"There’s a myth out there among some newspapers folks that “if only” the newspapers hadn’t committed the “original sin” of putting content online for free, the newspapers wouldn’t be facing difficulties these days. It’s the kind of story that sounds good if you don’t look too closely at the details. … However, it looks like Mark Cuban believes in that “original sin” concept, and is posting a series of blog posts to try to prevent TV networks from making the same “mistake.” It started with the claim that anyone who thinks TV is going a la carte online is crazy, because the “content companies” will never give up the fees they earn from the networks. … He (like NBC Universal execs) laughs off the “threat” of people switching to all online access to TV content, noting that very few people have done so. This surprises me, since you’d think that Cuban would be familiar enough with Clayton Christensen’s work to know that just because there are only a few early adopters (and the quality isn’t as good) that it doesn’t mean that it’s not a potential threat. In fact, those questions are basically the de facto list of questions that an “incumbent” player tends to ask when facing a Christensen-style “innovator’s dilemma” just before the upstart technology really begins to hurt the legacy business."
Mike Masnick @ Mark Cuban Declares War On Free TV Online… But Misses Out On The Economics | Techdirt
free online tv is pissing a lot of people off.
