Weekly Rewind
End of the road for SeeSo? I had high hopes for SeeSo when NBCUniversal announced the streaming service in late 2015. For $4 per month, SeeSo promised new ad-free episodes of NBC’s late night shows, a back catalog of off-beat comedy series like Kids in the Hall, and–most crucially–a growing slate of original series aimed at comedy nerds. SeeSo hinted at a future in which cord-cutters would pad out a Netflix or Hulu subscription with cheaper niche a la carte services, and there was even talk of NBC launching more of them.
But now, SeeSo itself faces an uncertain future. Evan Shapiro, the executive in charge of the service, has left the company, and Variety reports that the original series may dry up. NBCUniversal reportedly wants to focus on catering to cable and streaming bundle subscribers, with authenticated access to its programming.
As a business, SeeSo hasn’t been doing well, with a subscriber base reportedly in the “low six-figures,” but it’s hard to shake the feeling that it was on too short of a leash. These kinds of services require time, patience, money, and marketing to grow. How much of all that was NBCUniversal (and its ownership at Comcast) really willing to give?
More progress for live locals: Here’s an encouraging follow-up to my column from a couple weeks ago on why live local channels are typically not included in streaming bundles. CBS says it’s reached an agreement with its local affiliate stations to negotiate on their behalf for new streaming bundles such as YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV. ABC and NBC have reached similar agreements, and Fox is reportedly pursuing something similar. While this doesn’t mean local stations will show up in streaming bundles overnight, my sense is that these stations will become much easier to get as the year progresses.
More Catch-Up
|
