Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav yesterday said that U.S. pay TV's "reliance on full carriage of pricey sport channels was unsustainable and called for sports-free skinny bundles to reverse an industry decline." Zaslav said, "The U.S. is an overstuffed bubble and the consumer is deprived of an entry level bundle where they can get good entertainment. ... The U.S. has been overstuffed and overplayed with [retransmission consent fees] and sports, and a lot of people out there are saying enough, time's up" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 5/16).
HOT-LANTA: In Atlanta, Tim Tucker noted the Braves' local TV ratings "continue to improve as the team heads into the second quarter of the season in first place in the NL East." The Braves' series against the Marlins last week delivered the team's two highest ratings of the season in the Atlanta market -- 3.64 for Thursday's game on FS Southeast and 3.58 for Saturday's game on FS South. Through this past Sunday, the Braves are averaging a 2.61 rating in the Atlanta market, up 27% from the same point last year (MYAJC.com, 5/16).
YOU'RE LOOKING LIVE: DIGIDAY's Tim Peterson wrote the live video pendulum has "swung from Facebook back to YouTube." News publishers and gaming creators have "noticed a recent viewership surge for live videos on YouTube." Those parties seeing the trend have been "streaming live videos on YouTube for years and have not made any significant programming adjustments that would explain the uptick." Those parties noted that the viewership increases are "sizable enough to be noticeable, but not so significant as to be inexplicable." The explanation "seems to be simply that YouTube is tapping into a larger live audience at an opportune time" (DIGIDAY.com, 5/16).
