An Ignoble Experiment

2. Time Warner Cable, L.A. Lakers sued by Spanish-language announcer

A high-profile voice in the pay-TV programming arena chimed in on Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) proposed $45 million purchase of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).

Speaking at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said he and his team are still studying the proposed merger, but it "raises some real issues."

Zaslav suggested that the also-recently-proposed acquisition of DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) by AT&T (NYSE: T) will complicate the regulatory process for Comcast and TWC, delaying the latter's regulatory decision to the first or second quarter of 2015. Original projections had the regulatory process finishing by the end of this year.

Among other topics broached in a wide-ranging discussion by Zaslav, which was webcast and viewed by a number of outlets, including the Hollywood Reporter, the top Discovery exec highlighted a program licensing deal with Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) that will kick in later this year. He also noted Discovery's upcoming upfront negotiations with advertisers.

"We have some real momentum," he said, while referring to the recent ratings success of Discovery channels including TLC.

For more:
- read this Hollywood Reporter story

Read more about: Comcast
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By Daniel Frankel

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3. Study says 84% of cord cutters are happy, but questions remain

The hits just keep on coming in the Los Angeles sports market for Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).

Ratings were down nearly 50 percent for the company's L.A. Lakers regional sports network, SportsNet. And despite a huge investment in Dodgers channel SportsNet LA, TWC hasn't been able to reach a carriage deal in the market with any of its competitors.

And now this: Longtime Lakers Spanish-language announcer Fernando Gonzalez is suing the NBA team and Time Warner Cable for $1 million, claiming he was "treated differently and less favorable than his Anglo-American counterparts in terms of wages, hours and conditions of employment."

The suit, which was obtained by Deadline Hollywood and filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, is available here.

Besides the cable company being named as defendants, so are individual executives--Pablo Urquiza, VP of programming for TWC, and Mark Shuken, senior VP and GM for TWC Sports Regional Networks.

As for TWC's other troubles in the market, negotiations for SportsNet LA carriage with DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV)--the other major pay TV service in the L.A. market--have cooled, with no deal appearing nearly two months into the Major League Baseball season.

The Lakers, meanwhile, fell to seventh in the National Basketball Association's player draft lottery. This likely means that a dynamic young talent won't join the team for next season, sparking wins and audience ratings.

For more:
- read this Deadline Hollywood story
- see the lawsuit

By Daniel Frankel

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4. Canada's Rogers embarks on major restructuring initiative

Another day, another ominous media consumption story suggesting consumers are about to ditch pay TV in droves.

Research group nScreenMedia, which partnered with Troubadour Research & Consulting to put together the "View My Video: Consumer Digital Media Consumption" report, said that 84 percent of 1,000 surveyed broadband users who have cancelled pay-TV services in the last two years are pleased with their decision, and 37 percent are so satisfied that they'll never go back. (The report is available here through a brief free subscription process.)

About 17 percent of the consumers polled said they once had pay-TV services but got rid of them, while 10 percent said they have never subscribed. Around 74 percent of the survey group currently has a pay-TV subscription.

So who are these people? How old are they? Were they ever avid TV watchers? What are their general interests? And perhaps most importantly, how many would not be pay-TV subscribers, regardless as to whether they had online video alternatives? The research company says they were drawn from a community of approximately 10 million U.S. panelists, with the survey data weighted to accurately reflect gender and age of U.S. broadband consumers.

We can infer that the 17 percent who defected the pay-TV realm aren't avid sports watchers, with only 9 percent of that group indicating to nScreenMedia that they miss pay-TV sports channels. And we can assume that a good chunk of them just aren't dyed-in-the-wool TV watchers to begin with--29 percent of defectors said they don't miss any TV of any kind. And only 12 percent miss first-run network programming.

Among the 74 percent of survey participants who have pay TV, they use their cable, satellite or telco programming service about 2.6 times more than they do online video, with pay-TV consumption averaging around 13 hours per week.

As for online video consumption, 92 percent identified YouTube as the online video source they most watch. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was second at 52 percent.

For more:
- read this report
- read this Multichannel News story

Read more about: cord cutters, Pay Tv
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By Daniel Frankel

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5. Vubiquity buys VOD content and services provider FlexFilm Movies

Nearly five months into the CEO tenure of Guy Laurence, Canadian IPTV and communications services provider Rogers Communications has announced broad restructuring intended to improve customer service and spur company growth.

Reporting flat revenue of around $3.02 billion for 2013, the initiative, dubbed "Rogers 3.0," is based on feedback from investors, subscribers and the company's nearly 11,000 employees.

Under the plan, Rogers will separate its customer and business enterprise units, with all customer service functions tied into one team that will report to Laurence.

Rob Bruce, president of Rogers Wireless, will leave the company, staying on through 2014 to help Laurence with the transition.

Here's the new management structure, as obtained by Multichannel News:

Consumer Business Unit: Rob Bruce, President;
Enterprise Business Unit: Larry Baldachin, President;
Media Business Unit: Keith Pelley, President;
Customer Experience: Mike Adams,
Chief Customer Officer; Brand Management: Dale Hooper,
Chief Brand Officer; Strategy, Wholesale & Development: Frank Boulben;
Chief Strategy Officer; Corporate Affairs: Phil Lind, EVP Regulatory and Vice Chairman;
Legal: David Miller, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary;
Human Resources: Jim Reid, Chief Human Resources Officer;
Finance: Tony Staffieri, Chief Financial Officer;
Information Technology: Linda Jojo, Chief Information Officer;
Network: Bob Berner, Chief Technology Officer.

For more:
- read this Multichannel News story
- read this Rapid TV News story
- read this Digital Home story

By Daniel Frankel

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