OTT Plans Proliferate As Angst Level Rises

摘要

January has already featured a near-record flurry of over-the-top-viewing talk, at least judging by recent headlines emanating from CES and TCA. NATPE, unfolding this week in Miami, figures to be no different. From the show's Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards (see special section beginning after page 10), which will honor Netflix's Ted Sarandos, to panels boasting speakers from a host of new and long-standing players, not to mention business conversations up and down Miami Beach, the beguiling, bedeviling OTT acronym will be on the lips of many. Some execs may not especially want to address the topic, but they have little choice. The television industry they entered as a newbie out of college, let alone what existed two or three years ago, has utterly metamorphosed as a tidal wave of content proliferates across platforms. Under the watchful eyes of the multichannel video programming distributors, the TV community and the ever-curious press, execs have had to establish a position that is with-it and tech-savvy while being bottom-line oriented and respectful of traditional distribution partners. Sometimes, the strain of that balancing act is evident.