February 18, 2014

Comcast’s proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner would provide the type of scale that cable networks must compete against broadcasters to make content available across television, cellphones, tablets and desktops.

Comcast is understood for pushing the envelope with different digital and mobile initiatives, and the merger with Time Warner could help the corporate reach a significantly bigger group of customers to distribute these products to. Mutually that Comcast desires to gain the higher hand in TV broadcasting with the Time Warner acquisition, networks also are racing to develop their very own mobile services that with compelling content to lure consumers clear of using the services from the 

“Certainly, TV Everywhere services are growing and being deployed more widely with more content and so one can be a significant piece of content delivery for Comcast and Time Warner Cable,” said Jason Blackwell, director of merchant strategies at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA.

“Comcast is without doubt one of the most innovative and technologically advanced cable operators with its deployments of X1 and now X2, along side advanced gateways and user interfaces,” he said.

“So, mobile delivery of content is a vital element of that company’s strategy. As companies like Comcast have spent quite a lot of money developing its platform, the greater scale of more subscribers and more devices can help to spread those costs.”   

Mobile streaming grows
Comcast’s Time Warner Cable merger would give the cable giant a reach of 33 million cable subscribers, nearly all of whom even have broadband — or digital — services.

Comcast has 20 million broadband customers, and 10 million of Time Warner’s 11 million customers sign up for broadband services.

The broadband side of industrial is a bright spot for cable networks with more and more subscribers and high margins.

By specializing in this increasing broadband business, Time Warner and Comcast might be able to justify the prices in delivering high bandwidth broadband services, in keeping with Mr. Blackwell.

Comcast’s benefit within the deal is more subscribers so as to lead be capable of get more out of mobile and digital investments since they’ll reach more consumers.

One of Comcast’s apps

Time Warner customers in spite of this could be ready to access many of the unique products that Comcast have been rolling out for quite it slow, including the X1 set top box and on-demand and cross-platform video Comcast streampix service.

According to Brett Sappington, director of analysis at Parks Associates, Rockville, MD, Comcast is getting cloud-based services, including store and video conferencing, right with digital, which era Warner can even take pleasure in.

Growing broadcast initiatives
The possible new reach of Time Warner and Comcast could give the pay TV providers – or cable companies – an initial leg up over broadcasters since all the main broadcasters have their very own mobile apps and it’s likely easier to distribute one app from a cable company to consumers.

However, the content throughout the cable companies’ mobile apps tends to be more utility-driven and therefore is probably not used as frequently because the content within a broadcaster’s app.

Take the Olympics, for instance.

NBC’s Sports Live Extra app lets consumers watch the Olympics in real-time and hooked up push notifications to be alerted when a specific event is ready to begin.

This app-exclusive content is a compelling reason behind a shopper to download an app, but will likely not be used after the Olympics end.

To keep this momentum going, broadcasters ought to develop apps that transcend topical content to construct long-term engagement.

Over the past year, ABC, CBS and NBC have all bumped up their investments in mobile apps and streaming services to get closer consumers who’re increasingly watching TV and content on whatever device is nearby to them at any point in the course of the day.

Cable companies’ mobile apps typically include program guides and the power to remotely install recordings.

Regardless of which kind of app consumers use, the info that both cable companies and broadcasters collecting from these apps would be critical in determining which one ultimately wins the television Everywhere industry through advertising, per Mr. Sappington.

“For pay TV providers, they’re interested by delivering services over all types of devices as a way to keep their customers and keep them happy,” Mr. Sappington said.

“For content companies and broadcasters, they’re taken with audience, and audience and subscribers are subtly different,” he said. “As a CBS or a broadcaster, i would like as many eyeballs on my content for advertising purposes, but additionally to make that content really valuable, in order that they have a true interest in – irrespective of what pay TV does – of creating sure that their apps and other things in the market really allow that audience to construct around those valuable brands.”

“The broadcasters and content companies have a bonus by way of creating compelling apps which have interesting content because they’re content companies, and they’re used to doing that. The Pay TV folks are good at creating an interface with the intention to access content, but they’re not so good at creating content itself.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter at Mobile Marketer, New York