>> TV is an expensive medium (even if it's published on the web) <<
Could you elaborate on this if you have time? My take on the business model has been that the web allows a kind of substitution which enables "micro" market niches.
I.e., in those places where size has been necessary for the knowledge and necessary equipment base (in this case a TV station with all its regulations, space, libraries, staff, large scale equipment, etc.), we can enable a different very low cost business model through a distributed knowledge base (the WEB), high speed access (not traditional broadcast), and more intimate consumer/producer relationships.
As to the quality issue; its true that video via Internet is currently of low quality. But I see this as a similar phenomenon to the original TV vs film, or the market battles that were triggered with the advent of the then "low quality" 5 1/4 disk drives; and that this is only a technical restriction that will be overcome relatively shortly.
This "new" video phenomenon originates in a very different and much lower cost structure that traditional TV. Since, companies like TVontheWEB are not locked into the resource and margin constraints as traditional TV there will a good chance to "attack from below", once DSL and similar technologies reach the majority of consumers.
The key observation is that TV on the WEB is addressing a different marketplace and creating a new customer base which has very little to do with traditional TV.
Thure |
