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Pay-TV operators are seeing a "slow erosion of the core business," analyst Brett Sappington at Parks Associates said.

"After years of attempts to be more than just a 'dumb pipe,' pay-TV operators have come to realize that a smart, flexible pipe can similarly transform their businesses," he said in a recent research note.

From the article "Merger For New Media Era Or A Bad Remake?" by www.finance.yahoo.com

"Over 70% of voice-recognition users are satisfied with the experience of using this solution on their smartphones, which is driving experimentation with this functionality on other platforms, including home assistants," said Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates.

Although the Internet of Things (IoT) is still bigger in terms of buzz than device sales beyond smart thermostats and security systems, familiarity with - and more importantly satisfaction with -- voice recogni ...read more

Netflix customers are loyal. In research published this April, analysts from Parks Associates found that Netflix subscribers were much less likely to cancel than those of Hulu or Amazon Prime Video. Only 9% of its subscriber base had canceled in the last year, Parks Associates found, compared to Hulu, which saw a full half of its current subscriber base cancel in the last year.

From the article "Netflix's Competitors Are Quickly Closing The Gap in A Crucial Area" by www.fina ...read more

Last year, a report from Parks Associates estimated the industry would lose $500 million to password sharing in 2015. This data suggests that might be a bit of an overstatement given the likelihood of getting multiple family members, especially in the same household, to subscribe to the same service. It also puts Netflix and HBO's historically lax position on password sharing into a bit of perspective.

From the article "Only 4% Of People Share Passwords For Services Like Net ...read more

“The majority is wrong to conclude that a person necessarily accesses a computer account ‘without authorization’ if he does so without the permission of the system owner,” Reinhardt wrote in his dissent. He cited examples where the ruling would make it illegal to engage in some common examples of password-sharing, such as logging in to a Facebook account on behalf of a friend or relative.

The trend of people freeloading off the Netflix or HBO passwords of paying subs has lon ...read more

Home devices will incorporate new Google virtual assistant software introduced by chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"Our ability to do conversational understanding is far ahead of what other virtual assistants can do," Pichai told a packed audience.

"We are an order of magnitude ahead of everyone else."

Home devices combine machine learning, online search, voice recognition and more to allow people to get answers to questions, manage tasks or control devices by speaking ...read more

So far, WWE has launched the 24-hour video service in 180 countries in Asia, Europe and other regions.

WWE Network had 277,000 paid international subscribers by the end of 2015, or 23% of its worldwide total. Citing Parks Associates, WWE said the network is the fifth most popular direct-to-consumer subscription service in the U.S. behind Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Hulu and MLB.TV.

From the article "WWE Ramps Up China Expansion With New Executive" by ...read more

This move brings Amazon's video service into more direct competitor with services like Netflix and Hulu.

But a little simple math shows that it actually isn't a great deal unless you plan on canceling soon. Here's the breakdown:

- Prime Video as a standalone service will cost $8.99 per month, coming out to $107.88 per year.

- The complete Prime "bundle" will cost $10.99 per month, coming out to $131.88 per year.

- Amazon Prime, the whole package, costs $99 per ye ...read more