Category Archives: Distribution

What is Premium (Video) Content?

Video content continues to proliferate online. None of us can keep up with all of it, let alone most of it. In this environment, we hear the phrase, “content is king” uttered by countless defenders of the Hollywood industrial complex, … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Marketing, Movie Theaters, Old Media, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Advice For a Potential Client (creating new IP in the age of social mobile video)

Last week I had an extensive discussion with a large cable network who wants to launch a new franchise online. Ideally this new franchise would work in many markets across the world, playable in multiple languages. We had a long … Continue reading

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Does TV Have Any Gifts Left for Its Viewers?

Netflix continues to challenge the distribution model of traditional, linear TV. Rich Greenfield points out in a recent blog post that plain old TV cannot catch a break from this onslaught. As he writes, “If you think of the core … Continue reading

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Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Pay TV Bundle Erodes

“How did you go bankrupt?” Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” —-Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises The Internet does one thing very well (among others). It destroys business models, particularly those long held by legacy media companies. Two years I … Continue reading

Posted in Broadband, Cable, Distribution, Innovation, Internet, Old Media, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Achilles Heel of the Cable Networks

In Betting Against the Cable Bundle, Emily Steel captures some of the fault lines that exist in today’s mass media ecosystem. A cable TV provider, Suddenlink Communications, is in a dispute with Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns several cable … Continue reading

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Media and a Strong Culture of Experimentation

Sometimes you read something that says it all. A group of sentences that you wish you had come up with (but sadly did not).   Yesterday I came across one of those gems while reading an interview with Amy O’Leary, recently … Continue reading

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Film in the Future and Fan Uploaded Content

I recently did a radio interview with Spark, hosted by Nora Young, on CBC Radio One. If you live in Canada you can hear it today at 1PM NT or you can hear it now on the Spark blog under … Continue reading

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Will Hollywood learn from The Fault in Our Stars?

In June of 2012 I wrote Another Crack in the Mass Media Wall, a post that detailed how Lionsgate effectively used social media for the first time to get a huge opening weekend for The Hunger Games. It is worth … Continue reading

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The Comcast Tax and Broadband Shell Game

Cable companies operate two distinct lines of business. Traditionally they bundle and resell linear TV networks.  The cable company feeds these networks into our homes and provides the interface that lists the content for our selection.  The cable company pays … Continue reading

Posted in Broadband, Cable, Distribution, Internet | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Movie Studios: Blinded by Piracy

When a bull enters the ring, the matador pulls out a red cape and waves it in front of his eyes.  Predictably the bull goes mad and charges toward the cape.  He leaves all his better instincts behind.  We all … Continue reading

Posted in Distribution, Hollywood, Independent Film, Innovation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments