Publications

The television landscape is in a state of flux. In this new environment, profit-driven media companies have to balance tradeoffs between traditional and new channels of video distribution to optimize returns on their investments in content generation. This chapter describes the challenges traditional television service providers face in adapting their strategies to an environment in which the internet is playing an increasingly prominent role as a new distribution channel. In the short to intermediate run there is the challenge of finding ways to monetize an internet audience without cannibalizing profits earned through traditional distribution channels. The longer-term challenge is adapting to a distribution technology that embeds a fundamentally different economic logic for video market organization. In this chapter, we describe and analyze current trends in the internet television market and traditional television industry players’ efforts to respond to the opportunities and threats posed by internet distribution.