[opendtv] Re: Shifting Online, Netflix Faces New Competition

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:47:02 -0500

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> Yes there are companies providing services to make the delivery of
> secure content via the Internet possible. And yes they get paid to
> do this. But they are NOT GATEKEPPERS, and they only charge a small
> fee relative to what the consumer pays.

If TV content is made available for real over the Internet, those companies 
will be just as much gatekeepers as the MVPDs are now.

One option that will probably NOT be the favorite for most TV could be the 
pay-by-the-show option. It's not hard to predict that consumers will soon 
notice they are paying outrageous amounts every month, for the same hours of TV 
they might watch now.

A more likely scenario will be that you buy keys for the different "tiers" you 
want to subscribe to, by the month perhaps. That will end up looking very much 
like MVPD fees, and those fees will go into paying for some programming you 
probably don't care about. Just like now.

> The middlemen I am talking about - the MVPDs - are in cahoots with
> the content owners and have driven the price of content through the
> roof. The business model allows them to charge us for content we do
> not watch, and to collect billions of dollars in subscriber fees.
>
> This IS a HUGE difference!

In my view, probably no significant difference. These business models develop 
for a reason, Craig. Those reasons are still there. The content owners will 
always hold the cards, and struggling producers are struggling to fill the same 
shoes as the successful ones you complain about.

Bert
 
 
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