Roger McNamee On Video on the Internet

plasticmillion writes "Roger McNamee, venture capitalist and author of The New Normal has just posted the third part of a fascinating series on his blog entitled "Video on the Internet". Here are parts one and two. His basic premise is that media companies are trying to treat the internet as a normal distribution channel like broadcast or DVD, but they need to learn that there are new rules to this game if they are to avoid the errors committed by the music industry. The user comments are also a must read, with luminaries like Marc Andreessen chiming in with their insights."

Comments

TV on the Internet

[Acius]

I would love to see TV stations offering their programs over the Internet. I'd even pay for it -- probably a higher rate for recent shows, with discounts if I buy an entire season at once, for example.

I guess a lot of people think that, but my reason's a little different. I'm an American, but most of the TV I watch is in Japanese. It's very hard to get Japanese TV in the U.S., and for most shows there's no way to do it without breaking copyright laws. If I had a legal way of getting shows from other countries, I would be willing to pay a premium for this.

For me, it's not a question of convenience, it's a question of being able to do legally that which I currently cannot.

Re:Spot On

[Anonymous Coward]

what'll it look like as the barriers come down to hosting your own shows?

Pretty much what the web looks like now with people hosting their own sites: one helluva bunch of crap.

All That Glitters

[Doc Ruby]

Andreesen is a "luminary"? Maybe to venture capitalists, especially the clueless lemmings among them. But to anyone else in the know, he's just a one-hit wonder, who jumped the shark in 1993 when he invented (appropriated) the HTML tag. Since then, he had a flare as Netscape spokesmodel, while Jim Clark and an army of optioned programmers did all the heavy lifting. He's been nobody for years, and his tag is one of the worst hacks HTML inflicted on the Net. Andreesen is like a barium enema, a "luminous" tracer that radiates his promoters' ignorance and blind brand loyalty.

The movie industry ADAPTING?

[ShatteredDream]

Fat chance of that! They are still getting used to that "VHS and DVD thang." They hire actors and actresses for as much as $20,000,000 then whine that their movies cannot make a profit at $52,000,000 in average revenue. You don't have to be an accountant to realize that there are few thespians who are worth that much money to the public. Most of the time when people react to previews of cool looking movies, the actors and actresses are only one of many variables.

I'd like to make a bet with the CEOs of every major studio. Make only 10% of your "serious" movies each year with the big names and then do everything else with people that look really good coming out of acting school who have a passion for the job. Cut those movie tickets 50% in cost, and put just as much money into script writing, directing and special effects as the other 10%.

I bet that within a few years, those 90% will be significantly more profitable because people will be able to not only see a cool movie, but see it for as little as $2.50 for senior citizens and not even $4.00 for mattinee in most small to medium sized towns. People under 25, who are a major part of the market, have lots of disposable income and little responsibility right now, would be able to afford to easily go see several movies a week.

People are more likely to blow $3.00-$4.00 on a movie ticket on a whim than $8.00 which is what I pay in a town of not even $60,000 25% of which are college students. It'd give the movie studios an edge over illegal downloading because most people under 25, especially guys, wouldn't think any big deal of spending $6.00-$8.00 a few times a week on a date, but when it's say... $16-$20 before the food is factored in. My God. At that rate, a diamond is looking like a bargain by comparison...

And lastly, where is the direct purchasing online of cheap new DVDs? Why can't I go online to a studio's website and buy a few of their new, "non-special" releases for $10.00 each before shipping and handling? It costs them $1.00 tops to make the damn thing. Why aren't they biting at the chance to scoop up $9.00 of revenue, much of which will be pure profit and will go toward making customers like buying from them? That's the solution to piracy right there. $10.00 or under on all new regular releases and you'll sell a lot thanks to an economy of scale effect.

But then again, that'd require their CEOs to take a step outside of the ivory tower of corporate lobbying and grandstanding and want to do their jobs. Heaven forbid that they actually be really... daring. Heaven forbid they take a real risk that hurt the company badly, but that could finally end their piracy woes entirely.