[opendtv] Re: Cord-cutting isn't bad news for some cable giants
- From: "Craig Birkmaier" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "brewmastercraig" for DMARC)
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2020 10:19:39 -0500
On Jan 24, 2020, at 10:16 PM, Manfredi (US), Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
DBS, and the MVPD business model, have been overtaken by events. But this was
in the tea leaves for so many years. All the excuses, like, things will
change after the recession is over, were mostly examples of "self-soothing."
However, IMO, no reason why AT&T can't embrace the new models, create their
own content portals, available to all (ISP-agnostic), mix FOTI with
subscription packages perhaps, since they have this wealth of content.
The “Pay TV bundle” is far from dead Bert, although it continues to evolve
thanks to the Internet. Rather than being overtaken by events, (V)MVPD bundles
now take full advantage of the Internet, providing anywhere, anytime access to
the content subscribers are paying for.
Clearly the Internet has enabled many new forms of competition; it is equally
clear that the audiences for “Live TV” channels has declined, ESPECIALLY for
the major broadcast networks. But the audiences for live sports continue to
prop up (V)MVPD services, even as other demographics binge on streaming library
content.
In other words, the Pay TV market has been GROWING thanks to the Internet. The
U.S. consumer has never paid more for their TV fixes, and the content creators
have never been as busy as they are today.
In my opinion, the networks are losing out, by playing they coy little games
of blocking many of their past episodes, to people without old-fashioned
cable subscriptions. Here's the way to think of it:
There is lots and lots of stuff on the Internet, for people to watch. The
more the networks play "hard to get," the fewer eyeballs will view their
content. It's really difficult to force people to subscribe to anything, once
they have that broadband connection. So, attract people, don't push them
away. Grab that ad revenue. It's fueling just about everything on the
Internet.
There’s lots and lots of crap out there Bert, even with the paid streaming
services. The reality is that it IS NOT difficult to “force” people to
subscribe to pay services. More than half of U.S. home subscribe to a (V)MVPD
service AND Netflix.
We signed up for Hulu plus Live TV a few weeks ago to watch an NFL playoff game
on NBC. Unfortunately I waited a day too long to unsubscribe, and was billed
$62.48 for what was advertised as a $53.99/mo service (love those taxes and
fees). Since I can access everything that Hulu offers for another month, I
looked around and found a heaping pile of old crap.
It’s not just the broadcast networks that restrict access to their best content
Bert...
IT IS THE ESSENCE OF THE PAY TV BUSINESS.
The content that is NOT behind pay walls is not in high demand, thus it is
offered as ad supported on “free services.” Even the content people WANT to
watch is still mostly ad supported. Netflix and Hulu let people PAY to avoid
ads, just as Apple, Google, and Amazon let people pay to rent or buy individual
programs.
Bottom line, the TV business has never been better.
Regards
Craig
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