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The card's 3% rewards rate on transit-related spending is matched by some other cards, including the Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card. But its 6% bonus rate on select U.S. streaming services leads the industry, according to U.S. News data. Qualifying streaming services include Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, NBA League Pass and Pandora. Since 2016, households have spent an average of less than $8 a month on streaming services, according to data from market research firm Parks As ...read more

BRETT SAPPINGTON, DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PARKS ASSOCIATES, DALLAS:

"If you're AT&T, who do you want to include in your own skinny bundle? The channels you own. This means if you're a small content network, you have less negotiating power, because the bundler owns its own content."

Sappington added that without conditions, AT&T doesn't have to guarantee anything other than its promise that it will play nice with other distributors and content providers.

Naturally, the primary growth will come from the international segment of the business – where NFLX continues to invest heavily.

"Netflix has vowed to invest over $1.75 billion into more than 90 European productions, including licensed content, co-productions, and original productions, which should help its competitive positioning in the growing European over-the-top market," says Glenn Hower, senior research analyst at Parks Associates.

"As it closes in on the 100-milli ...read more

Glenn Hower, an analyst at the Parks Associates market research firm, says the growth of social media is also driving news groups to generate "clickbait" stories and increase opinion-based programming about extreme conservatism or liberalism that gets audiences engaged, angry or involved online.

"With the media moving toward this interactive, reaction-based journalism model this election cycle is probably everything they could have wanted with its over-the-top candidates," H ...read more

“The news channels have always seen their revenue driven by major news events, many of which are unplanned, but elections are an exception because they are predictable,” Baine says. “This year, the cast of characters is very interesting and I think that there is a lot of interest from the general public in the debates and the upcoming elections.”

It is possible that Trump’s absence from the latest Fox News debate could not deter viewers who have a broader interest in the ele ...read more

"A couple of new studies project similar numbers for the expected boom in Internet video over the next few years. Parks Associates says consumer spending on broadband video will grow from about $1 billion this year to about $6 billion in 2013.

Parks' analyst, Kurt Scherf, says studios are sold on Internet video. "Hollywood has discovered that online video distribution provides more upside to their businesses than risk," Scherf says. If he's right, and the studios open the spig ...read more

"A study from Parks Associates says that a 10-megabit connection is needed to stream HD content and that only about 9 million U.S. homes would qualify this year.

But that number should leap to 33 million homes by 2012, says the report by Yuanzhe Michael Cai at Parks."

From the blog, "33 Million U.S. Homes Could Stream HD by 2012," by David LaGesse

Some big retailers, including Netflix, Blockbuster, and even Wal-Mart, meanwhile, are experimenting with their own downloading services. "Vudu's service is in many respects a little better than others," says Kurt Scherf, a market analyst with Parks Associates. But it's risky, he adds, spending hundreds of dollars just to enter a fast-changing bazaar.

From the article "Vudu Offers Movie Downloads to Your TV," by David LaGesse.