Fried Fish and the Comcast Cap Increase Andy Tarczon, Founding Partner From our "Idiot of the Week" file comes this nugget: a man in Wisconsin was kicked out of an all-you-can-eat fish fry for, you guessed it, eating too much. Watching this video makes you wonder what the hell this guy is thinking. After eating a dozen pieces of fried fish

FCC: Should OTT Services be Included in the Definition of 'MVPD'? Bill Niemeyer, Senior Analyst The FCC is currently evaluating whether to expand the definition of "MVPD" (Multichannel Video Programming Distributor) to include online/OTT video services that provide a mix of linear and on-demand programming similar to cable, telco IPTV

On the Subject of Dish Ad Skipping and Hulu Plus Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory Last week we mentioned that had rolled out an automatic commercial-skipping feature to its new Hopper DVR. The feature works in conjunction with the "Primetime Anytime" functionality, which records all four of the national broadcast networks during primetime

Is There Any Hope for Operator VOD? Andy Tarczon, Founding Partner This week saw an interesting report out of Europe noting that operator video-on-demand (VOD) is creating only 1% of all TV revenue . Should we be surprised? Probably not. Our consumer and market analyses have arrived at similar findings. Last year, we asked consumers about their "first

Do Commerce-Driven TV Apps have a Chance? Michael Greeson, Founding Partner, Research This week interactive-TV vendor Ensequence landed $26 million in new financing , bringing its total capital raised to $140 million. The 12-year old company first offered a tech platform on which cable operators could deploy TV apps with which viewers could interact

Business as Usual: DISH Complains About Streaming Devaluing TV Then Launches Automated DVR Ad Skipping Bill Niemeyer, Senior Analyst There's the expression "some days you're the dog and some days you're the hydrant." In the TV business you're usually both - simultaneously. Former upstart, new-entrant, and now $14 billion market

The Schism Between Free-to-Air and Free-to-Online Deepens Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory May 8, 2012 In the last few weeks, the line between broadcast and online video has become much more sharply drawn. Free-to-air broadcasters continue to step back from the opportunity of free-to-online distribution, while some of the largest online video companies

Economic Recovery and Cable Growth Part II Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory In last week's OTT Monitor, I asked whether cable would return to growth now that the economy is showing signs of recovery. I speculated that Time Warner Cable's continued video subscriber losses would not be an aberration for the cable industry and that the sector

Assessing Diffusion of Net-Connected TVs - Getting It Right Michael Greeson, Founding Partner, Research It seems that every consumer research firm in the country is now offering 'insights' on over-the-top video delivery and the platforms that support it. Prognostications are a dime a dozen, many of them worth little more than just that. And