[opendtv] Re: TV Programmers Put Subscriber Caps on Skinny Bundles | Media - Advertising Age

  • From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 20:00:00 -0400

Craig wrote:

No. They were the gatekeepers of everything we watched on the magic box that
entered our living rooms in the '50s. The only other option was going to a
theater.

More relevantly, I get some 52 channels OTA now, Craig, and they don't act as a
single monopoly. Same when I watch on the Internet. Collusion happens when the
medium allows/fosters/promotes it, as walled garden monopolies did. Collusion
ends when the previously colluding parties see that they can increase revenues
by not colluding. Even if they initially do this only incrementally (which
means, they continue to collude on the media that promote collusion, while at
the same time striking out on their own over the Internet).

The Internet is not preventing collusion - it "may" be allowing the
oligopolies
to loosen their grip a bit, but the fact remains that these new services -

Not "allowing," but rather "requiring." When ESPN, HBO, Showtime, etc., see
that they lose out by colluding, and can do better if they strike out on their
own, that's what they have to do. When Netflix surpassed HBO, HBO *had* to
respond. Remaining safely behind those garden walls caused HBO to fall behind.
That's the only reason why HBO had to respond. When ESPN lost viewership in the
past few years, they too had to respond.

And any of this was possible with the legacy MVPD walled gardens. The fact
that
individual channels were pulled in subscriber fee disputes proves this.

The opposite is true. When there is no single gatekeeper, it becomes foolish
for any content owner to pull content. Craig continues to limit his thinking to
the walled garden model. Pulling content only works if the customers are all
beholden to that one gatekeeper, giving that one gatekeeper the power to
negotiate with the content owner. When the content owner instead uses direct
delivery over the Internet, the problem of pulling channels vanishes. There is
no single monopolistic gatekeeper involved anymore, with whom the content owner
has to negotiate.

Bert

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