Cablevision recently talked about providing a network based dvr. And were successfully stopped from proceeding. Time Warner has made some subtle changes to the model and presented it as Start over and Look Back, with early success.
Technology is turning the distribution model on its knees and once the cat is out of the bag, it is hard to put him back in again. Such has been the case with the dvr and commercial skipping. The appeal of IPTV delivered programming is that it enables more flexibility in viewing and more interactivity between the user and the content. No matter when you view content, the material can be updated to remain relevant and interesting to the viewer.
The hurdles remain are high. Content ownership and syndication; technology allows the owner of the content direct sell through to the user without selling access to different windows. Can content owners make up the revenues lost from selling access to different windows ( North American rights, premium rights, VOD rights, etc.) to other partners and get higher returns from direct access to the viewer. Can Turner Classic Movies survive as a network if Sony can sell its films directly to the home. And how far will it go. Will AMC Network give up its cable license fee to get ubiquitous distribution as a stream. Do cable companies end up as simple content delivery networks, managing communication lines like the phone company once managed their phone business. How this data is managed and moved, both at the set top box and at the network level will determine how these businesses will evolve.
These licensing models have been around for a long time; technology and IPTV delivery changes the business. “We have to make sure the business models intersect, for service providers and content owners,” said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice-president of Microsoft TV, in an NAB interview. “We need to establish a set of discussions.”
No comments:
Post a Comment