Fox Follows Disney...
It appears that Disney’s announcement last week that they will be putting a few of ABC’s top rated programs on-line after their television broadcast may just be the beginning of a trend.
On Friday, Newscorp’s Fox Network announced that they will be making up to 60% of their prime-time schedule available online after the shows are broadcast. Unlike Disney/ABC, Fox has worked this out as part of 6 year deal with their affiliate stations - clearly not looking to break the old network business structure apart just yet.
The one big piece to this that still needs an industry wide agreement is the compensation of artists for on-line delivered content. This will probably be the single biggest issue that will need to be addressed going forward.
While there are some some big unknowns with moving to a new business model, it is clear that the current media marketplace is broken. Time-shifting and place-shifting are becoming mainstream, and traditional broadcast advertising is being ‘fast-forwarded’ into ineffectiveness. Unlike the recording industry (which wants to blame everyone else for their problems) the television networks understand the need for action and are moving to redefine their businesses and try new approaches for revenue generation.
It’s encouraging to see.
This is all evolving rapidly. As a few more of the big networks go the route of Disney and Newscorp, I would expect a tipping point to be reached that will bring most of the rest on board. And as with most tipping points, once they are hit, the change will be quick and irreversible.
It should be an exciting ride...
Monday, April 17, 2006
