The Interactive Advertising Bureau said 56 percent of U.S. adults own a smart TV. Fifty-four percent of time spent watching TV is dedicated to viewing something other than traditional linear content, IAB reported Wednesday, based on a survey of 802 U.S. online adults March 17-24. The largest share of nonlinear viewing time is spent streaming digital video, 20 percent, DVR-recorded content at 15 percent, VOD at 6 percent and downloaded video, 5 percent. ABI Research reported linear 24/7 streaming video services including DirecTV Now and YouTube TV are boosting uptake of streaming media devices, projected to reach 56 million global shipments in 2022. By then, all streaming video players will be 4K, up from 35 percent of North America shipments forecast for this year, said analyst Sam Rosen. “Video streaming services are increasingly becoming a replacement alternative" for traditional pay-TV services as operators partner with third-party over-the-top players or offer stand-alone streaming services, such as Dish Networks’ Sling TV, said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn.

Disney still plans to launch an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service for live sports with BAMTech by year-end, but it’s “premature” to discuss what the service will look like, CEO Bob Iger said on an earnings call on which he took many questions about recent layoffs of on-air talent at ESPN. The cuts were “not all that significant when you consider that ESPN has 8,000 employees,” he said. The company eliminated 100 positions. Disney will continue “to be aggressive at buying live sports rights, which have not gotten cheaper, we understand, but they have gotten more valuable,” Iger said. “New entrants into the marketplace like Amazon and the talk of others like Facebook only prove the point that we just made, that live sports is important to new digital platforms, and live sports is important to anyone who is trying to reach consumers in the media business.” Disney paid $1 billion for 33 percent of BAMTech (see 1608100024). While “it's possible” that the ESPN-branded service will feature an “omnibus sports, multiple sports package” offering, “it's more likely that consumers will have an opportunity to buy the sports they want when they want it as well,” the CEO said. The ESPN layoffs point to automation as the way of the future for sports TV content, said The Diffusion Group Senior Adviser Joel Espelien in a blog post Tuesday. Pointing to the automation of FM radio DJ work, TDG said sports leagues are ahead of ESPN in providing highlight clips and short-form video in near-real time. It said BAMTech provides nearly real-time highlights from clips lifted from the traditional TV feed, while NFL.com does similarly during regular season games: "Automation is here to stay in the sports TV business, and more humans will see their jobs replaced by code."

The skinny bundle in the U.S. "is a fiction" for now, though an $8-$12 monthly package will be offered at some point, akin to what's available in other markets internationally, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said in an analyst call Tuesday. So-called skinny bundle offerings in the U.S., with prices closer to $40 monthly, are "overstuffed turkeys." He said subscription VOD offerings like Netflix and Amazon Prime are effective, but "we as an industry need to complement that with a quality offering ... that's a true skinny bundle in the spirit of what's working around the world, and I think that'll happen." Discovery said Q1 revenue was $1.6 billion, up 3 percent due to gains in global distribution sales and progress in expanding digital and direct-to-consumer businesses. Zaslav said since the start of the year, the company has expanded its Amazon SVOD channels partnership and Eurosport Player streaming service and entered into a number of new digital partnerships, including creation of a streaming over-the-top service in Europe.

Comcast unveiled the xFi experience Monday, a platform controllable by mobile app, website, TV or the X1 voice remote, that’s designed to simplify home Wi-Fi networks as they become more advanced and handle more devices. With Comcast’s investment in Plume, the platform will get a boost later this year from Plume’s Adaptive WiFi technology that uses pods around the home to maximize Wi-Fi in a “self-optimizing” mesh network that’s said to adapt to a household in real time to ensure fast speeds, the company said. Chris Satchell, chief product officer-Comcast Cable, in a blog post compared the xFi to the rollout of the X1 platform. Later this year, release of “zero-configuration” xFi Wi-Fi Pods from Plume will allow Xfinity customers to create “seamless Wi-Fi for any size or shape home” by plugging pods into power outlets around the home, said Satchell. The ISP said in 2017, 86 percent of in-home broadband use will travel over Wi-Fi, and by 2020, Americans will have an average of 50 Wi-Fi connected devices in their homes.

The over-the-top industry has been its own enemy in facilitating TV Everywhere, but reaching every device "is about to get simpler" with Google's Widevine, Adobe's Primetime and now Microsoft adding cyber block chaining (CBC) support, said Irdeto Perspective Product Manager Rodrigo Fernandes in a blog post Friday. Irdeto said the problem started with digital rights management fragmentation, with the various forms of DRM supporting different media containers. Current MPEG dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP and common media application formats are largely agnostic, but encryption of them for pay services is complicated by the multiple encryption technologies available, it said. The increasingly universal cyber block chaining support means one encrypted stream will cover all devices, ending duplicated content delivery network costs, it said.

Universal Electronics will supply next-generation remote controls to some 140 million pay-TV subscribers into next year, said CEO Paul Arling on the company’s Q1 earnings call Thursday. Such remotes lead to higher MVPD engagement with users plus financial and other benefits, he said. Revenue in Q1 rose 7.1 percent to $161.4 million from the year-ago quarter, with Comcast revenue up by about that percentage, the company said. Universal warned of lower Q2 guidance as a large customer “burns through inventory of the company's old product” before transitioning to the next Universal remote platform. Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel cited “a material up-tick in customer churn” in the subscription-video industry, a loss of 762,000 subscriptions marking its “worst quarter ever,” and said the threat of cord-cutting is driving the next-generation user experiences being rolled out by virtually every participant in the industry. The next-gen gear switch has had "fits and starts,” he said. The stock closed 5.9 percent down Friday at $64.15.

Scripps Networks Interactive will begin producing shows for Snapchat's Discover platform, the programmer said in a news release Thursday. The deal including HGTV and Food Network builds on a previous arrangement where Food Network was one of the first publishers on Discover at its 2015 launch, and has been creating Publisher Stores for the platform since then, it said.

Pressures on the pay-TV sector show cord-cutting and cord-nevering are accelerating, while advertising dollars increasingly are shifting to mobile, BTIG Research analyst Rich Greenfield wrote Wednesday. He said MVPDs appear to have lost at least 450,000 subscribers in what is traditionally a seasonally strong quarter, and that loss comes even as virtual MVPDs added more than 300,000 subscribers. "Scary when you think about a seasonally weak Q2" and the launch of more virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu Live, he said.

Best Buy and Vivint Smart Home are expanding their partnership on an in-store smart home initiative to launch this summer in more than 400 stores, they announced Thursday. Feedback from pilots in 23 stores in Detroit and San Antonio is “overwhelmingly positive,” emailed a Best Buy spokeswoman, saying the expansion includes Best Buy’s Geek Squad staff. This brings Vivint much-needed visibility to compete with security companies such as ADT plus MVPDs, Imperial Capital analyst Saliq Khan told us. As AT&T and Comcast boosted efforts in the smart home, do-it-yourself has started to slow down, he said. “The likes of Vivint, ADT and Moni Security have to find ways to become more relevant."

TiVo is banking on pay-TV renewal business and “significant incremental opportunity” with over-the-top video providers to drive growth, CEO Tom Carson said on a Q1 earnings call, citing increasing video consumption and distribution channel growth. TiVo’s core pay-TV business is “healthy” due to long-term licensing and product deals with most operators, positioning the company to work with new entrants launching similar services, Carson said. Q1 revenue was $206 million, vs. $118 million in the year-ago quarter, benefiting from the acquisition of TiVo Solutions Inc. in Q3, the company reported Wednesday. Net loss was $35 million, vs. an $18 million net loss a year earlier. It expects a wider 2017 loss on one basis than previously forecast. The company's stock ended the day down 7.5 percent at $17.95.