Digging Deeper Into Verizon/Redbox

While Redbox was busy announcing it had teamed up with Verizon for a fight with Netflix, the kiosk operator's parent company Coinstar also posted its fourth quarter financials from 2011. Part of the company's Q4 results included revealing news that Coinstar is paying up to $100M for the assets of NCR - operator of the Blockbuster Express DVD kiosks.

For starters, the NCR deal includes the company's kiosks, retailer contracts, complete DVD inventory and "a strategic supplier arrangement" for additional product and services. The move is telling as not only will the purchase eliminate Redbox's only DVD kiosk rival, but it may signal DISH's dwindling support for the Blockbuster brand.

Through a variety of announcements, observers say DISH has systematically backed-off its Blockbuster commitment. Consumers eager for a Netflix competitor were disappointed when DISH launched a streaming service only for its own subscribers (not the public), and the satcaster has since announced it will continue to shutter under-performing Blockbuster stores.

DISH CEO Joe Clayton recently said plans for a national streaming service are "on hold." Coupled with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saying DVD rentals were expected to decline from now until "forever," the NCR purchase would leave Coinstar's Redbox as the only DVD player left.

With Verizon's support (and DISH's apparent reluctance to enter the market), the Verizon/Redbox partnership could well create the streaming service consumers were hoping to get from DISH. While the jury's still out on Verizon's "virtual MSO" plans, the strategy is ripe to produce a legitimate streaming competitor to battle with the once-infallable Netflix.

What the service will look like remains to be seen, but reports have surfaced that Redbox recently filed a trademark application for the brand name Redbox Instant and purchased the domain name RedboxInstant.com. Stay tuned... •

Details on Apple TV

Apple TV fervor reached new heights this week on news that Best Buy had circulated a consumer survey detailing a 42" Apple-branded HDTV for $1,500. Probably unaware of the survey's impact, the big-box retailer was forced to release a statement Tuesday that said any reference to an Apple HDTV was "hypothetical." (For more on Best Buy's statement, click here.)

However, news from sources not-named Best Buy seem to point in a different direction.

First, Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek said Apple is sitting on a product called iTV that will enable the company to leverage user-generated content from iPads and iPhones into more of a "YouTube-like model." The analyst gave no time table for such a product launch but he did reiterate a 'buy' rating on Apple stock.

Second comes word from HuffPost that said Apple is in talks with Canada's two biggest telecom companies about becoming partners in the iTV's launch. Citing unnamed sources, local Canadian reports suggest Rogers Communications and BCE (parent of Bell Canada) are already testing the device in their labs. Details here. •

Etc.: Comcast/TWC Funding NY Mets? - NY Official Seeks Forced Arbitration - CableLabs Progress on VOD Ad Tech

Strategy: The NYT is reporting both Comcast and Time Warner Cable are preparing an investment of $80M in the NY Mets via regional sports net SNY. Read more. --- As first reported in Tuesday's Evening BRIDGE, Univision and Disney are working on an English-language 24-hour cable news channel aimed at Latinos. Reports say the net could launch before the November presidential election. Details here.

Rules & Regs: NY State Senator Mark Grisanti is proposing a change to public service law that would require cable companies to "negotiate fairly" in carriage agreements and - more importantly - when an agreement can't be reached that the two sides enter into arbitration. If passed, the rule change would force both parties to the table for negotiations and, theoretically keep disputes from reaching consumers (e.g. MSG v. Time Warner Cable). --- LightSquared asked the FCC to develop receiver reliability standards for unlicensed GPS devices to ensure performance reliably and take into account licensed users in nearby bands. While the company's request is specifically focused on commercial GPS receivers designed to receive signals in the 1559-1610 MHz band, company officials said the standards would "create a level playing field across the entire U.S. spectrum." --- Utah regulators have proposed a $6.6M tax rebate that would give cable subs a $3-$4 break on their monthly bills. The proposal is aimed at creating parity among fees paid by cable and satellite subs. Details here.

In Court: A federal lawsuit filed in Massachusetts could test the question of whether individuals who leave their wireless networks unsecured can be held liable if someone uses the network to illegally download copyrighted content. ComputerWorld has the story.

IPO: BrightCove set its IPO terms to 5 million common shares being offered at between $10 and $12 per share reflecting an initial market cap of ~$290M. The company also reported a $17.6M net loss for 2011 on ~$63M in revenue. BrightCove plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol BCOV, with Morgan Stanley and Stifel Nicolaus Weisel serving as co-lead underwriters.

QRs: Belo posted its Q411 results Tuesday with total revenue of $180M, a 13% y/y decrease of $26M. The company said its "double-digit percentage increase" in retrans revenue was offset by lower network compensation. Belo posted net earnings of $.29 per share, as compared to $.38 last year. --- Rentrak reported its fiscal Q3 results Tuesday with consolidated revenues of $22.2M, down from $23.7M the year before. The firm posted a net loss of $1.9M ($.18 per share) as compared to a net loss of $473K ($.04 per share) last year.

WebTV: Users said they had problems with NBC's Super Bowl stream. NBC says it was a success. Media Decoder has the net's side of the story.

Advertising: CableLabs held an advertising interoperability event for cable VOD platforms with Canoe Ventures showing its national ad insertion technology for suppliers. Other participants included Avail-TVN, BlackArrow, Harris Corp., Nagra-OpenTV, SeaChange and This Technology. The interop produced a slew of positive results in support of next-gen ad technology for VOD platforms... Read all about it CableLabs.

Programming: WealthTV will air a boxing card highlighting a main event of undefeated WBC lightweight contenders Chirs "Hurricane" Howard (14-0) vs. Arash Usnamee (16-0) on March 17. Other fights on the card feature former Nigerian Olympian Olanrewaju Durodola and a co-main event title fight for the IBS Jr. National cruiserweight belt. --- NatGeo Channel will air a U.S.-made documentary about the Italian cruise ship disaster on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 7pm. --- BounceTV, the OTA net aimed at black Americans signed new licensing agreements with Warner Bros. and Paramount for access to the studios' "African American-skewing" movie titles.

Research: According to Parks Associates, the percentage of U.S. gamers who regularly download games or gaming apps to their mobile devices increased from 7% in 2008 to 18% in 2011. The firm says among tablet owners, 71% of adults and 79% of teens play games on the device at least one hour per month. "This growth of mobile gaming is expanding the revenue stream for Facebook games, where gamers already spend $29 per month, and free-to-play games, where gamers spend $21 per month to purchase virtual goods and upgrades," PA says.

Online: IAC is reportedly shopping Vimeo for an estimated $50M. Pando Daily says the company wants to keep a 50% controlling stake.

SkyREPORT: Industry Canada officially approved the transfer of TerreStar's Canadian spectrum licenses to DISH. All that remains for DISH's takeover of Terrestar and DBSD licenses is FCC approval and associated waiver requests. DISH heads were happy, saying the company believes "immediate Commission approval will be a win for consumers, competition, infrastructure investment, and American jobs.” --- The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) testified to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs about reforming current U.S. export control policies for the satellite sector. In her testimony, SIA President Patricia Cooper urged Congress to "restore the Executive Branch's authority to regulate satellites, as they do every other U.S. technology." She said satellites provides critical support for our nation's defense and high-tech industries while driving innovation and investment. --- Euroconsult says with the value of satellite capacity leasing growing at an annual rate of 7% during the next 10 years, bandwidth for FSS services will be worth nearly $15B by 2020. The firm says the MSS market will grow at nearly 13% per year, from 2.4M terminals in service in 2010 in 7.8M by 2020.

Mobile: Reports say 75% of tweets during the Super Bowl were about the commercials. Only 2% were about the game itself... --- AT&T launched an "enhanced" app iPad app for U-verse with extra content, remote control functionality, advanced search, recommendations and Facebook integration. --- The surge in mobile software has led to a surge in jobs, says TechNet, as the "app economy" has generated nearly .5M employment opportunities in the U.S. since 2007. CNet has details.

Over, Up & Under: HBO has invested $10.7M for a 15.7% stake in Australian online DVD rental and video streaming firm Quickflix. The investment follows Quickflix's recent licensing agreement with HBO for the streaming of TV series and films in Australia. --- Nick Jr. is debuting in Israel this week to ~900K HHs on HOT cable systems. --- Local reports say Viacom International Media Networks is working with Russian pay-TV providers MTS and Akado to launch a Russian-version of Comedy Central. --- BroadbandTV News says the French competition authority l'Autorité de la concurrence has told Canal+ that it's not happy about the company dropping TPS Star. At stake is Canal's merger with TPS as the company had committed to maintain the station on its DTH satellite platform. --- Rogers is launching its Rogers One Number service that allows Canadians to extend a Rogers wireless number to their computer for text, talk and video chat.

Kudos: The full list of the "Top 50 Most Generous of 2011" includes familiar names: #17 - H. F. (Gerry) and Marguerite Lenfest (he's also being inducted into this year's Cable Center Cable TV Hall of Fame); #28 - Dr. John C. Malone; and #33 - Gustave and Rita Hauser. --- The National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) named Verizon to the org's Top 50 companies for executive women.

People: Univision added Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Grupo Televisa President Jose Baston Patino to its board. The company also named Cristina Schwarz as new VP of programming and production for Univision Cable Networks. --- Dealb%k is reporting that several directors at Yahoo! are leaving the company. Chairman Roy Bostock is stepping down from the board, while long-time directors Gary Wilson, Vyomesh Joshi and Arthur Kern will not stand for re-election. --- Nine-year NATPE President & CEO Rick Feldman is moving from his current post to a 3-year consultancy with the organization.

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •