Why the TV Industry Can’t Ignore Apple
[Commentary] While television executives are starting to embrace the Internet as a vehicle for distribution, they are still doing so reluctantly. If they had their way, they would keep total control of distribution for themselves and drive their viewers only to their dedicated sites for viewing their shows. But the Internet has forced them to open up a bit.
Little by little, they are doling out their top shows to dedicated partners who they trust to help them keep some semblance of control so that they can maximize their earning potential and, if possible, try to keep their customers within their network family as much as they can. However, in this world of digital content, they are now realizing that while they ruled the roost in the world of broadcast television, they have become just another channel among thousands of channels that consumers can choose for viewing video content. But what they don’t seem to get is that in this digital world, they will need new distribution partners and they will not have as much control over them as in the past. And I also don’t think they really understand the idea that people want to have access to that content anytime, anywhere and on any device they own. Enter Apple, who if the rumors are to believed, has been calling on the executives of all the networks and trying to cut deals with them for Apple’s new TV initiatives. And I am hearing that they are resisting Apple’s partnership offers as Apple wants to pay them next to nothing to carry this content and they fear that Apple will do to them what it did to the music industry.
Why the TV Industry Can’t Ignore Apple