VMVPD Growth Faces Pay-TV Challenges
While growing, virtual MVPDs face some of the same challenges as their traditional pay-TV rivals, many of which are losing video subscribers, a Parks Associates webcast heard Wednesday. Rising content costs lead vMVPDs to raise prices, said Parks' Paul Erickson.…
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By 2023, vMVPD subs will be higher than telco and satellite pay TV combined, behind cable TV, the analyst said. In a competitive sector, Erickson said vMVPDs are riding the popularity of over-the-top video services and need unique propositions amid a growing number of rivals. Churn is a major challenge for vMVPDs, which lack customer contracts, said Erickson: Subscription duration averaged a year to 15 months for Dish Network's Sling (16 months), AT&T Now (15), Alphabet's YouTubeTV (15), Disney's Hulu + Live TV (14), AT&T WatchTV (12) and T-Mobile TVision Home (8). Since Parks' survey, AT&T announced it's spinning off DirecTV (see 2103010046), and T-Mobile shut down its TVision OTT service this week, six months after launch, instead partnering with Google and making YouTubeTV its preferred live TV offering.