More than a quarter of direct-to-consumer video streaming services are used in more than one household, reported Leichtman Research Group Friday. Of the 27%, 13% are used and paid for by subscribers who share them with someone outside the household, and 12% are used in one household but borrowed from another household that is paying for the service, said the researcher. Some 69% are paid for and not shared with others outside the household, said LRG, while 16% of all households have at least one DTC service fully paid for by someone else. Four percent of services aren't paid for because they're included in another service, it said. Of those ages 18-34, 26% have at least one DTC service fully paid for by someone else, vs. 12% of those 35 and older. Among virtual MVPD subscribers, 77% are “very satisfied” with their service, up from 69% in 2018; 13% are very likely to switch from a vMVPD service in the next six months, vs. 27% in 2018; 18- to 44-year-olds have 63% of vMVPD subscriptions; and 20% of all vMVPD services are shared by multiple households, said LRG. Sharing of streaming services “should not solely be viewed as lost revenue, as the ability to share with others is also part of the retention strategy for the services,” said principal Bruce Leichtman.

Among predictions from a co-founder of a new prepaid virtual MVPD is that "social TV is here to stay.” Polls and memes, like so-called watch parties, are part of social TV, said Vidgo President Shane Cannon. In an increasingly crowded media segment that continues to steal share from traditional pay TV (see 2103310055), more than 120 million consumers have subscribed to skinny bundles, said Cannon, whose company provides such content. Cannon expects that number to “pick up steam” over the rest of 2021, as live TV streaming becomes “the preferred way to watch” among younger viewers who want to pick their own content. Betting via sports channels makes "a lot of sense,” Cannon said Wednesday, noting sports betting is best served on multiple devices. A top challenge for streaming services is “how to get Gen Z to pay for content,” he told a Parks Associates virtual conference: Ad-based VOD is widening the gap, giving the segment a way to get content without paying. Vidgo believes the best way to lure Gen Z is through live sports and news -- content that doesn’t get to AVOD platforms.

While growing, virtual MVPDs face some of the same challenges as their traditional pay-TV rivals, many of which are losing video subscribers, a Parks Associates webcast heard Wednesday. Rising content costs lead vMVPDs to raise prices, said Parks' Paul Erickson. By 2023, vMVPD subs will be higher than telco and satellite pay TV combined, behind cable TV, the analyst said. In a competitive sector, Erickson said vMVPDs are riding the popularity of over-the-top video services and need unique propositions amid a growing number of rivals. Churn is a major challenge for vMVPDs, which lack customer contracts, said Erickson: Subscription duration averaged a year to 15 months for Dish Network's Sling (16 months), AT&T Now (15), Alphabet's YouTubeTV (15), Disney's Hulu + Live TV (14), AT&T WatchTV (12) and T-Mobile TVision Home (8). Since Parks' survey, AT&T announced it's spinning off DirecTV (see 2103010046), and T-Mobile shut down its TVision OTT service this week, six months after launch, instead partnering with Google and making YouTubeTV its preferred live TV offering.

About half of WideOpenWest's NuLink customers in the Newnan, Georgia, area had their broadband and voice services restored after last week's tornado outside Atlanta left most without service, WOW said Tuesday. It said most NuLink customers didn't lose cable service. It said commercial power hasn't been restored in some areas, needed before NuLink services can return there.

Charter Communications would have to be more transparent about lobbying expenditures under an item up for a vote at the April 27 shareholder meeting. In an SEC filing Tuesday, Charter said the shareholder proposal was put forth by the Service Employees International Union's Benefit Plans Master Trust and would have the company disclose policies and procedures governing lobbying, as well as its membership in and payments to "tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation."

Disney+ and ESPN+ are rolling out on Comcast's X1 app and the Flex 4K streaming player. ESPN+ became available Monday on Flex via the ESPN app, with plans to launch the streaming services on X1 in the “coming weeks,” said the companies Monday.

Universal Electronics Inc. signed Instreamatic’s AI-based voice dialog marketing platform for set-top boxes and smart TVs, it said Thursday. Conversational advertisements have been largely limited to mobile; UEI wants to bring them to smart TVs and MVPDs with personalized context.

The video services market is in a “historic state of disruption and disarray,” said Parks Associates analyst Paul Erickson Thursday, saying 45% of U.S. broadband households with traditional pay-TV service are likely to switch to a virtual MVPD in the next 12 months. A Q3 Parks survey found 29% of MVPD subscribers were unhappy with the price and value of their service, and vMVPDs are targeting the segment with different bundles and value propositions, said Erickson. An “unprecedented acceleration of consumer interest in aggregators and vMVPDs” occurred in 2020, “and there’s still a lot of room to grow viewership” through content discovery, said Nic Wilson, TiVo head-customer success, who's scheduled as a panelist on Parks' virtual Parks Future of Video conference Wednesday.

Comcast agreed to modify some wireless advertising claims that were challenged by T-Mobile, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division said Thursday. NAD said Comcast's claim about possibly saving money when switching to Xfinity Mobile was reasonable, but it should disclose the basis of the claim. NAD said Comcast should modify some savings claims, and the company modified marketing about its 5G service after NAD raised the issue. Comcast didn't comment.

Comcast will target $1 billion over the next decade, including in-kind investments, toward closing the digital divide, like supporting its Lift Zone initiative of creating more than 1,000 Wi-Fi-connected community centers by year-end. It said Wednesday it will invest in grants for nonprofit community organizations and in its Internet Essentials program.