[opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2017 07:05:29 -0400
On Mar 27, 2017, at 9:16 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
As usual, Bert completely misses the point and continues to argue that
blackouts are just an annoying reason to use an antenna...
If, over the competitive OTT sites, the congloms can sell the content you
really want for less, then obviously that OTT site is forcing less welfare
costs on the subscribers. You pay less, so that's all that matters.
Finally Bert is getting close to the real issue. There are NO options to buy
what I want for less Bert. There are plenty of ways to watch the legacy network
programming that you watch; programming that I STOPPED watching several decades
ago.
There are several VMVPD sites I could subscribe to and save a few bucks, but
none of them offer ALL of networks I actually watch...
Yet.
This has nothing to do with Net Neutrality Bert,
Not again with Craig's "this has nothing to do with net neutrality." I don't
buy, necessarily, that you are starting to see lower MVPD prices. But you
claimed as much. If you are seeing any reduction AT ALL, in your legacy MVPD
subscription price, it is ONLY because these local monopolies are getting
some significant competition from OTT sites - sites which are available to
the same MVPD subscribers. If the MVPD could block that competition, it would
do so, and avoid having to reduce legacy bundle prices. (We know subscribers
are still bailing. I'm not convinced that legacy bundle prices are going
down.)
No cable MVPD has EVER blocked competing content in the U.S. Bert. None have
ever threatened to do so.
Net Neutrality was just a canard to give the government an excuse to regulate
the Internet. Once they got Title II the FCC started working on rules that
could have had a huge impact on the delivery of video over the Internet.
Fortunately it is less likely that this will happen now, and it is likely that
the Title II decision will be reversed.
You can fight this all you like, but the obvious reason for this competition
is net neutrality. To say that the Internet is neutral, just because the
Internet is neutral, is just the kind of make-believe you like to indulge in.
These things don't just happen by accident.
The Internet is a bunch of interconnected networks Bert. It is completely
neutral to what is carried UNLESS a government decides to block content that is
politically objectionable, as is the case in China. As we have discussed
recently, there may be some blocking of pirated content. And as we are seeing
with Facebook and Google, there is some "self-policing" going on when their
services are used to share objectionable content, like messages from
terrorists.
The reality is that the large MVPDs like Comcast are now using the Internet to
deliver their own On Demand services, and to extend the value of their service
with TV Everywhere.
AND we are seeing just the opposite of what you are claiming. Several MVPDs are
deploying STBs that integrate Netflix with the content that the MVPD offers.
The reason the MVPDs are starting to become more competitive is that the days
of adding garbage networks to justify rate increases are OVER. And yes, there
are new Internet options for watching library content on demand as well as
pay-per view options for recent movies; options that are not stuffed full of
ads.
But the major reason the prices are starting to moderate is that the legacy
MVPDs know that the congloms are about to compete directly with them via Hulu,
their owned and operated VMVPD service.
The only significant change that is impacting the cost of TV
programing
A totally different discussion. We have been talking about how prices to
individual subscribers have been going down, not up. What you are describing
is UNRELATED to the effect of increased competition. It's a whole 'nuther
topic.
Nope. It is the reason TV content costs so much today. And now we are seeing
upward pressure on the price to create new content. SOMEBODY is going to pay
for this. Someday Netflix will need to pay back the billions they are borrowing
to create a program library that will keep the service viable, after all the
licensing deals they cut with the content congloms expire.
CLEARLY, there is going to be an impact from these new competitors who are
operating with NEGATIVE profits. The congloms will keep increasing subscriber
fees for the broadcast networks and their most popular MVPD networks, but they
will be shutting down many rerun networks for which they have been receiving
subscriber fees. By going direct through Hulu, they can sustain the price
increases into the next decade...
Unless people just stop watching their popular MVPD networks too.
MVPDs are now negotiating for two main reasons:
2. They know that the content owners are about to bypass them
and sell the content in the extended basic bundles direct via
the Internet
Craig insists on pretending that his "the bundle" is merely moving to the
Internet. Nonsense, Craig, that wouldn't even make sense. Content owners can
sell direct, over the Internet, *and* this is only true because the Internet
is mandated to be neutral. Otherwise, clearly, that tactic would not work. An
exact duplication of your "the bundle," on the Internet, would do absolutely
nothing to the price.
The extended basic bundle has already moved to the Internet Bert. But in forms
that are incomplete like Sling and Sony Play Station View. The congloms still
refuse to license all of the channels in the extended basic bundle to any
competitor, but they have already announced they will include all of these
channels in their own bundle from Hulu.
I would add that the FCC was considering rules that would have forced the
content owners to offer all of these networks to competitors (as they do with
cable and DBS). It remains to be seen if this FCC with move forward with those
rules.
Regards
Craig
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Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game - Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Retrans consent and the pretend game- Craig Birkmaier