SINGAPORE – The g​lobal pay-TV market added nearly 47 million subscribers in 2012 reaching a total of 864 million subscribers, according to ABI Research, a provider of in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity. “The growth in satellite, cable, and IPTV markets was strong, although digital terrestrial TV growth was flat in 2012. ABI Research expects that the pay-TV market will continue to grow in 2013 to reach 907 million subscribers,” said [...]

Verizon and AMC Networks have struck a new retransmission fee agreement for FiOS TV, avoiding any potential service blackouts. While networks like AMC have been trying to scare customers into calling their provider to avoid blackouts during fee negotiations, AMC recently took things one step further and started trying to scare FiOS customers before negotiations really even began. “AMC Networks has agreed to an agreement with Verizon that is both reasonable and in our FiOS [...]

DALLAS, TX — Low ARPUs, growing competitive threats, and rival multiscreen services are driving many pay-TV providers in Europe and Asia to explore new business strategies in video services, according to international research firm Parks Associates. “TV Everywhere: Growth, Solutions, and Strategies — Europe and Asia/Pacific,” a new report from Parks Associates, indicates multiscreen services now reach 66 percent of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe, 21 percent in Eastern Europe, and 9 percent in Asia, [...]

Apple CEO Tim Cook this week poured some additional gasoline on the never-ending rumors of an Apple television, even though those rumors never appear to materialize. “When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook said in an interview with NBC on the company’s plans to manufacture some computers in the States. “It’s an area of intense [...]

Verizon is the latest to file for a patent that would allow the company to use set top cameras and microphones to monitor your living room, all so they can send you more targeted advertisements. We’ve already seen similar patents from Microsoft and Comcast, with the idea raising eyebrows due to intrusiveness and potential privacy violations. Verizon’s new patent for set top box technology (full patent application here) appears to take things even further, using [...]

BOSTON — Many operators see the proliferation of OTT as a threat to their established IPTV business models. They fear that OTT will subvert their role in the pay-TV value chain and cannibalize revenue. Not according to Pyramid Research’s new report, “OTT Growth Sparks Innovation Multiscreen Video Business Models.” “We’ve found that the opposite is just as likely to be true,” says Pyramid analyst Daniele Tricarico. “We argue that OTT is serving as an innovation [...]

London, UK — Over 220 million Smart TV sets will be sold worldwide in 2017, up from the 54 million that will be sold in 2012, according to the latest Smart TV device forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, a provider of business intelligence to the global telecom industry. Thirty-one percent of households worldwide will own at least one Smart TV in five years time, according to Informa, with household penetration much higher in North [...]

Yet another retransmission fee dispute has bubbled up from the pay TV business underbelly, this time impacting Verizon FiOS customers. AMC Networks, who only just settled an ugly fee argument with Dish Networks, is wasting no time getting ugly with their upcoming rate negotiations with Verizon. AMC is running new TV ads and has posted a detail-free new website that warns Verizon FiOS customers that they may lose AMC channels if Verizon doesn’t pony up [...]

A Peek at TV s Future, Via Google Fiber allthingsd.com BitTorrent seeks broadcasters to help develop live streaming tool siliconrepublic.com Samsung accuses iPad mini of patent infringement in latest legal salvo theverge.com Megaupload Assisted U.S. Prosecution of Smaller File-Sharing Service wired.com One week left before US faces clamp down on piracy theregister.co.uk Expose Blatant Security Hole From AT&T… Face Five Years In Jail techdirt.com Amid surging interest, tablets set to outsell notebook computers during holidays [...]

CAMPBELL, CA – By 2016 satellite TV revenue will overtake cable TV revenue for the first time, according to Infonetics Research, whose November 2012 Pay TV Services and Subscribers report has just been released. The report forecasts and analyzes the telco Internet protocol television (IPTV), cable video, and satellite video services markets. “Ongoing challenging economic conditions in the key revenue-generating markets of North America and Western Europe have resulted in slowing subscriber and revenue growth [...]