Live TV streaming services opportunity for Corus, CEO says

U.S.-based video services like Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube TV and Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Channels are “looking hard at Canada right now,” said Corus Entertainment Inc. CEO Doug Murphy at a telecom and media investors conference on Wednesday. “They're going to go direct to those targets that perhaps we aren't getting today,” said Murphy to the audience at the Scotiabank TMT Conference, where he declined to comment on rumours of Shaw Communications Inc. divesting its stake in the broadcast and media company. “The cord nevers, the digital natives, the millennials, the college students who are accustomed to consuming video online.” Launched last year, the streaming services offer live TV over the internet, no cable subscription required. Murphy explained those services offer promise. “We may very well be able to get to that piece of the market. Without having to build a tech stack, without having to make the investments in marketing,” if these services pick up Corus’ channels. But he said that the company isn’t interested in launching its own subscription over-the-top (OTT) product, citing the high churn rate of today’s subscription services, as well as the high costs of competing with Netflix Inc. for content distribution rights. Before it was purchased by Corus, Shaw Media was a partner in the Shomi OTT service, which was shut down in 2016. That’s not to say it won’t take advantage of the evolving market. Murphy expanded on the production company’s ad tech efforts. He used the example of a partnership with Rogers Communication Inc. which dynamically inserts ads into on-demand viewings of Corus’ content. Instead of the usual 44 minutes of content, 12 of ads and four of promotion, “there's only six and a half minutes of non-content. Four is ad units, two and a half is promo spots,” Murphy said. “Our advertisers love it because there's less clutter, and our viewers love it because there's less commercials and it's an emerging ad revenue stream.” Murphy said he sees potential in postal-code-level ad targeting in upcoming platforms like Rogers’ Ignite TV IPTV service. Also speaking at the conference was Rogers’ CFO Tony Staffieri, who provided details about the soft launch of Ignite TV to select customers. According to Staffieri, 5,000 employees have tested the platform internally and the company will be monitoring those select customers’ installation and set up experience. After the general roll out of Ignite TV is underway, Staffieri told the audience Rogers will introduce other home products from the Comcast X1 platform. He said the deployment of the xFinity xFi mesh Wi-Fi system and the xFinity Home security systems will keep Rogers services in people’s homes, competing with other providers’ fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) products. “We do view as anchoring the home — centred around best internet, and that competitive advantage we have.” said Staffieri. “Even in the event when our competitor is able to offer fibre to the home.” Similarly, Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is in the midst of developing its own X1-based platform, which Quebecor CFO Jean‐François Pruneau said was on time and on budget. Although, he said the Quebec-based media company was faced with a unique challenge. “Our biggest work to be done, is on the deep French. We need to translate everything,” said Pruneau. Pruneau said that Quebecor hopes to learn from the launch of Comcast’s system in the U.S., as well as the other Canadian licensers, Rogers and Shaw. — With reporting by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Live TV streaming services opportunity for Corus, CEO says

Broadcast | June 13, 2018

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Live TV streaming services opportunity for Corus, CEO says

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