Tag Archives: TV

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Pay TV Bundle Erodes

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Chris Dorr

“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

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Chris Dorr

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 →

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

Will Hollywood learn from The Fault in Our Stars?

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Chris Dorr

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 →

Posted in Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

How Cable TV Invented Crowd Funding

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Chris Dorr

We assume that crowd funding first appeared when Kickstarter launched five years ago. We may be wrong. You see, the cable television business invented crowd funding a long time ago, when they created the basic cable bundle. The basic cable … Continue reading →

Posted in Cable, Distribution, Innovation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

When (and Why) Did I Start Paying for CBS?

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Chris Dorr

The broadcast TV business model has always been very simple.  Convince a large number of people to view your show at the same time and advertisers will pay a lot for the right to get their attention. This is how … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Cable, Distribution, Innovation, Internet, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Will Half of TV Melt Away?

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Chris Dorr

Television shows have always worked as a binding agent in American culture since they exploded onto the scene in the 1950’s.  Gathering around the tube to witness a live event or a popular show on the night when a new … Continue reading →

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The Memo Deep Inside HBO

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Deep inside HBO’s New York offices is a memo that was originally created 5 years ago.  Each year it gets updated with new numbers and projections.  This document is controlled by its corporate strategy group and it lays out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution, Innovation, Internet, Television, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Everything You Wanted to Know About Cord Cutting but Were Afraid to Ask

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Chris Dorr

This review also appears on PBS Mediashift. We have never really liked our local cable company. Over the years, many of us have wasted time waiting for the cable guy to show up to install or replace the box that … Continue reading →

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Another Crack in the Mass Media Wall

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Chris Dorr

Our mass media ecosystem relies on a constant flow of money to sustain itself in its present form. This flow of money comes from many directions, including but not limited to TV advertising revenue, basic and premium cable subscriber fees … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The great untold story: Netflix is TV Everywhere!

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Chris Dorr

Something very dramatic is going on and so far I have seen no good detailed reporting about it. Netflix is quietly becoming available on massive numbers of TV screens across the US and no one seems to be noticing. The … Continue reading →

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