[opendtv] Re: Local Content Considered Key to Mobile DTV Adoption
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:04:31 -0600
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> You simply choose to ignore the reality that the OTA audience is
> quite small. There is only one way that further subdivisions of
> that audience with multicasts can produce more ad revenue - the
> remaining audience must watch MORE TV. Offering the audience
> more choices just dilutes the audience for the main channels
> - more programs does not mean more ad revenues, especially when
> the ad market for local broadcasters is ALREADY in the tank.
This is the same as any other competing business.
If I own a supermarket chain, analogous to a station group, I can decide to add
a new product to attract more customers to my stores. Sure, in the near term
that new product may reduce the demand for another product I already carry, but
my intent is to get more people in my store. So overall, they buy more stuff
from me.
If a station group has a bunch of ABC affiliates, for example, it will know
that much of the ABC content attracts mainly women. So if there's something on
the cheap, perhaps from Canada, that attracts males, that can only help the
station group get eyeballs that would otherwise go to CBS, let's say.
Not having to pay for a fleet of trucks and techs should go a long way into
being able to use ad revenues for this extra low-cost male-oriented production.
Now, it is true that just as the competing supermarkets may eventually
retaliate by adding the same or other new products, and same goes with other
station groups. But that is what is called competition.
If you can avoid lots of salaries and benefits for the fleet of techs, there's
no reason to assume that THE ONLY way to offer more choice is to demand a
subscription fee.
You know, Craig, this is very much like the argument we had a zillion years ago
on HDTV. You questioned why broadcasters would want to spend money to air HDTV.
Well, my answer then was, to stay afloat. Either you transmit HDTV, or the
competition will take your viewers away. Same goes now. It doesn't happen all
at once, but it happens. Yes, profits may suffer in the short term. It's called
competition.
Bert
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
