More thoughts on convergence:
I remember the first time I ever heard of cable television. It was It was a conversation between my father and a few other adults. "No one is going to pay for something they get for free". Ah, but they have more programs available and no commercials. "Well maybe for something like that with better reception".
The cable companies took years to put the infrastructure in place, and
lost tons of money doing so. But they had a vision, and they calculated their worth not by the dollars rolling in, but by the number of households they controlled. When the Mergers and Acquisitions began, that is how they were valued. Not by their balance sheets, but rather by the way they had positioned themselves, and by the number of teams and sports they dominated, Oops I mean households.
My cable bill is now $68.00 per month. Your welcome Mr. Dolan, Mr.
Murdoch, Mr. Turner etc. etc..
Convergence.
Digital Convergence is no longer a concept, it is a reality. Why do you think Microsoft bought Web TV? etc. etc.
The distribution of all this new and great media takes place on the big pipelines built and put together by the Fox's, NBC's, ACTV's, Yahoo's, AOL's, ESPN Sports Zone, etc. They build these great pipelines and now begin pumping water. Oh yes the water begins to flow. But my water tastes just like his water and her water. But look, is it, yes it is....There is Perrier flowing through that pipeline. Now that tastes different. I like it, it is more satisfying than plain old water. What
is the name of this great tasting water and where does it come from.
And for those that can't connect the dots.... we add content to the water that makes it taste different and better then the other water. |
