Report: NBC Universal Leads The TV Everywhere App Push

28 Oct, 2013 By: Chris Tribbey

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More and more TV Everywhere apps are being introduced each month, and NBC Universal is leading the charge, according to a new report from research firm IHS.

Fifteen of NBC Universal’s 18 channels now have a TV Everywhere application, and five of those offer live streaming. Coming up second is Time Warner, with nine TV Everywhere apps, three with live streaming. News Corp. and Disney each have six channels with TV Everywhere apps.

Epix (owned by Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate) and HBO lead the way with supporting TV Everywhere on the most devices.

“TV Everywhere has been developed as a collective strategy by both pay-TV operators and TV content owners to enhance the traditional linear TV proposition, so that secondary screens like tablets and smartphones can be used to view TV content in addition to the primary screen,” said Erik Brannon, analyst for U.S. cable networks at IHS. “And in spite of the differences in strategy, all TV Everywhere products have one thing in common: They allow for current pay-TV video subscribers to authenticate and consume on secondary screens a significant amount of content that they purchase as part of their normal pay-TV video subscriptions.”

HBO, Cinemax and BTN2Go (the Big Ten Network’s live streaming app) are the only ones to have TV Everywhere authentication agreements with every major American pay-TV operator, and Showtime is the only premium network offering live, linear streaming via TV Everywhere, IHS notes.

Starz and Encore were the last to launch TV Everywhere apps (October 2012) and are still looking for authentication deals with Comcast and Dish Network.

Discovery Communications is one of the last hold-outs when it comes to TV Everywhere, though IHS predicts it will join the party soon.

The report notes that 73 TV Everywhere apps are offering only VOD, compared with 31 offering live streaming.

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