tve@3108_news 01/09/2015 10:19 Page 2
Analyst: ‘Producers may pull
back from Netflix
espite the recent
launch by major
broadcasters such as
HBO, Showtime, and CBS of
their own standalone OTT
apps, and speculation that
ESPN is about to make such
a move, Alan Wolk, senior
analyst with TDG, has
warned that 'the Great OTT
Migration' isn’t happening
just yet.
In a Blog Post, he says there
are many reasons most networks
will not (and cannot) make the
leap to OTT, either now or in the
shortterm
future.
“The
first
reason
has to do
with
who owns the distribution rights
to the network’s programming. In
most cases, it is often an outside
studio. Take AMC, for example:
Lionsgate owns the rights to Mad
Men, while Sony owns the rights
to Breaking Bad. These sorts of
deals are the norm in Hollywood,
as the studios develop the shows
and incur the costs of winnowing
D
down scripts and creating pilots.
And the reason they shoulder this
expense? So they can then sell
distribution rights to a show once
it becomes a legitimate hit,
raking in millions upon
millions of dollars,” he notes.
“The second reason OTT
may not be right for
broadcast and cable networks
has to do to with to whom
they sell those rights —
online distributors like
Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.
While these distribution
deals can generate a great
deal of income,
they also limit the
amount of content the
network has available
to populate their own
freestanding app.”
“This is why we’re
seeing genre apps like
the NBC Comedy app, Shudder (a
horror app), and the
SundanceNow Doc Club from
AMC appear. This is the