Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

DirecTV is making an Android-powered streaming box. What gives?

“If (AT&T) had a box that came in at $35 or under, consumers would be interested,” Brett Sappington told me. He’s the senior director of research at Parks Associates, which pays extremely close attention to the over-the-top (OTT) — meaning Internet-based TV — space. “They’d buy it just to see if it worked.”

Sappington reasons that a new streaming box isn’t dead on arrival, so long as it has a stellar user interface, is feature-rich, is open to all TV app developers and is relatively cheap. An existing DirecTV Now customer, for instance, may be compelled to test out the company’s box if it promises better streaming performance — say, no buffering during any live streams — and comes with some sort of service-plus-box deal.

From the article "DirecTV is making an Android-powered streaming box. What gives?" by Jennifer Van Grove.

Previously In The News

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) Apple TV Is Back In The Game

A report just released by Parks Associates says that Apple TV sales in the U.S. increased by a whopping 50% in 2015 compared to 2014. That's the largest gain of any of the big players and brought AAPL...

Cirrent Launches Automatic Internet Connection Service For Smart Wi-Fi Products

Many connected products have security weaknesses that leave home Wi-Fi networks vulnerable to being hacked. In fact, 47% of households with broadband Wi-Fi express privacy or security concerns about a...

Study: Spanish-Speaking Subs More Likely To Pay For TV

“While pay TV penetration has declined among U.S. broadband households, adoption has remained steady among Spanish-preferred and bilingual households over the past few years,” Brett Sappington, Parks...

SVOD MARKET: Survival of the Fittest

Perhaps the bigger surprise is that more haven’t exited the market — yet. “We’re finding that there are many services that are … getting enough subscribers just to be able to be sustainable,” Brett Sa...