Saturday, October 21, 2006

TV is changing

The LA Times had a front page article on the flood of copyrighted sporting event video being posted on Youtube. The networks are ambivalent. On one hand, their "property" is being distributed for free, on the other, it is good publicity, the image quality is poor, and the videos are of limited length.

But what of the future? How is a program televised today?


  • A network crew produces the show.
  • Where relevant, they include paid references to products in the show (product placement).
  • The network publicizes the show.
  • The network distributes (broadcasts) the show.
  • Sponsors produce commercials.
  • Sponsors pay the network to distribute the commercials.
  • We watch the program when it is broadcast or record it if digital rights management software allows that.

How might it work in the future when we all have high-speed Internet connections to our homes?

  • The sponsor produces the show, and includes periodic announcements that the show is "brought to you" by them.
  • When relevant, they place their products or others in the program.
  • They put it on Internet servers.
  • We watch it at a convenient time.

Who wins in the latter scenario? Who loses?

No comments:

Post a Comment