The New Deal

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Ben Grossman]
Last year, the TV industry discovered a variety of new ways to deliver their shows - on iPods, on video phones, even online. This year, they vow to figure out how to make money off of them. Programmers thrive when new distribution pipes open, but some TV executives cutting the deals say they are making it up as they go along. While it is still unclear whether consumers will pay to watch TV on a small screen, executives are already struggling to construct the proper template to make big profits if they do. With each new announcement, many say privately they fear being left behind. When Apple and ABC set the market by announcing their $1.99-per-download deal last October, it set off a flurry of number crunching, as broadcast networks and studios tried to come up with the right set of rules to make money. Now dealmakers are desperately trying to value everything from cellphone clips of 24 to old episodes of Adam 12. Some of these executives still quietly maintain that last year's announcements amount to little more than hype. TV executives say that, in the coming year, several business trends will emerge as guides for these new deals: 1) There's not much revenue yet from selling TV content to small screen (cell phone, portable media players) consumers. 2) The ability for consumers to buy on-demand, download and own both new and classic television shows could signal a challenge ahead for the red-hot TV-on-DVD market. 3) More hits will be available as copyright issues are settled. 4) As technology evolves ever more rapidly, one of the biggest challenges for TV programmers will be getting different divisions of the company on the same page.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6295747?display=Feature&referral=SUPP
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