[opendtv] Re: DTT tuner design

  • From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:58:08 -0400

All that is very good.  But how is local content going to be paid for?

And, especially, how will it be paid for in a way the local cable company cannot deliver the same thing more efficiently to more local eyeballs. Or are we back to must carry again?

- Tom

Craig Birkmaier wrote:
At 12:25 PM -0400 7/6/07, Tom Barry wrote:

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

 Broadcasters are concentrating on survival now. Their core audience
 continues to decline each year and they haven't a clue about harvesting
 the many local content resources that could form the basis for
 legitimate services that could be carried in their DTV multiplex.


Craig -

Which local content resources do you feel offer a competitive plan to match the economy of scale of the national nets?


It's not about economy of scale or trying to compete for viewers with the national nets. What is required is a way to bring local content to local communities of interest with the help of local businesses that serve those communities. This is now possible at with very low production/distribution costs, making it possible to serve small market niches profitably.

When I say profitably, this must be put into proper perspective. Broadcasters have enjoyed the luxury of only having to pick low hanging fruit. Serving small market niches has not been a viable business model, unless those niches were willing to step up to the plate and pay for air time. It has simply been easier to capture enough eyeballs with syndicated programming to make more than the local markets could bear in terms of support for niche content.

But all that has changed now. Production costs can be very low or free if you use the right cheap labor - certainly possible if you wanted to deliver high school sporting events. The issue is one of doing what Smith Barney used to push "working for their money." Broadcasters lack the perspective of "data mining" their customers or serving niches that are "beneath them."

Why is this important?

1. Local broadcasters bring NOTHING to the table in terms of delivering national/regional content that is targeted at large audiences. There are too many ways to bypass their crumbling local oligopolies.

2. Much of business that takes place is "local" economies is going to be driven by the cloud of bits that envelope a community. A few minutes with an iPhone will help open ones eyes about how technology will be deployed to drive local commerce in the future.

3. The focus has to shift from the number of eyeballs that one can attract to selllads to, to the ability to deliver real prospects in the local market. The industries that can hook up sellers with people who want to buy stuff are going to win, and the revenues per transaction are going to be very small - but numerous.

And then there's the really important bit.

I do not want to barter my time when i want to be entertained for advertising that i do not want. When I want to be entertained I don't want all the ads

And when i want to get info to buy something I want useful information, not glitzy ads created for an anonymous national audience

The system is evolving - the question is whether broadcasters will evolve to survive.

 From here the odds don't look very good.

Regards
Craig



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Tom Barry                  trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx  



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