Internet-protocol TV distribution could be a big asset to multicultural programmers, but networks in that category still see their relationships with pay TV providers as bedrock to build their businesses on. At an INTX breakfast session about multicultural TV, Asia TV senior VP, distribution and affiliate marketing, Nick Febrizio said IPTV add-on packages can help past a distributor’s bandwidth dilemma.
It’s an opportunity to take the network-distributor partnership to a new level, was his view. “I might have 40 of the greatest channels,” he said, but there’s no way that distributors are going to risk 40 channels to find out. That changes with IPTV extensions. “Once the bandwidth issue goes away, all of the barriers can go,” Febrizio, a veteran of A&E and Olympusat before Asia TV, said. Asia TV prefers the business-to-business model over the business-to-consumer play, he said.
DirecTV went the IPTV route recently with Ya Veo, a Hispanic package distributed over the top, and Emma Brackett, VP of content and programming at the satellite-TV provider, said the trick now is learning the right marketing mix to reach Hispanic consumers with the $7.99 monthly package. “We’re trying to figure that out,” she said.
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