Pay-TV Providers Get Picky About Their Customers

By SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN - Updated May 9, 2013, 7:22 p.m. ET

Faced with rising programming costs, pay-TV providers are getting pickier about the customers they want to keep.

Quarterly results from Dish Network Corp. DISH -2.04% Thursday, as well asComcast Corp., CMCSA -0.73% Charter Communications CHTR +0.08% andDirecTV DTV +1.74% in the past week or so, show that pay-TV companies are focusing more on holding on to the subscribers that generate the most revenue and profit, even if that means letting less-valuable customers fall to the wayside. Each of the companies reported higher video revenue, thanks in part to rate increases, despite lower subscriber numbers. 

News Corp. Earnings: Profit Jumps, Helped by Cable Networks

By Amol Sharma - Updated May 8, 2013, 6:43 p.m. ET

News Corp NWSA -1.03% .'s profit tripled in the quarter ended March 31, boosted by one-time gains and better results from its cable networks segment.

Meanwhile the publishing unit, to be spun off as a separate company in coming weeks, posted sharply lower operating income.

The media company posted net income of $2.85 billion, or $1.22 a share, up from $937 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue grew 14% to $9.54 billion.

Men’s Final Four Is Moving to TBS

By AMOL SHARMA

Turner Broadcasting System Inc.'s TBS cable network next year will begin showing later rounds of the U.S. men's college basketball tournament, including the semifinals known as the "Final Four," as part of a new arrangement with CBS Corp.CBS +1.02% to divide up coverage in coming years.

Time Warner Inc.'s TWX +1.43% Turner and CBS have been jointly telecasting the 67-game National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament since 2011. Turner, whose networks have shown only games from the first three rounds thus far, will show half of the quarterfinal games and both Final Four games on TBS in 2014 and 2015; CBS will continue to broadcast the National Championship game in those years. 

Is TV Everywhere going nowhere?

John Ourand, Sports Media 
Published May 6, 2013

Is TV Everywhere on track to become one of the biggest media-industry busts?

Nobody is ready to call it a failure just yet. But network executives have not been shy in expressing frustration with the slow pace of adoption for the concept, which essentially allows subscribers to stream TV channels to any device.

The cable industry has been talking about this concept for four years or more. Cable operators viewed TV Everywhere as an enticement to keep subscribers from cutting the cord — only authenticated cable subscribers would have access to TV Everywhere streams.

By 2013, watching cable channels on iPhones was supposed to be as easy as watching them on big-screen TVs.


It’s not.

ACC Moves Ahead on Plans for TV Network

By Michael Smith & John Ourand, Staff Writers
Published May 6, 2013

ACC executives kept close tabs on Atlanta last Thursday, when rival conference SEC and ESPN announced their new network, scheduled to launch next year.

Thanks, in part, to a new grant-of-rights agreement from its 15 member schools that gives it a new level of security, ACC executives negotiated a new media rights deal with ESPN that conference executives say will be among the richest for all college conferences. 

Now, ACC officials are turning their attention to launching their own league-branded network, joining the ranks of the Big Ten, Pac-12 and, now, SEC as conferences that own channels. 

Twitter Tug-of-War Between FOX Sports Wisconsin & FOX Sports Florida

Round one of the NBA playoffs between the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat have come and gone, but some interesting social media stats have since surfaced.

FOX Sports Wisconsin and FOX Sports Florida teamed up to test the Mass Relevance platform in an effort to capitalize social media interaction during the playoffs.

A Twitter “tug-of-war” was created and fans were encouraged  to tweet their support using #BeatHeat or #BeatBucks. The model provided some interesting stats for the two regional sports networks:

·         Direct correlation between social interaction and network promotion

·         Notable social impression numbers produced using variety of multi-media platforms

Additional stats outlined below:

Must-see hockey: Penguins among top-rated sports teams since ’97

Are this year’s Pittsburgh Penguins about to join the ranks of the most-watched American sportsteams?

Heading into their final regular-season games last week, the Penguins were on pace to post the highest average RSN rating for any U.S.-based MLB, NBA or NHL team since 2002. Penguins games on Root Sports were averaging a 12.56 Nielsen rating in the Pittsburgh market, a mark that would be the highest RSN rating for any U.S.-based NHL team on record.