Digital Impasse

DIGITAL IMPASSE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Anne Becker]
Nearly half the network shows on the primetime grid this fall are produced by third-party studios -- independents like Sony Pictures Television or studios owned by the parent of a rival network. But NBC’s medical comedy Scrubs, produced by ABC’s corporate sibling Touchstone Television, is one of only a handful of such shows available for download on iTunes. What gives? A year after ABC began offering its primetime hits on iTunes, kicking off a scramble to put network shows on emerging platforms, networks and third-party studios are still battling over digital-distribution rights, revenue-sharing and branding for their shows. While the studios are as eager as the networks to dip a toe into digital distribution, they are wary of disrupting their proven revenue streams. "We need to be careful that we don't allow the growth of new business models to have a negative impact on the downstream value of the content without offsetting the lost revenue from those downstream values," says Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Brothers Television Group
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