commercials inserted in many programs and it delays offering current shows. It also isn’t very good at keeping updated — some newly broadcast programs never show up in the On-Demand listings."

Yep, On Demand is being fazed out replaced by Streaming. Which sucks more. DVR is the way to go.

88 posted on 03/11/2015 11:36:02 AM PDT by moehoward
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To: Roman_War_Criminal
Is there a way to get rid of cable and just do Netflix over Wi-Fi?

Is your Internet connection via cable or phone or cellular?

IIRC, my cable company (Cox) requires at least basic TV in order to get cable internet. [I have not checked to see whether that is still true.]

I stream Netflix via a ROKU box and/or Western Digital TV box.
89 posted on 03/11/2015 11:36:06 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Roman_War_Criminal
I don't have cable. I have Netflix and a mobile hotspot. Never had a problem watching Netflix content on my iPhone or Kindle Fire. The only issue is using all my gigs before the billing cycle is through.

I can even watch Netflix on iPhone in my car using just regular LTE and Bluetooth for the audio through the car speakers.

90 posted on 03/11/2015 11:37:20 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: Beagle8U

I’m not a subscriber. I do enjoy Game of Thrones, but I’m more than willing to wait for the blu-ray or iTunes release, even though I know it puts me a year behind. I’ve read the books, so it’s not like I’m going to be hit with huge spoilers by waiting. Nothing else on HBO seems worth it to me - original programming (other than GoT) doesn’t appeal, and the movies they carry are the same ones I didn’t want to watch in the theater in the first place.


91 posted on 03/11/2015 11:37:36 AM PDT by kevkrom (I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
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To: discostu
the Talking Dead discussing the show

Hubby and I enjoy The Talking Dead. It is a great release after watching the intensity that is (usually) The Walking Dead. After a lot of TWD episodes, I need a laugh to help me decompress.

92 posted on 03/11/2015 11:38:11 AM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: TomGuy
[I have never been able to watch a Hulu or Crackle or similar service that inserts commercials. About half-way through, they lock up. To restart, the program runs through all of the commercials again. Half of the time, they re-stall again.]

Hah!! Glad to know it isn't just me.

93 posted on 03/11/2015 11:39:33 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda
Oh yeah. While I think the net neutrality was aimed at saving companies like Netflix and Hulu and other streaming services from being priced out of business, I still think it was bad law. Here's an interesting link regarding a Cisco study projecting internet growth through 2018. A couple of tidbits include:

Content delivery networks will carry over half of Internet traffic by 2018. Fifty-five percent of all Internet traffic will cross content delivery networks by 2018 globally, up from 36 percent in 2013. Global IP traffic will reach 1.1zettabytes per year or 91.3 exabytes per month in 2016.

Globally, IP video traffic will be 79 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2018, up from 66 percent in 2013. This percentage does not include video exchanged through peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing. The sum of all forms of video (TV, video on demand [VoD], Internet, and P2P) will be in the range of80to 90 percent ofglobal consumer traffic by 2018.

Obviously streaming services don't foot the bill for the cost of buildout and infrastructure, while their consumption of the network capacity will proliferate. Net nuetrality forbids a cost premium or a slowdown for big users, which will benefit the customers of streaming services which contribute only content.

94 posted on 03/11/2015 11:39:53 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (If a border fence isn't effective, why is there a border fence around the White House?)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda
" I was watching Fox the other night and shut it off, I got fed up. Commercials commercials commercials."

I DVR Special Report, The Kelly FIle, and Kennedy's new show over on Fox News Business. All the info you want, and you can blow right past the commercials, Juan Williams, and the clips of the lying kenyan.

95 posted on 03/11/2015 11:40:29 AM PDT by moehoward
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To: tumblindice

thanks! Will have to do some checking into that.


96 posted on 03/11/2015 11:40:43 AM PDT by ozarkgirl
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To: discostu

Exactly. WD and TD are the main reasons I have cable.


97 posted on 03/11/2015 11:41:15 AM PDT by Patriotic1 (Dic mihi solum facta, domina - Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: kevkrom

Did you know that Youtube has some pretty good full length movies, free!


98 posted on 03/11/2015 11:41:15 AM PDT by Beagle8U (NOTICE : Unattended children will be given Coffee and a Free Puppy.)
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To: Mad Dawgg
So then the 3 month exclusion was for....

Here's what one article said: "There are obvious advantages for both sides: HBO, which doesn’t have any experience selling directly to consumers, gets to work with a digital distributor that already has more than 400 million credit cards on file — and has a customer service set-up in place to support all of those customers."

Nothing at all except to trick people who own a roku into buying an Apple.

No, to ease into a market they don't know. And if some people ditch their Rokus for Apple TV, what do you care?

Like I said, Not gonna stop pirating in fact the people who do most of the pirating already hate Apple and Big Media.

Of course it's not going to stop pirating, but it is going to add to HBOs revenue stream. A lot of people, believe it or not, neither pirate nor have cable/satellite subscriptions.

99 posted on 03/11/2015 11:44:08 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep
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To: Mad Dawgg

I wish I could get you to come over to my house and set me up like your deal. Dawgg some of us old dawggs just don’t “get” a lot of things. My son was blindsided years ago when grandma texted him from her phone. I don’t think he will ever forget that day, thinking gma would never figure out how to do that, even though she had a phone with that capability.

There is a reason folks don’t do these things, it’s all very mysterious to me. I have a “smart” tv and an apple tv, but now I’m intrigued that that maybe isn’t the smartest thing. LOL


100 posted on 03/11/2015 11:45:00 AM PDT by SaintDismas
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