[opendtv] Re: NBA Signs New TV Deals With ESPN, Turner | Broadcasting & Cable

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2014 11:14:43 -0400

> On Oct 8, 2014, at 5:16 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> 
> wrote:
> 
> Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> 
> My, how you obviously aren't keeping up. Copy the MVPD model, you end up with 
> another ho-hum MVPD. Have I not been saying this all along?

It remains to be seen what Sony, et al will actually do. Clearly VOD access is 
going to be the big difference from the traditional MVPD appointment TV model. 
And obviously, ALL of the channels you are paying for will be available on any 
device anywhere.

> Sony does have a choice, just as Netflix and Amazon and Hulu had.

No they do not. They are not trying to emulate these business models. They are 
trying to build a better bundle! Delivered via the Internet.

> But if Sony wants truly MVPD-competitive content, the real trick is the same 
> as any new venture: timing. Just as the likes of HBO and ESPN are waking up 
> to the need to get beyond the MVPD model, even for premium content, because 
> they are losing customers, Sony or others would need to step in and offer the 
> right formula, at exactly the right time, and demonstrate "added value." Or 
> these organizations can certainly go it alone now.

Stop trying to compare HBO and ESPN. They are entirely different services based 
on different market dynamics.

I agree that Sony will need something "extra" to attract subscribers. That 
clearly comes from Internet distribution - I.e. VOD and TV Everywhere. But the 
existing MVPDs are not ignoring this opportunity.

>> It is the customer base that is making the new opportunities possible.
> 
> Craig, you make me laugh. The whole point is that the customer base is 
> dwindling. Sure, as long as folks like you keep feeding them big bucks with 
> the old model, that old model will soldier on. BUT NOT exclusively. Do you 
> really think that ESPN or HBO are happy to see customers who can't get their 
> content anymore at all, because their local cable company has simply opted 
> out?

Please pay attention to what you are reading and stop changing the subject.

The comment above was about customers who will pay even MORE for more access to 
content. This is what Skipper was talking about. Not moving content out from 
behind the existing pay walls, but creating new niche pay walls.

And the handful of customers who lost TV service have multiple options to 
replace it.

>> It will CONTINUE the annual increases in the cost of the bundle.
>> Whether this will cause further erosion remains to be seen.
> 
> Dream on. As I said, positive feedback is destabilizing. If customers drop 
> out, and you retaliate by increasing prices, guess what? They won't come 
> back, and more will drop out.

Yes, there is the issue of demand versus price elasticity. But we are a long 
way from a major shift. This deal runs for the next ten years BERT. Perhaps 
Skipper knows more than you give him credit for...

Or perhaps you just like to put words in his mouth.

Regards
Craig 
 
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