[opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2017 07:46:51 -0400
On Mar 18, 2017, at 7:08 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The mere fact that Skipper and Moonves understand the need to change their
colluding ways, in times of Internet competition, proves that even if Craig
doesn't get it, the congloms do.
These people are not stupid Bert. They have been selling their content in EVERY
possible way for decades. The Internet created a whole new category of
potential customers like Netflix, AND the potential to either augment or bypass
the existing facilities based MVPDs.
The congloms have been experimenting with various ways in which they can
leverage the Internet for very good reasons:
1. Their content can be stored in vast libraries that can be accessed on demand;
2. Their content can be accessed by new mobile screens outside the home.
3. They can create new kinds of bundles that appeal to specific demographics,
in many cases resulting in increased revenues from consumers.
For the most part the congloms have used the internet to enhance the value of
the existing MVPD bundles. TV Everywhere and more recent product announcements
like DirecTV Now, allow the content a subscriber is paying for to be viewed on
multiple screens in the home and while mobile.
Netflix added on demand access to vast libraries of content without
commercials. It is no accident that the majority of Netflix subscribers ALSO
subscribe to the extended basic MVPD bundle.
Sling TV, for Disney, was the first step. CBS All Access was a much bolder
step. The locally monopolistic MPVDs of the past fostered the collusion that
makes Craig pay ever higher prices, however the captains of industry are
quite savvy about where the wind is blowing. Craig won't get it, until years
after it has already happened.
Sling is nothing more than a slim VMVPD bundle targeted at individuals,
primarily cord nevers or cord cutters.
CBS ALL Access is a joke - a big middle finger to all of us who would like to
be able to buy networks on an ala carte basis.
The constant price increases for the extended basic bundle are the result of
collusion between the content oligopoly and the distribution oligopoly. The "un
INTENDED" consequence of the 1992 Cable Act was to create rules that made it
easy to keep raising rates if new networks are added. Thus - in parallel with
the move to digital distribution - we saw the number of TV networks grow from
about 30 to more than 300. Now with on demand services we will likely see the
number of networks decline back to less than 50.
The next shoe to drop will be more painful for the distribution oligopoly, as
the content owners take a slimmed down version of the extended basic bundle
direct to consumers, along with VOD access to their content libraries. The
distribution oligopoly will be left with fixed ISP service, at least until the
telcos can compete with wireless broadband.
When Hulu launches its VMVPD service - any day now we are told - the pricing
power of the facilities based MVPDs will be shattered.
Slimmer bundles are inevitable Bert, as I have been trying to teach
you for years...
Nonsense! Slimmer bundles would never have happened, EXCEPT FOR competition
from OTT sites (meaning, competition from the neutral Internet).
Perhaps we are saying the same thing?
I ascribe all of this to technical evolution as I explained in the three points
I listed above. You ascribe this to competition enabled by this technical
evolution.
The problem has always been BLOATED bundles; the congloms added new
networks for more than a decade,
Precisely, which is why your previous comment was nonsense.
Your usual response when I am right...
;-)
And the congloms could get away with it, because there was no alternative for
people such as yourself.
TWO CONGLOMS Bert. The content owners colluded with the distribution oligopoly
to push up prices. Any perceived animosity between the two was pure political
theater - every time a broadcast network went dark on a MVPD system the end
result was higher subscriber fees for that network AND all of the non-broadcast
networks they offer through that MVPD.
People paid because they WANT the content Bert.
You had to pay up or shut up. Now, instead, many of your fellow MVPD
subscribers are bailing, thanks to new options available. But the MVPDs can
still wring more money out of the inelastic die-hards like Craig.
This is about to change Bert. The facilities based MVPDs are already "wheeling
and dealing;" by next year we will likely see their prices start to decline as
competition from VMVPD services provides people like me with a viable
alternative at a lower price.
Cox is getting more money from me because I added telephone service to my
bundle - I am paying less than I was last year for Cox and AT&T phone service.
All of this is entirely obvious and predictable, Craig. And there is no need
to go on about "oligopolies" and "politicians" to understand any of it.
Occam's razor: the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.
Yup. The congloms are moving their content to the Internet because they can
make MORE MONEY by providing better access to their content.
Regards
Craig
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Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Monty Solomon
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- John Shutt
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Leonard Caillouet
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Leonard Caillouet
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches - Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: UK ISPs to block set-top boxes that illegally live-stream soccer matches- Manfredi, Albert E