[opendtv] Re: Wheeler Makes It Official: It's Title II for ISPs | Multichannel

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2015 10:10:53 -0500

> On Feb 13, 2015, at 7:34 PM, Manfredi, Albert E 
> <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> The need to market anything resembling your "the bundle" simply went away. 
> Doesn't mean other types of bundles aren't still desirable, obviously, 
> because most people don't want to pay per view or a la carte for everything. 
> But the need to adhere to that walled garden formula disappeared. And what's 
> more, not just disappeared, but becomes untenable. You cannot differentiate 
> yourself if you offer the same as everyone else, in a competitive 
> environment. And you MUST differentiate yourself.

Sorry Bert, but you are slicing hairs here. Clearly there are still good 
reasons to offer bundles, whether the service is a MVPD or a SVOD provider. 
What you are arguing about is the size and content of the bundles, relative to 
those that are now offered as "the extended basic bundle."

The walled garden formulae evolved as two oligopolies worked together to 
maximize their profits. The pressure has been building to bring this under 
control, especially in a moribund economy where many people are having to cut 
back on spending. 

We are now seeing the next phase of evolution, where consumers may have more 
choice with less "baggage." But the basics of bundling are still the same - 
even you now admit that people do not want ala carte or everything. 

> It's exactly the same for OTT sites. They too need to offer enough "bundles" 
> for the convenience of the viewer, but they do not need to conform to that 
> single formula as MVPD local monopolies did. And they also have to be more 
> price-conscious than they would have to be, as a local monopoly.

See above - something we seem to agree on.

> No, Craig, don't get obstinate to such a ridiculous degree. If you don't have 
> access to DBS, because you live in an apartment facing N or E, then you 
> cannot get MVPD service via a Dish TVE plan. But you can get Sling OTT 
> service, which is nothing like the MVPD bundles and tiers available on any 
> legacy MVPD or TVE plan.

Down boy!

First, there is no such thing as a TVE plan - TVE services are available to 
both Dish DBS subscribers and Dish Sling subscribers.

My statement was that if you cannot access the DISH DBS service, but have 
broadband, you CAN subscribe to Sling. And Sling is exactly like the larger 
MVPD bundles, other than the size of the gore bundle and ability to choose from 
more mini bundles. If you subscribe to a network via either the DBS or the 
Sling service you ALSO get TVE access.

Please stop trying to make the Sling announcement more than it actually is. It 
is just a slimmed down MVPD service delivered via the Internet, limited yo a 
single stream at any time.


Regards
Craig 
 
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