Blog articles from 07/2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) offers consumers convenience, efficiency, collaboration and expanded products and services, but concerns about privacy and data security pose major challenges to the industry. Identity theft, invasive data mining, cyber-terrorism, and physical dangers from hacked devices scare consumers; the industry must safeguard consumers and the data that is an extension of them. Essentially, with big data comes big responsibility. The Internet connectivity that...

Last week, Facebook announced its foray into the world of digital personal assistants with “Moneypenny.” The name is apparently inspired by a character who plays secretary to James Bond’s boss in a number James Bond movies. Moneypenny will be integrated into Facebook’s Messenger app and is designed to help app users to research and order products online. Facebook has not yet unveiled the service and is currently testing it among members of its staff. While services...

Join Parks Associates, Ooyala, and Vindicia on July 28 for a complimentary industry webinar examining the current and future growth of the OTT market. Research director Brett Sappington will lead the discussion, presenting key findings from our OTT whitepaper series, The OTT Playbook . Parks Associates research shows 55% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to a subscription OTT video service. Netflix and other successful OTT services are growing to rival...

During the CONNECTIONS Conference in San Francisco this year, industry executives converged to learn about new initiatives, products, services, and trends affecting the smart home, entertainment, and IoT markets.  While the conference provided, as it does every year, a forum for a wide array of industry leaders to speak on the major issues and opportunities surrounding the connected home, it more importantly provided the audience -- an incredibly strong cross-section of...

Parks Associates director of research Brett Sappington provides insight and commentary on the future acquisition of DIRECTV by AT&T : The merger did not really diminish competition in the U.S. market. Approval was widely expected. The bigger impact is clearly outside of the U.S., where AT&T is now making investments to build upon DIRECTV’s existing position in Central and South America. We expect AT&T to quickly roll out new voice,...

A+E Networks is the newest player to enter the OTT video services market after announcing the launch of a Lifetime streaming-only online video service this week. The service, named the "Lifetime Movie Club," will provide access to the channel's older content for just $3.99 per month and does not require an existing pay-TV subscription. Parks Associates research cited in the Wall Street Journal shows that Lifetime's entry to the OTT market could be a challenging one....

In its  King v. Burwell decision, the Supreme Court decided on June 25, 2015, that the Federal Government can provide subsidies to qualified people who buy health insurance on the Federal exchanges in states where the state government declined to set up such an exchange. Because most ACA (Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare) requirements are interconnected, the elimination of subsidies in states that have Federally-run exchanges would have crippled the health exchange markets and let...