Yesterday, I moderated a panel session about the relationship between cable and OTT providers. Along with my panel of industry experts, we debated whether or not cable and OTT providers are still the best of ‘frenemies’ or indeed, if they’re now playing together more nicely in the sandbox.

As you can imagine, there was certainly some interesting debate.

Taahir Hoorzook, Manager of Digital Distribution at Al Jazeera explained that for traditional broadcasters, OTT is “an entirely new business; it’s not just an evolution”, and admitted that the introduction of OTT is changing the way his network commissions and creates content. As he explained, “ultimately, we are producing content for audiences; if we don’t, then the people on YouTube will”.

Daniel Nordberg, Head of Content Acquisition at Opera TV, one of the newer entrants on the scene, wants to open up the home and really championed the benefit of content – and lots of it! He explained, “there’s a lot of content to be discovered and that’s what we want to open up”.

However, Michael Turner, EVP of Content and New Markets at cloud-based TV platform, Magine TV, highlighted the challenges of content discovery and having too much content: “I think you can only give people a certain amount of content”.

One of the few things the panel agreed on is the fact that the future is very much in consumers’ hands; it’s up to the audience to decide how, and when, they want to access the content they love. And it’s this shift of power that has fundamentally changed the way TV is created and distributed.

Netflix, most notably, has been making some significant waves over the last couple of weeks on the content side, signing an exclusive four-movie deal with Hollywood superstar, Adam Sandler, and teaming up with former Marvel Studios boss, Avi Arad to produce an original cartoon series based on King Kong. And that’s not to mention its recent move into original movies… although how successful the company will be is definitely up for debate. But of course, Netflix isn’t the only player taking content seriously. Amazon seems to have scored a hit with ‘Transparent’ and recentlygreenlit another two original series, while Yahoo is looking to pour cash into original programming. A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for the likes of an online bookstore to produce a TV series, but Amazon et al have clearly changed the game.

There have been equally significant waves on the distribution front. Last week, UK telco, EE, announced the launch of its EE TV service, a set top box which lets viewers watch different streams of live or recorded programming in the home on up to three phones or tablets simultaneously, in addition to a fourth stream via the TV set. Clearly a significant move, especially as the company claims that more than 50% of its 4G fast internet capacity is taken up by video usage. Notably, the service doesn’t currently include Netflix or Now TV.

Also last week, Amazon announced plans to launch period drama, Ripper Street, on its streaming service in the UK ahead of its launch on broadcast and cable channels. Lionsgate and Stephanie Meyer, the author and creator of Twilight, have announced plans to revive the multi-million dollar movie franchise through mini-movies financed by the studio and distributed exclusively on Facebook. Netflix turned heads by acquiring the global rights to Warner Bros’ hotly anticipated series, Gotham – before the show had made its debut on linear TV. A bold move indeed. And that’s not to mention its bullish plans for geographical growth. The company is forging strong links with key distribution partners such as Orange in France, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk and YouView in the UK and in the US…. well, there’s Verizon and Comcast and of course the heated (and still unresolved) debate around net neutrality… but that’s a whole other blog.

All this said, there is clearly a greater reciprocal respect between OTT and cable companies and the panel discussion re-enforced this. Changes in the industry are demonstrating a deeper understanding and appreciation of their complex and often inter-dependent relationships.

But let’s not forget that there have been some casualties along the way. Perhaps one of the most high profile last year was the closure of Intel’s planned OTT service, OnCue, which it later sold to Verizon; the telco is supposedly looking to launch its own OTT service next year (although interestingly just last week, it also announced the closure of its RedBox Instant service after “careful consideration”). Retailer, Tesco, also announced plans to sell or close down streaming service, Blinkbox, which it acquired three years ago as well as the closure of its Clubcard TV service. In apost, Tesco said: “We’ve learnt a lot since launching Clubcard TV in March 2013 and whilst many enjoyed our free service, we weren’t getting the level of repeat usage we had hoped for.”

The competition is far from over and a winner is far from being named. Who will win? The viewer will decide.

Stella Medlicott, Chief Marketing Officer.