Online Video: YouTube Targets "TV" – Roku's 15M Downloads – HBOGo's Missing

Google's YouTube boosted its movie rental service with 3K new titles ranging from oldies like "Caddyshack" to the latest such as "The King's Speech" and "Despicable Me."  YouTube CEO Salar Kamanger bragged (somewhat elliptically) that the service is on its way to supplanting TV and promised "We’ll ensure that YouTube remains the best place for the world to see and discover rich talent.”  

Noted BTIG's Richard Greenfield, "We believe video is a category that Google wants to 'win.'"  And, "iVOD (interactive video on demand) is a logical step."  (For the full post go here; registration required.)  

The moves come amid widespread speculation that Google is on a downward trend as Apple bumps it from the "most valuable brand" spot globally and Facebook replaces it as the most visited site in the the U.S.

In other news from online:  Roku says its Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc. enabled service has delivered 15M channel downloads to more than 1M viewers.  The co says it will reach 3M customers by year's end. --- Cox officially launched its TV Online product, via cox.com/tv.  The site offers programming from Turner Broadcasting, HBO and Cinemax, Epix, Vutopia and Hulu (with programming from ABC, NBC and Fox).  thePlatform is providing back-end video management for the service. --- TWC, Bright House and Verizon FiOS subscribers can now get the WatchESPN apps via the Google Android. --- TWC and Cablevision are still among the unsigned for  HBO's HBOGo portal.  That, as the WSJ notes, puts some major markets in the missing column.•

Comcastic Rate Battles, Self-Install and NBC RSNs

We're getting lots of Comcastic news these past few days as, in short order:

    • Comcast defended its rates in the city of Boston whose mayor, Thomas Menino, has asked the FCC to restore the city's control over the price of basic cable.  In fact, Boston.com points out,  Comcast's basic cable rates ($15.80/month) are the lowest town ...

    • Comcast's much anticipated triple play self-install kits came out with a $9.95 shipping and handling charge.  That's v. average installation fees of $50 to $60, which could represent a some very nice truck roll savings for the cable giant.

    • NBC Sports guy Dick Eberson told the NHL's Gary Bettman that Comcast's regional sports nets will soon be branded with the NBC name.  (Actually that happened a few weeks ago but hey, it's worth a mention ....)•

Etc: Disney Misses - Football Fade? – Microsoft's $8.5B to "Do More" – DISH Adds GSN HD

Trends:  Is football fading?  Maybe a little and not just because of owners v. players, yes-we-can-hold-this-multibillion-dollar-business-hostage battle.  Now comes an Adweek/Harris Poll that finds nearly one in five (19%) consumers saying they'll likely watch less football in the upcoming (maybe) season.  Only 4% said they'll watch more. ---  The latest from Rentrak shows VOD usage on a strong upward trend with users averaging 17.1 transactions month in 2010 and movies on demand up 9.1% to accrue almost $1B in revenue.  --- Not such great news on the consumer front as the Consumer Reports Sentiment Index has dropped from 50.2 to 45.7 across the past month, indicating gloomy outlooks on a par with one year ago.

Deals:  As it has in most of its eight years, Skype lost money last year ($7M on operating profits of $264M) ... but that didn't prevent hungry (and maybe desperate) giant Microsoft from from striking a deal to buy the company for $8.5B.  The deal will allow Microsoft to "do more things," said CEO Steve Ballmer.  Hmmm. --- Motorola Mobility has acquired SunUp Digital Systems, a software provider for video services across multiple screens. 

SkyREPORT:  LightSquared boosted Inmarsat finances with a $40M payment to help speed Inmarsat's efforts to make its L-band spectrum available for LightSquared's planned terrestrial/sat system.  ---  Intelsat reported 1Q11 results with revenues of $640.2 million up 3% y/y and a net loss ($215.6M) resulting partly from a non-cash charge for early extinguishment of debt.  The company launched two satellites across 4Q10 and 1Q11 and plans to launch an additional seven satellites through 2012.  --- Eutelsat reported its third quarter revenue growth of 10% to €295.2M ($424.7M) with video applications accounting for more than two thirds of that.  

Programming:  Multiple camera angles are available via AT&T U-verse's Chicago Cubs Multiview app, letting viewers across the country choose from the main WGN America game broadcast and six alternate camera angles.  The service was soft launched last year in Chicago. --- Go figure dept:  GSN HD has its first satellite launch via DISH ... the net is majority owned by DIRECTV. 

Analyze This: Disney reported after the Bell ... and seemed to slink to a corner as it missed consensus by a knockout or two ... Citi's Jason Bazinet reports: "EPS of $0.49 missed consensus of $0.56 and our $0.54 estimate. EPS miss driven by: 1) Soft results of Mars Needs Moms / Key Pixar DVD releases, 2) Easter calendar shift negatively impacted Parks, 3) Japan earthquake which impacted Parks and Consumer and 4) Interactive impacted by purchase accounting charges related to the Playdom acquisition; collectively, these items negatively impacted EPS by $0.06."

Analyze This Redux (in case you missed it from The Evening BRIDGE): Pace says the tsunami aftermath has hurt its supply chain and impacted profit. --- E. W. Scripps 1Q11 results of $180M reflected a decrease of about 2% and the company sold off its United Media Licensing for $175M in cash.  Of interest, the company renewed affiliation agreements with ABC and NBC ... without any network compensation revenues and a new licensing fee as the broadcast landscape continues to shift.  Revenue from retrans was +47% to $4M.

Get tomorrow's headlines today:  The Evening BRIDGE ... every weekday, after the Bell.•