ABI: Don't Fight OTT - Embrace It

According to ABI Research, OTT video is the key to maintaining growth for pay TV providers. The research house says the pay TV market is forecast for only 3.7% CAGR through 2020, while OTT video is expected to see around 26% total revenue growth in 2015, with 24% CAGR through 2019.

ABI believes pay TV operators can combat OTT competition with rollouts of new set-top technologies that utilize IP-capable hardware to deliver experiences similar to those provided by third-party OTT services. Another possibility is to team up with OTT providers themselves via "pay TV lite" services. Standalone OTT services, such as Dish Network's Sling TV and BSkyB's Sky Go, offer live and on-demand content separate from a pay TV subscription, which allows more choice and competition in TV services, as well as allows operators to enter new geographies without incurring major costs for infrastructure expansion.

Operators that have already embraced such ideas - such as Comcast, Dish Network, Liberty Global, and BSkyB - are expected to see future growth in a slowly declining market.