In order to adapt to the changing pay-TV landscape, operators must embrace OTT content integration with the traditional channel line-up, says ZoneTV CEO Jeff Weber. Weber made his comments at Telecompetitor’s recent broadbandTV event.
Weber, who has a long history in the video business, having run AT&T’s U-verse TV business unit at one time, stressed the ongoing shake-up in the pay TV industry as an evolution, and one that can be effectively managed. Disruption is possible, but it doesn’t have to be probable, Weber argued during a keynote address.
“It will evolve and it needs to evolve, but I think the pay-TV industry is going to be around for a long time, it offers a lot of value to consumers,” says Weber in an interview. “But the pay-TV space needs to address what consumers want.”
What they want is a combined diet of the traditional channel line-up and access to a growing library of OTT content. Operators are now challenged to integrate the two in an intuitive and discoverable way, says Weber.
ZoneTV is a content play that attempts to do just that.
“What we say to operators is consumers are watching that OTT content outside of your subscription service,” says Weber. “We work with you and we bring that content in to your programming guide, to your subscription service.”
