Tag Archives: Claire Atkinson

Apple explores ‘special occasion’ TV streaming

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Perhaps Apple Inc. is considering mood TV in the same way Apple Music offers up tunes for certain occasions. Apple could want to package aggregated niche services targeted at, say, animal lovers or car enthusiasts. – Claire Atkinson, New York Post

Free streaming is smallest slice of music revenue pie

The major record labels reaped a combined $295 million in revenue from free ad-supported streaming services in 2014, up 34 percent from the previous year, new figures show. Despite the double-digit growth, the freemium model remains the smallest slice of the nearly $2 billion streaming pie, according to a report from the Recording Industry Association of America. […] The number of US paid subscriptions rose to 7.7 million in 2014, up from 6.2 million, and still a fraction of the 115 million households in the US. – Claire Atkinson, New York Post
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Amazon plans a streaming-video alternative

[Amazon.com] will roll out a new ad-supported streaming offering early next year that will be separate from its $99-a-year Prime membership, which includes a video service, sources said. The ad-supported option — part of an overhaul of its media offerings — poses a serious challenge to streaming rivals such as Hulu and Netflix, analysts said. […] For advertisers, the service could be the Holy Grail in terms of targeting . In theory, Amazon could tell if ads viewed online led to purchases on its retail site. – Claire Atkinson,New York Post 
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Media companies miss ad dollars after signing streaming deals

Viacom executives bemoaned the lack of a credible ratings agency to measure viewers streaming their programs via Netflix or Amazon — but it was these same executives who signed the deals and welcomed the revenue from the streaming companies in the first place. The financial and ratings wounds, it would appear, are at least somewhat self-inflicted. […] Some analysts pointed out that wide availability of content online via Netflix and Amazon.com and other services hurts TV ratings. – Claire Atkinson,New York Post
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Jimmy Iovine gets pushback over Beats Music streaming plan

[Jimmy Iovine], who earlier this year sold the popular Beats headphones brand along with its sister music service to Apple for $3 billion, is attempting to steer the industry away from free streaming services in favor of lower-priced paid subscriptions, sources said. Iovine is getting plenty of pushback, however. […] Iovine — like other long-time recording execs — is no fan of Spotify, Pandora and other free ad-supported services that dominate the industry. While they are fast-growing, the money they generate for the labels is still a trickle. […] Although Pandora and Spotify pay just fractions of pennies to the labels each time a song is streamed, they represent the only area of growth in an industry plagued by piracy and slumping sales. What’s more, they share a cut of the ad revenue with the labels. – Claire Atkinson, New York Post  
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Sony sets high price bar for Web TV

The Japanese media and electronics giant is set to launch the service before year’s end as a way to goose sales of its Web-connected TV sets during the crucial holiday season. […] One source told The Post that the price would be around the $80 mark, while a second person said, “We hear its going to be competitive with a traditional basic cable package at between $60 to $65.” […] Sony last month revealed a big deal with Viacom to carry 22 of its channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. It has also held talks with FOX and Disney. “They had huge ambitions of breaking up the bundle and being the champion of the consumer, but they’ve had no success in doing that and they’re licking their wounds,” said one source. – Claire Atkinson,New York Post