Customers are starting to see the NBC effect on Comcast

Customers are starting to see the NBC

effect on Comcast

26 October 2016, by Tali Arbel

Most of these types of efforts "are still in the early stages," says a Barclays report. "These businesses don't think about quarters," says Barclays' Kannan Venkateshwar. "They think in terms of years."

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THE OLYMPICS HUB

For the Rio Olympics, Comcast integrated online

streams and TV video feeds--what it said was more

than 6,000 hours of programming--into its X1 cable

box. Anyone with a cable subscription could watch

the athletes on NBC and other channels and use

NBC's sports app, but Comcast cable customers

could search for their favorite sports, athletes and In this July 23, 2015, file photo, a pedestrian walks past countries, and see medal counts, stats and athlete the Comcast building in Rockefeller Center, in New York. profiles on their TV.

Comcast reports financial results Wednesday, Oct. 26,

2016. Comcast's marriage with NBCUniversal foreshadows what can come from the kind of "vertical integration" that AT&T and Time Warner are attempting. There are potential marketplace and consumer harms, but also benefits to advertisers and subscribers. (AP

Comcast says ratings, though down overall compared to the London Games, were nearly 20 percent higher in the homes of Comcast subscribers compared than those of non-

Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

subscribers.

The company wants to build on the upgrades it

made for the Olympics. For example, it's adding

While many are skeptical of the business logic

stats, player profiles and voice commands to X1

behind AT&T's desire to buy Time Warner, a

and its voice-activated remote control tied to this

similar deal from earlier this decade, Comcast's NBA season.

marriage with NBCUniversal, foreshadows some of

the possibilities--as well as the potential

Owning video gives Comcast more rights, which

competitive and consumer harms--that could result. helps it create a tailored experience with X1 that

helps keep customers, Venkateshwar said.

Comcast's acquisition of all of NBCUniversal closed in 2013, and gave the company a big boost in its most recent quarter due to the Rio Olympics broadcast. One of the first visible examples, for customers, of these cross-company ties: Comcast took advantage of the Olympics to highlight the upgraded features of its fancy X1 cable box, which it aims to have in half its customers' homes by the end of the year.

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TV EVERYWHERE

First, a definition for a concept many have never even heard of: TV Everywhere. It's the TV industry's counter to Netflix, and allows cable subscribers to get to their channels online through cable-company apps and ones from networks--HBO

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Go and WatchESPN are popular examples.

season. Comcast has said that such "stacking" rights are very important for the industry, and NBC has gone after them.

For the 2016-17 season, Comcast says that more

than 90 percent of NBC's scripted shows will let its

subscribers watch the full lineup of the season's

episodes on demand, a higher percentage any

other broadcast network. NBC says other traditional

TV distributors--Dish, DirecTV, Charter--have those

same rights to its shows.

This June 11, 2013, file photo, shows the Comcast Corp.

logo during The Cable Show 2013 convention in

Comcast also began selling digital versions of

Washington. Comcast reports financial results

movies from its in-house Universal studio and

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Comcast's marriage with Lionsgate to its customers in November 2013 and

NBCUniversal foreshadows what can come from the kind later struck deals with other major studios. Such

of "vertical integration" that AT&T and Time Warner are attempting. There are potential marketplace and

home-entertainment sales are not a sexy business,

consumer harms, but also benefits to advertisers and but they are a major revenue source for studios.

subscribers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

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ADVERTISING

But the grand vision for TV Everywhere was never fully realized, for several reasons. Signing in to the apps, on phones and tablets, computers or streaming gadgets like Roku, could be clunky and there were roadblocks in gaining the digital rights needed to stream networks outside customers' homes.

Comcast has trumpeted its ability to promote its own products, movies and TV shows across its channels, theme parks, websites and even in its Xfinity cable stores. "You can take the entire company and get behind a movie or a television show or a new theme park attraction and we've done it time and time again," NBCUniversal CEO

Comcast, by limiting access to NBC's online

Steve Burke said at an investment conference last

Olympics feeds to people who subscribed to cable year.

or satellite TV, tried to promote TV Everywhere

while protecting its multi-billion dollar investment in For example, he said that for the 2015 blockbuster

the Olympics, said Joel Espelien, a senior analyst "Jurassic World," the company had "dinosaurs

for video research firm The Diffusion Group. "If they running across the ticker on Squawk Box" on

threw open the doors and made the Olympics free CNBC, as well as a Super Bowl spot aired on NBC.

to the web, it would have destroyed TV

The "Today Show" went to the Olympics in Rio.

Everywhere," Espelien said. Of course, that made it There's free "Xfinity" Wi-Fi at NBCUniversal theme

more difficult for people who don't subscribe to

parks--the same brand name Comcast uses for

cable to enjoy the full scope of the Olympics.

home cable and internet.

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In the past few years, it has made some "cross-

marketing" capabilities available outside the

BACK EPISODES AND MOVIE SALES

company, pitching consumer products from Microsoft and competitors' movies, like Disney's

Until recently, cable-based video-on-demand

"Frozen."

services would only store the five most recent episodes of TV shows. Now, though, the trend is The company is also working on using data toward storing all aired episodes of the most recent gleaned from cable boxes to better target

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commercials to cable customers.

? 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. APA citation: Customers are starting to see the NBC effect on Comcast (2016, October 26) retrieved 27 November 2022 from

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