The media revolution that isn’t being televised

[Commentary] Millennials are driving transformation of the paid video market, accelerating a wave of disruptive innovation that pre-dates the Internet. The more the programmers dig in in an effort to protect the income they get from traditional pay-tv providers (MVPDs), ironically, the faster they are assuring the eventual collapse of the old model. But the programmers’ strategy is isn’t as schizophrenic as it looks.

Their hope is that Internet-only services will only attract those who don’t already subscribe to an MVPD service and who aren’t likely to in the future. While MVPDs have lost millions of subscribers in the last few years, content providers have placed severe restrictions on their licenses with over-the-top alternatives. MVPDs need to react quickly to the changing dynamics of the emerging video ecosystem, freed from both their protections and restrictions if they have any hope of creating new services that can compete for the next generation of video consumers.

[Larry Downes is a project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy]