[opendtv] Re: Distribution outside the bundle
- From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 05:11:17 -0500
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
Sorry Bert, but this was not the case - the broadcast network
is a strong bargaining chip and has been used to tie other
channels in licensing agreements. Immediately after the '92
act became law, most of the networks asked for additional
channels with prime placement in the system channel lineups
rather than monetary compensation.
And your point is? As we all know, Craig, companies have to show growth in
this economy. A strategy that might have worked in the early days, to get
them well established in MVPD nets, cannot be expected to remain stagnant.
Sooner or later, whatever content was being given away to these MVPDs would
not be given away anymore.
At least you seem to understand the power the content
owners have over the bundle. But you can't quite grasp the
fact that they use this power over multiple distributors who
compete with one another.
Craig seems unable to grasp that the distributors are not competing against
one another. In fact, in most locations, a consumer has only one choice of
cabled MVPD/ISP. So it's misleading to say they compete. OTT sites compete.
MVPDs do not, in reality. Not as far as the CONSUMER is concerned. It's a
hassle, at best, to change MVPD. DBS only competes for the legacy broadcast
type of service. For the rest, they are morphing into Internet delivery,
which means they require some other ISP.
So let's quit this pretense. Once again, the only interesting thing to watch
is what new models the content owners are devising. Not the warmed over
legacy models force-fit on the Internet.
And this license provided exclusivity to Hulu for a period
of time before Fox will license it to more middlemen.
Pretty remarkable, eh? Wasn't possible a few years ago. The MVPD model was
the only viable distribution medium, other than OTA. This is what I'm
talking about. Not some wannabe MVPD doing the same old thing on the
Internet, but a conglom deciding to use the Internet for delivery, even in
parallel with the old "exclusive" "the bundle."
And the report said that this has not happened yet - i.e. It is a
work in progress that will take years.
Rubbish, Craig. I again remind you how many years ago, you thought this was
already possible. And now that it is becoming possible, you obtusely pretend
it's far in the future. What was the point of that Alcatel advertising
piece, Craig? It was that edge servers need to be deployed, that it is
relatively cheap to do this, and they were projecting this over a span from
2012 to 2017. A gradual expansion. It has been happening already, Craig.
Even your darling Apple has been deploying such edge servers, Craig. Look it
up. Akamai has been in business for years, doing this sort of thing.
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:
