[opendtv] Re: News: Belo's Decherd Warns of Media Monopolists
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 09:15:51 -0500
At 8:57 PM -0500 2/3/05, Tom Barry wrote:
>It would actually seem there are 3 battling groups, of which 2 are total
> oligopolists:
>
>1) The network (and studio) owning stations: GE, Disney, Viacom, AOL/TW,
> and News Corp. These five effectively own all commercial network TV
>(NBC, ABC, CBS & UPN, WB, Fox) and almost all cable channels that
>anybody actually watches. (excluding PBS stations here)
Correct.
>
>2) The the top five cable MSO's, plus EchoStar and DirecTV. Note AOL/TW
>and News Corp appear also in this group. I don't know what percentage
>of non-OTA video distribution is represented here (probably most of it).
Clearly this group has a dog in the fight, but they no longer have
much power to control what is delivered on their networks, or to
control the cost of the content they deliver. Belo is blowing smoke,
when it talks about the threat of the distribution monopolies. That
threat has been neutered thanks to Must Carry. The media
conglomerates are calling the shots for this group today.
The one area where the cable guys are using their monopoly power is
through control of the Set-top box.
>
>3) The non-O&O FTA broadcasters. It is this group that is totally &
>obsessively dedicated to multi-must-carry. Is this group also an
>oligopoly? I can't name the players here, or what percentage of the pie
>they control.
This is actually two groups with very different attitudes:
3A. Large station groups like Belo. These groups have some bargaining
power against Group 1, not to mention the leverage they have over
group 2 thanks to Retransmission consent. Did you catch the little
note at the end of the story about the two cable news Nets that Belo
operates?
3B. Small station groups and independently owned stations. They are
screwed; all they want is to keep the old NTSC oil wells pumping.
Group 3A has some interest in multicasts, but they are primarily
interested it getting the local commercial insertion revenues that
the cable companies are generating via channels that THEY could carry
in a multicast. Group 3B could care less about their digital channels.
Looks like broadcasters may finally have their backs up against the
digital cliff.
Regards
Craig
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