Replacing pay-TV won’t save costs, claims Barclays

Aereo, the broadcast TV stream service which allows users to watch and record channels with a DVR interface has been criticised by Barclays media analyst Anthony DiClemente.

Available exclusively within New York City, TV channels with a DVR interface are able to be streamed to tablets, notebooks and over-the-top boxes, at the cost of $12 per month.

Having been sued by major TV networks and New York-based stations, DiClemente doesn’t believe switching a cable pay-TV subscription with Aereo’s over-the-top services would result in a significant saving.

It is merely “one more over-the-top distributor. In our view, dropping cable TV in favour of a bunch of over-the-top alternatives may not result in as many incremental savings as one might initially think,” said DiClemente.

This is due to the fact that cable TV is often bundled with broadband internet, and separating these would cause the cost of internet to increase.

Meanwhile, an over-the-top package including Aereo could cost around $30 per month ($12 for broadcast TV and around $18 for film purchases and usage of a VoD service), which doesn’t compare favourably with a pay TV package at around $40.

To read the full Advanced Television article, click here.