DTG Summit 2024: key takeaways

Source: Digital TV Group

This year’s DTG Summit which took place earlier this week in London, gathered a large turnout of attendees to hear panel sessions from industry representatives across NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, SkyShowtime, among more, as well as a keynote from the UK media minister.

The well-attended annual event kicked off with a speech from Julia Lopez, minister for the department of culture, media and sport. The MP revealed the government will remain committed to the future of DTT until 2034, with IPTV to be become a significant factor of how television will be distributed in the future.

During her keynote Lopez said, as part of the transition from DTT to IPTV, viewers can expect, “many more programmes, broadcast in ultra high definition, more features, better accessibility, greater personalisation, and almost limitless choice, both live and on-demand.”

The minister said the government will look at the evidence, along with a report from Ofcom, with the move “not just a simple dichotomy between DTT and IPTV – but the potential to enable audiences to choose between multiple competing platforms.”

DTVE reported earlier today that Ofcom had warned that DTT will reach a ‘tipping point’, with broadcasters believing it would no longer be a viable option for TV distribution.

Amongst other news out of DTG Summit, Lopez announced the government’s plans to update its communications laws for the first time in two decades, along with the creation of a new Video-on-demand Code, through the recently introduced Media Bill.

At the heart of the her message was the preservation of UK broadcasters, even praising ITV for its audience protection measures. The MP addressed the challenges meet by broadcasters to deliver a well-rounded innovative product, that serves “an ever wide variety in the ways we watch TV,” within a rapidly evolving market.

She also made point to concerns of “outdated and inconsistent” regulation regimes of TV operators, most specifically the lack of regulation of streaming platforms operating in the UK.

“We are pressing ahead with the pro-competitive interventions in both our Digital Markets and Media Bills,” she said. “And we will continue to champion, in particular, the vital role that our public service broadcasters play in bringing high quality public service content to our screens.”

Streaming strategies

SkyShowtime’s chief executive officer Monty Sarhan shared the company’s strategy behind the recent launch of its ad-supported subscription plan. 

The chief of the Comcast and Paramount Global’s European joint venture, explained they took a different approach compared to its competitors, with its ad-tier rolled out across all of its 22 markets.

“We did it across all of our markets…because we believe strongly in giving all consumers across all of our markets an affordable way to stream it,” said Sarhan. “There are people who are going to be fine with a great price point and then have an ad-supported experience, and there are people who want a more premium experience without ads.

The SkyShowtime boss highlighted the company aims to offer a diverse range of its product to consumers as it scales its audience.

“We have plans everywhere, but we’re trying different things in different markets,” he added. “That’s the great thing about having the diversity of markets, some smaller than others, is that you get to try different things and learn.”

Leah Hooper-Rosa, EVP of EMEA Streaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, also used the event to underline the company’s ambitions behind the European roll-out of its combined streaming service Max. It came following the news during the week that WBD will launch Max in European markets this summer.

The WBD exec described the launch as two of its products and a breadth of its content coming together, with already a large subscriber base for both of its brands HBO Max and discovery+ in the region

The Max Basic with Ads plan will be available first in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Romania, Poland, France and Belgium before expanding to others.

According to Hooper-Rosa, it is a move by the media and entertainment giant, “where we have the ability to be able to drive different segments with different price points.”

Nonetheless, much of the the conversations at the event dedicated to streaming and the move of TV to online, with companies such as Comcast-owned NBCUniversal remains steadfast in its commitment to linear TV.

Hendrik McDermott, managing director of EMEA Networks, Hayu & International Direct-to-Consumer at NBCU, said the company has no plans to exit the linear TV business despite an “inevitable.. shift towards streaming in the future.”

The NBCU exec stressed that linear TV is still a huge core part of the business, with it still attracting large audiences. He stated the company was rather focused on creating a “balance” between iits streaming and linear TV buisness.

“The linear component of our business is a lot more resource intensive and more capital intensive. So in order to pivot for the sort of future we could have, we have to streamline that,” he said.

However, one thing event speakers did agree on is that technology will be the driving force on the path to an all-streaming future of TV, with industry execs urging the importance of leveraging navigation tools, metadata, voice controlled search to improve content discoverability.

As Lopez said during her speech at the DTG Summit, “if leveraged properly and responsibly, new technology offers us the opportunity to take our creativity to the next level – to make things that used to be difficult and frustrating so easy, and the impossible possible. The UK has the chance to be at the forefront of this technological revolution.”