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

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2015 23:43:34 +0000

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

When you have a walled garden distribution network, there is a natural
gatekeeper who controls all of the content on the net. When customers
are only tied to one such physical network, the customer is at the
mercy of that gatekeeper. Therefore, the sources of content that share
that network can make all manner of colluding agreements. They have a
captive audience.

This was true for broadcast TV before, cable got into the content
business, and it will be true of the Internet when everyone uses it
instead of the dedicated MVPD networks.

OTA broadcasters only manage to collude when they deliver over the monopolistic
MVPD nets. You heard what Les Moonves said, right? "I don't want to be beholden
to anyone." With Internet distribution, he's not beholden to anyone. Moonves
didn't need to come to any agreement with ABC, when he set up CBS All Access.
And ESPN did not need to get agreements from CBS and NBC, when they went off to
Sling TV. With Internet distribution, collusion is not beneficial. Because your
competition can do an end run. This was NOT possible with legacy MVPD walled
gardens.

It is the ability to access the content you want where the gatekeeping
occurs,

No, Craig. I'm talking about *the* gatekeeper for *all* your TV content. If you
have 100 different authenticated sites available to you, that's nothing similar
to *the* gatekeeper you dealing with now.

Want to "Watch House of Cards?" There is only one OTT service that
offers it as part of their subscription entertainment bundle.

And if you want to read Hunt for Red October, you have to buy that book. No
other book contains that story. But I can buy zillions of other books, without
buying Hunt for Red October. So you can't call that one book a gatekeeper.

Want to watch ESPN? You will need to subscribe to a service that
offers a bundle of twenty or more channels.

You're twisting and turning, Craig. Not long ago, to watch ESPN, you had only
one choice: your monopolistic MVPD "the bundle." Now, you can get ESPN from a
low cost OTT site too, without being forced to pay for many other channels you
don't want. This is called competition, Craig. Over MVPD walled gardens, you
had no choice but to pay for a bunch of other stuff. With Internet
distribution, you have a choice.

But the big oligopolies are not rolling over and giving up.

They compete. ESPN, CBS, and HBO figured it out. They compete without
collusion. They have to.

The fact is that Amazon had a virtual monopoly on e-books,

Amazon is not my only portal to get to the Internet, and I have no trouble
going to other online booksellers. Maybe you need a refresher course in
browsing the web, Craig?

Bert



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