0
CBS vs. Fox and NBC, Who Is Right?
It now seems that the major Hollywood studios have chosen two different paths when it comes to offering their content over the Internet. CBS, as the Wired interview with its Chairman reveals, doesn’t really care how you watch its offerings as long as it gets paid for it somehow. Warner Brothers is also following suit to a certain extent as it has its content broadcast with online companies like Joost. Fox and NBC on the other hand are planning to launch their own “YouTube killer” sooner or later which would offer both network’s shows online, but in a manner controlled by the networks. Is there a better plan? Who has the best idea? Let’s explore.
On first glance I would say CBS is going to be the immediate winner in this battle. They have already signed deals that gets their shows off their own website, where even the network admits no one has watched it, and onto sites that actually do have regular viewers. The logic here is simple, the more places that have CBS shows on their sites, the more people will watch those shows. Their approach is to let us, the viewers, choose when where and how we want to watch our television. Many people, such as myself, already have a preferred way of getting our online video, but wouldn’t venture off to CBS’s own site to watch a show. Now that it available on Joost, for example, I am ten times more likely to check out a show than I was previously.
Fox and NBC have decided to go with their own solution and create a new online site where all the shows from both networks will be available. Few details have as yet emerged about the program, but it is supposedly of YouTubeish nature. Among the internet intelligencia this will not fly well. The internet elite hate to be compelled to choose just one way to get something done (except when Apple releases anything), so they will be resistant to be forced onto this new site. Whether or not the public at large accepts yet another new online site is up in the air. Much of the success or failure of the new venture rests on the details of the project. Will we be forced to sit through commercials like we do on TV (commercials on the computer are much more painful than they are on TV, where they can just be tuned out)? Can the episodes, or specific parts of the episodes be shared with friends, commented on, blogged about, etc.? If Fox and NBC really understand what the new internet era is about then their site will have all these features, and their product will truly be compelling. If they are intent on making this project just pushing play and watching the show, in other words just another way of distributing content to people then it will be a miserable failure. The choice is up to them.
I am very interested to see which path ends up being the winner. There is a possibility the internet is just big enough for both methods to be successful, but there is always a winner and loser in the world of business.
Leave a Reply
