[opendtv] Re: News: Disney Open to Basic-Cable-Network Buys
From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 11:48:03 -0400
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> Well for starters, we were talking about whether a
> network - ABC/Disney - would be interested in a nationwide
> OTA network. Now we are talking about 6-7 channels per
> market to build a "Freeview like" system. These are very
> different things. I seriously doubt that the Feds would
> let any single company own a nationwide footprint with 30
> + MHz of bandwidth.
A US version of Freeview would NOT be run by one company, or one OTA
ultility, or whatever you call it. Each conglom, or some company they do
business with (like Sinclair), would own their own nationwide multiplex.
Much as they do now, were it not for the draconian national cap and
hours per day rules.
> How could the income from OTA be higher than what they are
> making with subscriber fees collected by the multi-channel
> services?
Take the segment of the population that doesn't want subscription TV,
like me. The congloms could reach that segment (ideally) without having
to deal with any middlemen and their truck fleet expenses.
The MVPD revenues come from more than just subscriber fees, right? Some
of that ad revenue goes to the MVPD, at least for the non-OTA streams,
yes? So if the conglom had complete control of its own OTA network, what
would prevent the conglom from making its own decision about *other*
content streams that it aired OTA? And then it could keep all the ad
revenue from those too, on its OTA pipe. So the income they make from
folks like me could be quite competitive with income they make from
their tethered viewers.
> [The congloms'] biggest risk is that we will stop buying form
> them if offered good alternatives. THose alternatives now have
> a chance since they can bypass the congloms and the
> multi-channel walled gardens.
I may be wrong, but I just don't think anything will change so much.
First of all, the congloms will buy up whatever other content creators
emerge and are successful. That's the way these businesses work
nowadays. The small-time producer wants to join the big leagues, like
everyone else.
Take an all-Internet model. The conglom makes its shows available
online. Either for "free," as they do now, which feels very much like
OTA TV with many fewer ads, or maybe they will introduce a pay model, as
in France.
If they introduce a pay model, they will no doubt offer packages, rather
than, or in addition to, pay per view. People usually prefer to pay a
fixed fee for something like daily entertainment (or the paper, or
telephone, etc.).
And then we're back where we started. The only difference is the
distribution network's protocol.
Bert
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