[opendtv] Re: Twang's Tuesday Tribune (Mark'sMondayMemo)2004April20
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 11:11:19 -0400
At 8:04 PM -0400 4/26/04, Tom Barry wrote:
>I think of "broadcasting" as maybe an economic term that does not
>necessarily mean TV, or maybe even free. Certain bits are
>sufficiently in demand that instead of on-demand, or a pull model, it
>becomes more effective to just dedicate some spectrum or other
>resources and send them out to everybody. That was the model for TV,
>though you could question whether with must carry cable huggers all
>existing stations still fill the bill.
Exactly - information and entertainment for the masses.
An interesting aside. Alexander Graham Bell thought that the main use
of his new invention, the telephone, would be to listen to musical
performances. In essence, he thought that everyone would have a
switched connection to a broadcast event...nearly 100 years before
TCPIP re-defined two-way communications.
>
>But I'm not sure where "broadcasting" encrypted premium services fits
>into this model. It still dedicates some spectrum, removing it from
>use from everyone. So the 'casting is broad but the receiving is
>narrower. I guess I'll have to think about this some more, though the
>simple principle should remain valid.
>
A good observation. Clearly it will not be efficient to use digital
broadcasting to serve individual users of data, or even small groups.
But let's flash forward a bit. The big media conglomerates are
enjoying real success in generating additional revenue streams for
their content; by additional, I mean in addition to the ad revenues.
We now "willingly" pay subscription fees via cable and DBS for the
privilege of watching advertiser supported TV. It would not surprise
me to see many TV shows move to a "subscription" model where you pay
a small fee for the right to receive a particular show. It is already
happening with the DVD release of TV shows.
What I envision is the potential for people to subscribe to services
that are of broad enough interest to appeal to a mass audience., just
a people subscribe to newspapers and magazines today.
Kon tells us that there is no TV on the Internet, yet two of the
broadcast conglomerates now offer paid subscription services to view
their TV news stories via the Internet.
Bottom line, we are working in a world that is far removed from the
realities of an open marketplace. One must ask what might be possible
if a real marketplace existed for the delivery of content to the
masses.
Regards
Craig
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