[opendtv] Re: Distribution outside of "the bundle"
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2014 10:31:15 -0500
On Dec 4, 2014, at 9:08 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>
> One of the reasons for this long thread was, Craig, your (stubborn)
> insistence that content owners would "never" make their content available
> outside of "the bundle," with the exceptions of DVD sets later on, or other
> middlemen like Netflix which carry only last season, or other techniques
> which involve considerable delay (even up to a year or more).
You've got this completely wrong. The content owners have ALWAYS made their
stuff available via multiple middlemen - it is the essence of their business.
Timing is everything. In the age of appointment TV, people made time to watch
programs when they "premiered." When cable networks started to compete people
picked up the remote and channel surfed. The only programming available on
demand as packaged media - i.e. video cassettes - which were primarily movies,
and in some cases a complete season of a TV series.
Obviously technology marches on and the world of entertainment today is a very
different place. But timing is still important. What remains of the live
audience is still important, especially the stuff people will make appointments
for. And much of this good stuff is moving behind one form of pay wall or
another.
> So, there is no bait and switch going on here.
You are guilty as charged.
> What I was responding to is your listing of only those long-delay techniques,
> such as iTunes pay-per-episode of last season, as options for watching (in
> this case) The Walking Dead. Even after I showed you otherwise. Which you did
> here:
The story you posted included iTunes pay per episode for The Walking Dead.
These episodes are available the next day, not the following season. There are
three important things to consider here.
1. The only place to watch the premiere of a Walking Dead episode is on AMC,
which requires a subscription to the extended basic bundle.
2. If you are willing to pay a premium, you can access these episodes the next
day without subscribing to the bundle.
3. If you don't care about when you watch it, complete seasons will make their
way to other more affordable bundles like Netflix...eventually.
This is the nature of the TV business, both first run AND syndication.
> In fact, the AMC website requires you to enter your MVPD credentials. A bad
> example. And most of the other options are only for Season 4, not the current
> season.
iTunes and Amazon sell episodes the next day.
>
> But, since you are the one who mentioned The Walking Dead as an example of
> "exclusive" bundle content, I showed you how you can watch each current
> season episode, VOD, some minor amount of time after it aired in linear mode,
> from Amazon, independent of any "the bundle" as of any subsidizing of sports.
> NOT on a pay-per-episode long after the fact, but rather right along with the
> linear delivery. Very much like I watch prime time shows now.
But it is still behind a pay wall.
> **I very much doubt that the owners of POPULAR content, which previously may
> only have been available in "the bundle," will stick to that distribution
> model, when they see cord shavers and cord cutters, and when the Internet
> exists for them to use.**
Content owners will sell to anyone with money. But they are very careful to
make sure a new middleman does not undercut existing business models and the
huge revenues they generate. The Walking Dead was actually a very good example
of how they do this.
> Once again, that contention of mine, IMO, is totally logical. So when you
> continually disagreed, "the bundle" is sacred and nothing can disturb it, I
> ferretted out any number of articles that made that same point. And even your
> most recent example of The Walking Dead should show you the winds of change.
No. It shows the fact that the content owners will make their content available
to anyone if the terms are right. Nothing you showed me in that article
undercuts the fact that AMC believes in the extended basic bundle - I even
posted an article where their CEO said exactly that.
>
> As to embedded ads? That's a non-problem, IMO, and it would seem astonishing
> to me if the Madison Ave types don't already know this.
>
> The difference we are seeing is that content previously exclusively inside
> the old garden walls is now offered outside, episode after episode, with some
> insignificant amount of delay only. VOD per se is NOT the difference. VOD was
> also available behind the garden walls, previously.
Nothing new here other than technology making VOD access more convenient that
driving to the Blockbuster store. People prefer to watch most content when they
want to on any device; technology now makes this possible. The future for
pre-produced entertainment, in the words of An industry leader, John Malone, is
"random access." That's not me speaking Bert.
Regards
Craig
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