Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Is the TV Business doomed...?

I'm a bit late in finding this, but this link: http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-analysts-begin-to-realize-that-theres-no-way-to-save-television-2009-6 is to a provocative article whose premise is that the TV business as we know it is in roughly the same position that the newspaper business was in back around 2002. Take a quick look, I'll wait...

OK, now that you've read it, what do you think?

While it certainly makes for an interesting story, I am not sure that the analogy works. There are too many differences between TV and Newspapers.

Still, if I were Brian Roberts, or if I were working for him, I would be looking at alternative methods to monetize the delivery of unique content.

But the problem is not just theirs. The reality is that if people are not willing to pay for good content, then they will get exactly what they pay for... Tanstaafl --There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. While everyone bemoans the death of the newspapers, I wonder where the average reader expects to get his/her independently reported news once that happens. At current rates, the internet news economy is not generating enough income to pay dedicated reporters...

Food for thought...