Wavefront TV’s Take: Week of 12/7

Dear friend of Wavefront TV,

With 94% of 2020 in our rearview mirror, we’re nearing the home stretch – and already we’re preparing for 2021. Historically we’ve used this space to make predictions about what we anticipate happening in the near future, so we’re going to roll out that out next week. As a teaser, expect a year of acquisitions, divestitures/shut downs, and the launch of a major new player to the TV space. 

Now on to the news: 

In the news this week: Cinedigm, Tegna, DIRECTV, AT&T, YouTube TV, Sinclair, Discovery Plus, Google.

Wavefront TV’s take: Cinedigm was early to CTV and has quietly been assembling a huge library of family-friendly content, making them a potential partner for a number of growing content brands. 

https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2020113059488/cinedigm-acquires-over-1-000-hours-of-premium-film-and-tv-programming.html

Wavefront TV’s take: Local is still a mess and still an area where we’ll see significant growth in the CTV ecosystem. 

https://www.nexttv.com/news/tegna-stations-give-directv-u-verse-battle-another-day

Wavefront TV’s take: You’re the next contestant on “CTV needs more premium content!”

https://deadline.com/2020/11/the-price-is-right-bob-barker-fremantle-pluto-tv-channel-1234635433/

Wavefront TV’s take: Europe is a huge growth opportunity and Sky is still waiting in the wings to make its’ move. 

https://advanced-television.com/2020/12/01/how-can-sky-survive-the-ott-threat/

Wavefront TV’s take: Goodbye Tennis, hello Cubs!!!

https://thestreamable.com/news/sinclair-owned-tennis-channel-dropped-by-youtube-tv

https://thestreamable.com/news/youtube-tv-will-add-nexstars-wgn-america-to-channel-lineup-in-january-2021

Wavefront TV’s take: Pluto continues to carve out its’ space as a viable free TV option: 

https://thestreamable.com/news/pluto-tv-adds-qvc-hsn-and-select-showtime-shows-to-free-streaming-service

Wavefront TV’s take: Discovery enters the fray in a big way:

https://www.nexttv.com/news/discovery-plus-to-explore-challenging-svod-biz-with-lofty-70-million-subscriber-goal

Wavefront TV’s take: This was quietly big news – Google TV aggregating the aggregators AND leaning into what Google does best: content discovery. 

https://www.nexttv.com/news/google-tv-now-able-to-aggregate-from-over-25-third-party-apps