[opendtv] Re: Product Half life
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 07:41:37 -0400
At 3:34 PM -0500 4/15/11, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
By extension, exactly the same applies to FOTA TV. It's up to the
congloms and the local broadcasters to decide how much of their
stuff to distribute over the Internet. That doesn't change the
nature of the content at all. So I don't understand why anyone would
think that broadcasters or congloms are on the way out.
You don't need an FCC license for valuable spectrum to distribute
content over the Internet.
Take away the distribution job entirely. The local broadcaster would
not be required to distribute an affiliated conglom's content any
longer, probably, but the local broadcaster could continue to
provide whatever "local content" he was creating previously. And
distribute it over the Internet. If this "local content" is as much
in demand as we hear, why would that change?
Well for one thing, they would have no economic basis to exist, or at
the very least would generate only a tiny fraction of what they can
make today thanks to the protections that come with the license, like
must carry/retrans consent.
Local newspapers are doing exactly what you suggest via the Internet,
including distributing video. Last I checked most local newspapers
are still withering into irrelevance.still dying.
So I'm not sure my definition is all that liberal. What makes CBS
CBS is not that it uses VHF channel 9 in this market, but that it
transmits shows like NCIS, CSI, or The Mentalist. By the same token,
what makes the local broadcaster (WUSA in this case) unique, and
especially desirable to some people, are its local news and weather
programs, and other local shows it airs during the day. I don't see
why interest in any of this would change, just because the
distribution protocol changes.
Yup.
And wen CBS decides it does not need channel 9 to distribute its
content, WUSA must either create (or buy) programming to fill in the
gaps. And they will lose the primary justification for retrans
consent payments. People watch LPTV stations too, but their economic
viability is near zero. It still boils down to the fact that
broadcasters still exist because they have exclusive rights to
valuable content in their market. Take that away and the economics
are completely different.
To a FOTA TV user, or to a "cord cutter," the fact that everything
is a la carte is not something new. It's pretty much same as always.
Internet distribution offers more choice, and VOD without having to
record in the home.
It all boils down to whether they can access the content they want.
Today this means an MVPD subscription, which forces us to pay for
stuff we don;t want. Time will tell if the congloms will allow new
distribution partners to move to a true ala carte model...
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
