Traditional pay-TV offerings will evolve to become “indistinguishable from a pure” over-the-top package of services, said ABI Research analyst Michael Inouye. Though cord cutting is often seen as “a consequence of expanding OTT consumption,” the market dynamics “are more complex,” Inouye said Tuesday, noting the pay-TV industry embraced OTT “as a complement and value-additive.” The OTT video market will top $200 billion by 2024, 90 percent fueled by subscription and advertising revenue, ABI said. The remainder will include digital purchases, electronic sell-through, rentals and transactional video on demand, Inouye emailed us. Disney Plus and Apple Plus, with aggressive pricing and packaging, plus continued expansion by long-term players in the subscription VOD market, are pushing the segment to new highs, ABI said. There are 700 million-plus OTT SVOD subscriptions and 1 billion for pay TV market.

MGM -- reportedly in talks with Netflix and Apple about being acquired -- might be a bad fit for either, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Monday. MGM's content library and production experience would be big assets for either buyer, but a deal could be a financial stretch for Netflix, and Apple/MGM could mean culture clashes between tech management and Hollywood moguls, he said.

Claiming Dish Network keeps carrying 13 of its TV stations even after the Jan. 18 expiration of a retransmission consent agreement, Terrier is suing for copyright infringement. In a complaint (docket 20-cv-00583, in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Terrier -- which in the suit said it's doing business now as Cox Media Group -- said the 13 stations were part of its 2019 takeover of Northwest Broadcasting. It said Dish received a temporary restraining order from a Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court stopping Terrier from withdrawing its signals (see 2001210056), but that order doesn't prevent it from seeking damages from copyright infringement. Terrier is seeking unspecified compensatory damages or maximum statutory damages. Dish didn't comment Monday.

NBC Olympics and Snap are continuing their Olympic partnership, connecting U.S. Snapchat users to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with customized content, they said Friday. NBC will release more than 70 episodes over four daily shows, three times the content of the 2018 Games. It will create two daily highlight shows for the messaging app that will be updated in “near-real time.”

Comcast's accelerating video subscriber losses (see 2001230008), increasing average revenue per unit being paid to video programmers and more people now subscribing to a single service than to a triple-play package in 2019 point to a more-difficult pay TV ecosphere this year, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Thursday. He said the video sub losses are likely to pick up speed further due to proliferating over-the-top services, including Comcast's Peacock service.

AT&T and a group of Sinclair broadcast sidecars disagree on the effect U.S. District Court dismissal of a the telco's complaint against a negotiator handling retransmission consent talks for a group of the sidecar stations has on the broadcasters' appeal of an FCC ruling they violated good-faith rules. AT&T had claimed breach of contract and a trade secrets violation (see 2001170038). The court decision "actually reinforces the core, undisputed fact supporting those violations" that no single offer made to AT&T would have resulted in carriage of the stations, the MVPD said in a docket 19-168 filing posted Friday. It said the court order was incorrect, but it doesn't touch on the central issue of whether the sidecars violated their good-faith negotiation obligations. No, the court decision that the sidecars were part of a single joint negotiation "fatally undermines the central premise" of the Media Bureau order, the stations said.

U.S. videogame content sales rose 2 percent in 2019 to $35.4 billion, as mobile and subscription spending helped offset "physical content and PC digital content" declines, reported the Entertainment Software Association and NPD Group on Thursday. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella cited "expanded reach and accessibility of content across a variety of platforms including console, PC, mobile and virtual reality.” ESA and NPD didn't comment on whether there's a 2020 forecast.

Sonos upset customers with plans to no longer support older products. Users blasted the company. “Your system requires attention” messages went to customers Tuesday, alerting them to the end-of-software-update status of the original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, the first-generation Play:5, CR200 and Bridge, which launched at varying dates 2006-2009. Products will no longer be supported as of May. Boycottsonos.com appeared, spelling out the manufacturer’s plans. Many took to Twitter. One user emailed CEO Patrick Spence and encouraged others to do same. Its 2018 annual report acknowledged the risk it faces with hardware outliving its useful life in the digital age, saying in the “near to intermediate term” it could discontinue support for older versions of products, “resulting in customer dissatisfaction that could negatively affect our business and operating results.” The company didn't comment Wednesday.

Netflix missed by 30 percent its target for U.S. paid net subscriber additions in Q4, the first quarter in which it faced head-to-head competition from the November launches of Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus, Netflix reported Tuesday. Netflix had 420,000 net paid U.S. adds in the quarter, compared with Oct. 16's 600,000 projection. It had 1.53 million net paid adds in the U.S. in Q4 a year earlier. It exceeded sub growth forecasts internationally, where Apple and Disney weren't a competitive factor, pulling in 8.33 million net paid adds in Q4, versus the 7 million it predicted three months ago. That outdid the 7.31 million net adds it had internationally in Q4 2018. The “low membership growth” domestically was “probably due" in part to the "US competitive launches,” said Netflix. “We are working hard to improve our service to combat these factors and push net adds higher.” It nevertheless is forecasting Q1 global paid net adds of 7 million, versus 9.6 million in Q1 2019, reflecting "the continued, slightly elevated churn levels we are seeing in the US." In the increasingly competitive landscape, “we have a big head start in streaming and will work to build on that by focusing on the same thing we have focused on for the past 22 years -- pleasing members,” it said. “We believe if we do that well, Netflix will continue to prosper.” Despite the “big debut” Q4 of Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus, “our viewing per membership grew both globally and in the US on a year over year basis, consistent with recent quarters,” it said. Netflix stock rose after regular U.S. trading, up 2.5 percent to $346.40 at 5:22 p.m.

A deaf Brooklyn resident who has sued media outlets over the past year over lack of closed-captioning for their online video streams now is targeting adult online streaming services Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn. In a class-action status-seeking complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn (in Pacer), Yaroslav Suris said lack of captioning violated the American Disabilities Act, New York Human Rights Law, New York State Civil Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law. Yaris brought similar complaints in the past year against CBS Interactive, Fox News Network, Investor's Business Daily, the Weather Channel and TMZ; all settled within months except for the Fox complaint brought in December. Yaris' counsel didn't comment Friday; Mindgeek emailed that it has closed-captioned adult videos.