In this article from reuters.com, Sue Zeidler examines how the television industry needs to find a way to continue to profit in a rapidly changing TV world. Consumers are finding different ways to watch the programs they like. People can often watch their shows anytime and anywhere.
The times of watching programs at designated times is coming to an end. Tivos, DVRs and the internet give people the ability to watch Television at their convenience. The bigger networks are feeling the hurt as they face declining advertising revenue, dwindling viewership and rising production costs.
How can networks deal with this dilema? Can they just start charge people to watch TV on the internet. Marc Graboff, chairman of NBC entertainment, recomends charging viewers to stream episodes shortly after airing, affectively narrowing viewing “windows”.
That seems like a fine idea but I think they might have already screwed themselves. The situation is similar to that of the news industry. By offering news for free online, news organizations hurt the sales of their print editions and are now struggling to make profits on the internet. By letting consumers view episodes for free online, through websites like hulu.com, can television networks simply just start charging people to watch? They’ve put themselves in quite a pickle? If someone is already getting something for free, why would they want to start paying for it unless they absolutely had to. The solution is not that simple.
