Winfrey has quickly put his own stamp on Charter. The morning after the unprecedented Disney blackout, he led an investor webcast complete with a PowerPoint presentation that laid out how the negotiation represented an opportunity to establish a new hybrid linear and direct-to-consumer video model. Winfrey has clearly established himself as a leader not afraid to challenge the status quo, loudly declaring to all programmers that Charter customers won’t pay twice for content as programmers build out streaming offerings.
Winfrey has quickly put his own stamp on Charter. The morning after the unprecedented Disney blackout, he led an investor webcast complete with a PowerPoint presentation that laid out how the negotiation represented an opportunity to establish a new hybrid linear and direct-to-consumer video model. Winfrey has clearly established himself as a leader not afraid to challenge the status quo, loudly declaring to all programmers that Charter customers won’t pay twice for content as programmers build out streaming offerings.
What emerging industry trend are you most excited by? The convergence of wireline and wireless connectivity combined with the network advances bringing symmetrical and multi-gig speeds. Together, those two advancements will lead to the next round of product innovation, as cable’s scaled and uniquely capable platform is fully deployed nationwide. Ubiquitous high bandwidth, and seamless and low latency connectivity will spur a level of advancement similar to what we saw when cable first led true broadband deployment. From promises of Augmented Reality and AI to the next generation of immersive gaming and entertainment, we have yet to conceive all the ways this level of advanced connectivity will change the world around us. Just like high-speed internet led to the creation of new businesses and even industries, today we are providing the building blocks of something even greater for tomorrow.
Was Charter’s Disney deal precedent setting? It is certainly precedent setting for Charter. We created a glide path to bridge from linear video into new growth with both linear and DTC services. Today, Disney Plus and ESPN+ are available to Spectrum video customers at no additional cost, and ViX, a Spanish-language DTC product, will be available at no extra cost for certain Spectrum TV customers later this year. We established a new hybrid distribution model for Charter which is good for consumers, and we believe a significant step forward for the video ecosystem. We plan to modernize all our distribution agreements upon renewal. That means packaging flexibility and value and not asking customers, or Charter, to pay twice for similar DTC and linear programming.
Do you personally still have a traditional cable video package? Yes, while programmers have made packages expensive, I believe there is still no greater value in the video marketplace than the traditional cable video package – and we are working to make that service more valuable. Spectrum provides customers a variety of flexible and tailored video packages to meet our customers varied needs, our Select packages provide access to both linear and DTC services, the Spectrum TV App is the highest-rated pay TV streaming App in the US, and Xumo enables our customers to have seamless access to all those products on a single platform with advanced search and a voice enabled remote. And if programmers make their product available with better content, features or pricing directly to consumers, we are well positioned to distribute those products to our customers instead, whatever creates the most benefit for our broadband customers.
