Connected consumer third-quarter 2013: analysis and outlook

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. Retransmission collision
  3. Shifting consumers
  4. A GPS for the digital living room
  5. Putting readers first
  6. Twitter gets ready for its close-up
  7. Near-term outlook
  8. Key takeaways
  9. About Paul Sweeting

1. Summary

From retransmission consent to TV ad budgets to time shifting and place shifting, the digital living room was fiercely contested ground during the third quarter. The period also saw a potentially game-changing acquisition in the newspaper business.

Among the highlights from the quarter:

  • CBS and Time Warner Cable faced off in a high-profile battle over retransmission consent and TV Everywhere rights, prompting angry responses from Congress and the FCC. Whether regulators are prepared to change the rules of the TV distribution game is not yet clear.
  • While CBS won its battle with TWC, the networks had a rough quarter in court, where several rulings involving time-shifting and place-shifting tools went against them.
  • Amazon joined Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others in the race to connect mobile devices to the TV with the release of the Kindle Fire HDX, which has the ability to fling content from the tablet to the TV screen.
  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos acquired the Washington Post for $250 million, unleashing a torrent of speculation over whether the online retailer can save the newspaper business.
  • As it prepared to go public, Twitter unveiled a series of big-name advertising deals in partnership with CBS and the NFL.

Source: flickr user espensorvik

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