Hartford Business Journal

20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 7, 2025 Vietnam to Italy — all over the world." That's a draw for the distributors — smart-TV platforms like Samsung, LG and Roku, which want to promote to their customers that they offer free, live programming through pre-installed channels. And for the channel providers like Triple-B Media, having a competitive offering like this has become increas- ingly important over the last three or four years as the FAST marketplace has rapidly expanded. "The supply of channels has gone through the roof," said Canning. "There are now approximately 2,000 FAST channels available to viewers in the U.S." Despite this, the "shelf space" offered by the smart TV companies to host channels has not expanded, meaning that all of those additional channels from a host of devel- opers like Triple-B are left fighting for distribution. "When we started this, it was all about quantity, right?" said Bailey, the co-founder. "More channels, try to get as many eyeballs, and try to get as much market shelf space. We have matured and learned that you have to have content that has an audience that is very dedicated to it." Comcast's FAST business Xumo has been platforming Triple-B's chan- nels since 2021. "We were interested in working with them because at the time there were a lot of channels that focused on a single series, but few that focused on a single sport," said Stefan Van Engen, head of content programming and partnerships at Xumo. "Triple B has been flexible and innovative in FAST and continues to develop chan- nels and programming slates that drive audiences on our platform." Content scramble From a high-water mark of 12 chan- nels, Triple-B has shifted focus to its six most successful properties. "We have found, with the other channels that we started that we have shut down since, that it's good content, it looked well, but it didn't do well because you just didn't have that built-in, rabid, tribal group of people," Bailey said. This sort of focus has paid off for the company, which hit profit- ability for the first time in the middle of 2024. "Leaner is better," Bailey said. "We have found that economically, you make more money when you just focus on the few winners that you have." That's not to say there aren't many opportunities to expand their offer- ings. Both men say they get pitched channel ideas "all the time" from people who may be producing their own content, or own the rights to an archive of some sort. "They come to us and they say, 'hey, we're interested in launching a FAST channel," said Canning. "Nine times out of ten — more than that — we say 'you don't want a FAST channel.'" The scramble to get into the FAST marketplace reflects a few realities about TV these days. The most fundamental is the continuing, lingering decline of cable. One recent study projects that the number of cable-subscribing households will decline from 34.7 million in 2023 to 27.1 million in 2028. The other is the rapidly changing market in subscription streaming, which saw a massive influx of investment in recent years to serve those households that were cutting the cord. Giants like Netflix, Apple and Amazon dove headfirst into the orig- inal content game — but have found that it's a hard way to make money, particularly as subscription fatigue has set in among viewers. That has led to a retrenchment as they raise prices and sprinkle in ads even on subscription offerings. It's also led to the huge interest in FAST. Viewers are getting used to the idea of channels like Tubi, Pluto TV By Harriet Jones hjones@hartfordbusiness.com A Connecticut company that's innovating in a fast-changing TV environment is turning to man's best friend for its next potential growth story. North Haven-based Triple-B Media, which in the last four years has made its name adding live sports channels to the growing roster of offerings on free, ad-supported streaming networks, just launched Bark TV — a channel that's all dogs, all the time. "What we are really doing is super- serving a fan base," said co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer Brendan Canning. "It didn't take a whole lot to figure out that dog owners are very enthusiastic about their dogs. We felt that there was an opportunity to launch a dog channel for dog owners, dog lovers." Most of Triple-B Media's offer- ings are FAST channels: free, ad-supported streaming TV. The company was formed in 2021 by two former ESPN execs, Canning and his partner, Anthony Bailey. Triple-B doesn't produce content itself, but partners with content producers through joint ventures or revenue-sharing agreements. This is the model they've used with their single-sport channels featuring lacrosse, boxing, cornhole and — most successfully so far — billiards. Billiard TV, Triple-B's flagship channel, saw viewership surge 63% year-over-year in 2024, according to the company, ending the year with 65 million unique viewers. Billiard TV's average watch time per session was 80 minutes. The secret, beyond a loyal fan base, says Canning, is a lot of live content. "We do well over 1,000 hours of live content a year on that channel," he said. "In 2025 we have 150 live days, and we'll do somewhere in the neigh- borhood of 20 to 25 multiday tour- naments ranging from Las Vegas to Brendan Canning (left) and Anthony Bailey are the co-founders of North Haven-based Triple-B Media. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Bigger Bite Bark TV is latest venture for former ESPN execs' free, ad-supported TV startup

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