Bye Bye, Broadcast TV
Movie theater operators are making a huge stink about simultaneous DVD release and other trends that threaten their monopoly on first-run movies. This is nonsense: the criteria for making this type of business decision should be customer demand, not the desire to protect existing companies from competition. But cinemas are always going to command a healthy chunk of movie revenues because they offer a unique experience: huge screens, plush seats, overpriced concessions, sticky floors, etc. (Okay, perhaps the last two aren’t such a big draw, but you get my point.)
Not so for broadcast TV, which is doomed. Mark Cuban does a great job elucidating this trend with respect to Disney’s recent agreement to sell TV shows on Apple’s iTunes store. (After seeing his inarticulate performance at Web 2.0, where he appeared grumpy and — frankly — deathly hungover, I’m amazed by the quality of his blog, which is excellent.) The advertising model is a holdover from a simpler time, back when the most exciting inventions were hulahoops and colored lightbulbs rather than high-speed fibre backbones, micropayment systems and ultra-efficient video codecs. Broadcasters financed their fare with ads because there wasn’t any other practical possibility.
Besides all the inefficiencies inherent in the advertising model, where value for both sellers and consumers is unclear, it also happens to be extremely irritating. A lot of ads are quite entertaining, but not when you see the same ones 4-5 times at 7 minute intervals over the course of a single 30 minute show. Broadcasters seem to have decided that if a few commercials are good, gobs of them must be better. Audience reaction has been predictable: TiVo, BitTorrent, DVDs… anything to avoid having to sit through someone screeching about ring around the collar or sinking your battleship. There are some signs that broadcasters are getting the hint, but they’re still pretty thin on the ground.
Meanwhile, the International Herald Tribune speculates that the BBC may extend its experiment in free TV downloads to encompass paid downloads for non-British viewers. A more transparent business model, a smoother viewing experience, more choice and flexibility… how’s broadcast going to compete with that? After all, you can watch your shows on the same 80-inch wall-mounted plasma screen no matter how you obtain them.
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