Hulu's Success Pushes Cable Toward IP Video, Report Finds

The perceived threat posed by Hulu and other over-the-top Internet video providers is driving cable operators to accelerate the development of TV Everywhere, an initiative that incorporates Internet-based video with conventional TV service and that may ultimately lead to all-IP video offerings from cable MSOs, according to the latest report published by Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider (www.lightreading.com/cable), a subscription research service from TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

TV Everywhere: Can Cable Solve Its Hulu Problem? analyzes the business and technology challenges facing cable operators and their suppliers in the race to develop TV Everywhere. The report details how TV Everywhere authentication would work from a technical standpoint and the infrastructure required to support cable's increased distribution of IP video. It examines consumer online video consumption, opportunities and challenges, and the involved technologies. The report offers profiles of 12 suppliers, including providers of authentication software and cable suppliers of solutions that support IP video.

For a list of companies covered in this report, please see: http://img.lightreading.com/cii/pdf/cii1009_companies.pdf

"TV Everywhere has moved from the confines of back-office discussions to become the hottest issue in cable," notes Craig Leddy, research analyst with Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider and author of the report. "Amid the increased flow of TV programming to over-the-top Websites such as Hulu, U.S. cable operators are concerned about free consumer access to the cable programming for which they are paying a license fee."

The success of TV Everywhere will depend on a firm commitment from all of the involved players, Leddy says. "Cable operators and suppliers must continue to work together to implement hybrid solutions that support a migration to more IP video and foster an exploration of the advantages of all-IP, multi-screen delivery," he explains.

Key findings of TV Everywhere: Can Cable Solve Its Hulu Problem? include the following:

  --  TV Everywhere has become the cable industry's hottest issue, as MSOs
      and cable networks prepare to authorize access to larger amounts of
      cable programming online.
  --  While Comcast and Time Warner are engaging in trials, nearly every MSO
      is preparing an authentication strategy for over-the-top Internet
      video.
  --  TV Everywhere will serve as a catalyst for a migration to more
      IP-centric video delivery and, potentially, all-IP delivery in the
      long term.

  --  To succeed, MSOs and programmers must remain committed to tackling
      complex issues, including rights management, business models, and user
      experience.

TV Everywhere: Can Cable Solve Its Hulu Problem? is available as part of an annual subscription (six issues) to Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider, priced at $1,295. Individual reports are available for $900.

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.lightreading.com/cable. For more information about other Light Reading Insider research services, please visit: www.lightreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

  Jeff Claudino
  Director of Sales
  Insider Research Services
  619-229-9940
  claudino@lightreading.com

  Press/analyst contact:

  Dennis Mendyk
  Managing Director
  Insider Research Services
  201-587-2154
  mendyk@heavyreading.com

  About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

  * 13.3 million business decision-makers: based on # of monthly connections

  About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

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SOURCE: Light Reading's Cable Industry Insider

CONTACT: Jeff Claudino, Director of Sales, Insider Research Services,
+1-619-229-9940, claudino@lightreading.com; or Press/analyst, Dennis Mendyk,
Managing Director, Insider Research Services, +1-201-587-2154,
mendyk@heavyreading.com

Web Site: http://www.lightreading.com/