At the Streaming Media East show, taking place next week in NYC, speakers from Roku, LG, Epix, and A&E Networks will discuss the growth and evolution of TV as an app, including the key platforms, the key market segments, and implications for the relationship between consumers, TV brands, and their traditional pay TV distribution partners. Enabled by app stores and supported by TV Everywhere authentication, TV brands can distribute their own apps to deliver first-run content to more platforms than ever. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Joel Espelien, Senior Analyst, TDG
• Seth Metsch, VP, Digital Media Counsel, A+E Networks
• Emil Rensing, Chief Digital Officer, EPIX
• Matthew Durgin, Director, Smart TV Content, LG Electronics
• Scott Rosenberg, VP, Business Development, Content & Services, Roku

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of 100DR, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $695 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes and all the networking events, at no charge. #smeast

I’m pleased to announce that Bob Toohey, President of Verizon Digital Media Services and Jason Burgess Software and Systems Architect at Comcast, will both keynote next week’s Content Delivery Summit. Taking place Monday May 12th in NYC, the event brings together carriers, telcos, ISPs, premium content owners and vendors for a detailed look at the technology and platforms being used to deliver and accelerate web content.

This one day event is the place to meet those who are building out some of the largest public and private CDN deployments to date. Netflix, Google, Comcast, Verizon, Viacom, Yahoo, Amazon, MLB and a host of the leading vendors and new startups who want to disrupt the industry will all be there.

If you want to learn more about the CDN market, the Content Delivery Summit is the place to be. Register with the discount code of 100DR and get a ticket for only $395.

At the Streaming Media East show next week, you can get hands-on with 50 of today’s leading streaming boxes and smart TVs, testing nearly every OTT content platform available in the market. If you’ve ever wanted to compare OTT services and devices, side by side, in a real-world setting, the Streaming Media East show is the place to do it – for free.

Attendees will have the opportunity to test content platforms and hardware from:

Attendees who visit the pavilion will also receive a chart that gives the specs of each streaming device, and lists which content platforms they support. A digital copy of the chart can also be viewed at www.streamingmediadevices.com

Register online for an exhibits pass using the code DR100 and you’ll have FREE access to the streaming devices pavilion, keynotes, networking events and exhibit floor.

I’m pleased to announced that Rick Cordella, SVP & GM of Digital Media for NBC Sports Group will be the keynote speaker on day two of the Streaming Media East show, taking place May 13-14th in NYC. This past February, viewers consumed NBC Sports Group’s Winter Olympic digital offerings in record numbers: 61.8 million unique users consumed 1.6 billion minutes across all digital platforms. The Total Audience Measurement Index (TAMi) measured how people consumed the Olympic content of NBCUniversal’s Winter Olympics multi-platform programming, which featured an unprecedented 1,000+ hours of digital coverage.

In his keynote, Rick will analyze the findings around how consumers are using technology, how digital engagement drives television viewership, and how media consumption changes from the previous Winter Games. Register online for an exhibits pass using the code DR100 and you’ll have FREE access to the keynotes.

There’s been many arguments by Netflix and others as to why their recent interconnect deal with Comcast is bad for them and for the rest of the market. Some have suggested that when Netflix’s contract with Comcast is up, Comcast will do a bait and switch and raise prices. Others have said that Netflix has to pay more to Comcast than it was costing them to buy transit from Cogent and other transit providers. The reality is, Netflix’s deal with Comcast, which is for more than five years, gives Netflix competitive advantages that no other OTT service provider has.

Imagine having a business where you know your fixed cost of delivery for more than the next five years. You can estimate what your costs will be and plan accordingly, even as your business grows. Based on a recent survey I just completed of more than 700 broadcast, media and entertainment customers that use third party CDNs to deliver video, the average length of contract was under two years. Netflix’s is more than 3x that.

While some want to debate whether or not it’s cheaper for Netflix to go direct to Comcast as opposed to using transit providers like Cogent, it’s not debatable. Netflix’s deal with Comcast is cheaper. Netflix knows it and won’t deny it. In fact, some money managers on Wall Street and others have told me that Netflix is quietly telling them that their deal with Comcast deal is cheaper. By going direct to Comcast, Netflix locked in their costs for more than five years and at the same time, locked in a guaranteed level of QoS with Comcast. I’m not talking prioritization of their packets, that’s not taking place, but Netflix does have an install SLA, packet loss SLA and latency SLA from Comcast, which guarantees quality. This is very different from what Netflix was getting from Cogent because Comcast is providing fully dedicated capacity, unlike sending it through someone like Cogent where those connections are potentially over-subscribed if a transit provider over-sells their capacity, which Cogent has a history of doing. So Netflix now pays less by going to Comcast, and gets better quality.

Can you think of any other OTT service in the market that wouldn’t like to have their costs and quality locked in for more than the next five years, for 1/3 of their customers? Of course not. And even though Netflix is against the Comcast and TWC merger, that deal helps Netflix even more. Netflix’s deal with Comcast covers any other companies Comcast might acquire. So all of the TWC customers that Comcast would get, if the deal goes through, would also fall under Netflix’s contract. Add in the recent deal Comcast just did with Verizon, (6.1M subs) whose contract is also for a long time and if the Comcast and TWC merger goes through, Netflix just locked in their delivery costs and quality for roughly 37% of all broadband subscribers in the U.S. This allows Netflix to spend less on delivery, increase their quality, reduce churn do to streaming issues, and has a direct and positive impact on their bottom line. Show me any company that wouldn’t want this, or feel it’s an advantage.

With all of these benefits to Netflix’s business, this raises the question of why Netflix is out in the market complaining, when it’s actually good for their bottom line and for their customers? Only Netflix truly knows what their strategy is, but I can take a pretty good guess. Even if what you are paying for now is cheaper than what it was before, nothing is better than free. If you can use the media and the public to try to get something for free and no longer have to pay for it, Netflix probably feels like they don’t lose anything by trying.

I find it very interesting that while Level 3 has also been on Netflix’s side regarding how interconnections should work, at no time has Level 3 said they should get it for free. In fact, during Level 3’s original peering dispute with Comcast, and the brief they filed with the FCC last month, Level 3 didn’t say they wanted it for “free”, just that they wanted “commercially reasonable terms”. I have yet to see Netflix asking for what they consider to be fair terms or a lower cost, they are simply saying they don’t want to have to pay anything. There is nothing logical or reasonable about their argument, especially when Netflix gets so many business benefits from their deals with Comcast and Verizon, as does their subscribers.

If Netflix simply wants peering for free, that actually hurts their business. There are no guarantees of capacity, install and performance when it’s free. So Netflix can advocate all they want for it to be free, but if it was, no one would be bound to anything in a free peering relationship and you lose certainty. Maybe all of Netflix’s arguments are intended to achieve some other objective because if you took away the deal they have with Comcast and Verizon, Netflix’s costs and their customers are worse off.

As you can imagine, the appropriate government authorities have subpoenaed the documents pertaining to Netflix’s deal with Comcast, which I’m sure will come up on the hearing on May 8th. So while many have said that there is no transparency when it comes to these deals, the government authorities do know the terms.

Related Posts

– Here’s How The Comcast & Netflix Deal Is Structured, With Data & Numbers

– Inside The Netflix/Comcast Deal and What The Media Is Getting Very Wrong

– Netflix & Level 3 Only Telling Half The Story, Won’t Detail What Changes They Want To Net Neutrality

– Netflix’s Arguments Against The Proposed Comcast & TWC Merger Aren’t Valid

– My Latest Thoughts On The FCC’s Statements and The Netflix/Comcast Dispute

Earlier in the week, I was asked by the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, to be a witness at the upcoming Comcast & Time Warner Cable merger hearing, taking place on May 8th. The invite was for me to give details and background on interconnect agreements and how they work. A few people in the industry heard I turned down the request and wanted to know why, considering how much I have been writing on the topic as of late. I think it’s a fair question for them to ask, so I wanted to put it on record as to why I had to decline the invite.

While I would have liked to have testified, the timing simply didn’t work out. The date of the hearing is only two days before I pack up and leave for my CDN Summit and Streaming Media East conferences in NYC, which requires a lot of work. I made a commitment to those events first, not to mention all of the vendors, speakers and attendees that attend, to whom I have a commitment to produce the best show possible. It would have been nice to have done both, but I simply can’t get it all done in the allotted time. In addition to my oral testimony, I would have had to provide a detailed and in-depth written statement, with only six days to get it done, based on the timing of my invite. That leaves little time to prepare something that would have been rushed, which is not the kind of work I want to produce.

Some have said I am crazy not to do it based on the exposure it would get me, but I don’t select which jobs I take on based on the exposure. If I write something that a lot of people read, or do a presentation at an event that people find useful, that’s great. But I’m of the firm belief that picking and choosing which jobs you take on, simply based on how many people might see you, means you are putting your ego first, which to me, isn’t the right reason to do it.

I do realize that it is an honor to have been asked and I thank them for the opportunity. I take my commitment to the industry very seriously and will do everything I can to try to help educate others, when it is within my means to do so.

On Monday May 12th, at the Streaming Media East show in NYC, Jan Ozer will be teaching a hands-on webcasting production workshop. Learn everything you need to know about webcasting from choosing the right gear and selecting a webcasting platform, to alternatives for delivering the encoded stream to the streaming server. This two-part hands-on workshop will help give you the skills you need to execute your live events as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Tickets are only $395. Topics that will be covered include:

• learn the nuts and bolts of production
• how to select the right gear
• setting up lighting
• streaming, planning, and implementation
• choosing a webcast platform
• video encoding and optimization
• choosing a live streaming encoder
• bandwidth requirements

Attendees will leave this workshop knowing the gear they need to produce a high quality live event and receive planning and implementation checklists that will help you execute your events as smoothly and efficiently as possible. You won’t get a full day of instructional information like this anywhere else in the industry, let alone for $395. We’ve kept the price down to keep it affordable for everyone, so sign up now before all the space is gone.