General press

Netflix Just Won't Be Netflix With Ads
April 7, 2022 Of course two revenue streams seem better than one, but when they require different strategies the risk is damaging an existing and distinctive value proposition.

How Local Content Rules on Streamers Could Seriously Backfire
March 17, 2021 Calls to require global streaming services operating in Australia to spend on new Australian come with risks and are unlikely to lead to the goal of securing more Australian stories,

The Old News Business Model is Broken January 29, 2020 Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon developed superior advertising tools and have drawn the spending advertisers once offered newspapers. There is no “saving” newspapers, but journalism can be saved.

TV has Changed, so Must the Way We Support Local Content with Anna PotterJune 11, 2020 Local content quotas and other policy designed for television as it was 50 years ago, needs update to be effective. An Australian production fund provides an efficient solution.

Save Our Screens: 3 Things Government Must Do Now to Keep Australian Content Alive with Anna Potter
March 5 2020 Changes in the television industry pose major challenges to the future of Australian television, and require new policy approaches.

Why the Streaming Wars Are a Myth, with Ramon Lobato
November, 9, 2019 Apple, Netflix, and Disney appear to be in a race to take over your binge-TV queue. But they’re all playing different games.

Putting a Leash on Google and Facebook Won’t Do Much to Save the Traditional News Model
July 29, 2019 Australia’s investigation of digital advertising on Google and Facebook reveals the complexity of the issues, but regulating them won’t bring advertising back to news.

Amazon, Google and Facebook Warrant Antitrust Scrutiny
June 26, 2019 Antitrust concerns are much bigger than size and complicated nature of transactions – including sharing data – make these companies unlike those typical of antitrust.

Data Talent the Key as Netflix, Disney, and WarnerMedia Square Off
March 21, 2019 Instead of being tech or media companies, all streaming video companies need execs expert in developing content and understanding data about what is viewed. But how are data experts faring in legacy media companies?

Profit, Not Free Speech, Governs Big Media Companies’ Decisions on Controversial Content
August 15, 2018 The decision by Apple and Facebook to pull Alex Jones' Info Wars follows a long history of self-regulation by media companies in which the bottom line is a far stronger force than governmental regulation.

We'll Be Watching TV Very Differently From Now On — the AT&T and Time Warner Merger is Just the Beginning 
July 15, 2018  Not all media companies are the same--deals that allow a company to control content and distribution, like the AT&T/Time Warner deal should concern consumers. 

Why Sinclair's Scripted News in Dangerous
April 4, 2018  What is Sinclair, what is it doing, and why does it matter? This quick explainer covers these key points.

‘Big Tech’ isn’t one big monopoly – it’s 5 companies all in different businesses
March 23, 2018 'Tech' may seem a single industry, but exploring how companies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft earn revenue reveals how different they really are. 

Defanged regulations have big media licking their chops
Jan 10, 2018 The major regulatory actions of the FCC and Justice Department in 2017 will continue to affect media industries and their consumers in 2018. This article considers how.

When Envisioning the Future of TV, Think of a Shopping Mall
Nov 28, 2017  Just as all clothing stores don't compete directly with each other or department stores, not all internet-distributed television services compete. Understanding the differences in these business is key to the developing competitive environment.

Why Disney’s New Streaming Service Won’t Hurt Netflix
Aug. 11, 2017 Announcements that Disney will launch a Disney and ESPN portal in the U.S. illustrates how we're entering the next phase of internet-distributed television competition.

Game of Thrones' Path to Becoming TV's First Global Blockbuster

July 15, 2017 Even in an era of exceptional television and "peak TV" new phenomena emerge, though not for the obvious reasons.

ESPN Layoffs Is The Latest In Timeline Of Setbacks For Cable TV Networks

May 2, 2017 Even the mightiest cable channel is facing disruption of its business as the television ecosystem adjusts to new distribution services. 

How Netflix Forced Major Changes in the TV Industry

April 5, 2017 Netflix has seamlessly adapted to new technologies and disrupted existing business models. But unlike traditional media enterprises, Netflix has never tried to attract a mass audience.

Online TV revolution: Hulu and Google could upend the TV industry in 2017

Dec 25, 2016 A look at how plans by Hulu and Google to offer "cable" services will affect the television industry.

Why TCA Executive Sessions Aren't Optional

Dec 02, 2016 Using a public good imposes responsibilities on broadcast networks. Facing the questions of the industry's journalists is one of them. 

What Twitter's Streaming Experiment Means for the Future of Live TV

October 4, 2016 Live events like sports seemed immune to streaming services' assault on traditional broadcast TV. Now that might change.

Appeals Court Upholds Net Neutrality Rules – Why You Should Care

June 16, 2016 A review of how and why net neutrality are important and what this legal test tells us about the future of the internet in the U.S.

What CBS All Access Reveals about the Future of Television

June 3, 2016 As a pioneering "studio portal" CBS illustrates how increased vertical integration may be a crucial strategy for portals and how different the task of curating a library may be from building a schedule.

Poised to Make Its Next Big Move, Netflix Isn’t In the Business You Think It’s In

May 2, 2016   As Netflix braces itself to disrupt the model of global television distribution, the company appears poised to remain influential – though, again, in unexpected ways.

How OTT Hides Television's Revolution

March 2016 The persistent discussion of "OTT" as a separate category of television obscures the more profound implications of what has actually transpired--the emergence of a new mechanism for distributing television.

Why 2015 Was the Year that Changed TV Forever

Dec. 23, 2015 A look at big shifts in U.S. television distribution in 2015.

Original or Exclusive? Shifts in Television Financing and Distribution Shift Meanings

Jan 1, 2016 Tim Havens and I consider the dilemmas created by new distribution practices and argue the importance of precision in terming shows "original" versus exclusive regardless of how they are marketed.

Congress Should Legislate Open Internet

Oct. 2, 2015 An outdated regulatory regime cannot respond to the complicated intersection of technologies, delivery services, and content providers now the norm. The next wave of innovation will require a bold act from Congressional leadership showcasing America’s commitment to an Open Internet.

Three Digital Americas

Aug. 10, 2015 Perhaps the surprise over this year's FCC actions can be explained by the fact that regulators and executives live in a different digital America than most of the country. Is high-speed internet access and competition for everyone, or just those who live in the enclaves media executives and regulators happen to live in?

How Profitable Was AMC’s Mad Men?

May 15, 2015 Far more profound than what has happened to Don Draper in the last eight years is what has happened to AMC. The channel moved from obscurity to a channel that would be missed if a cable system dropped it. Though Mad Men’s story was about advertising, AMC’s strategy for the show was not.

How Television’s Funding Model Traps It In the Past

April 30, 2015 Despite the constant flurry of news about “skinny” bundles and “over-the-top” (OTT) viewing, there is one very big reason to expect that the arrival of the “future of television” remains years off.

Fresh Off the Boat and the Rise of Niche TV

Mar. 6, 2015 The new ABC family comedy Fresh Off the Boat is being hailed for returning, at last, an Asian-American family to US television – the first since 1994’s short-lived comedy All-American Girl. When looking at Fresh Off the Boat and All-American Girl – and analyzing their respective fates – it’s important to consider the extraordinary transformation of US television in the intervening decades. The changes – part of a shift toward more targeted programming – are so pronounced that it’s fair to ask whether today’s TV shows can even be compared to those of 1995.

Channel Bundles Persist--For Now--Despite Digital Disruption

Jan. 2015 There may be no more irksome issue for contemporary media consumers than the persistence of the “cable bundle” — the requirement to buy access to cable channels in large, provider-determined packages. This article explains why the bundle persists as well as some reasons to think its days as the dominant form of programming transaction may be numbered.

The End of "This Year's Best in Television"

Dec 31, 2014 The increasing anachronism of yearly “best of” television lists is clear. What were the best things I watched in 2014? The final season of Breaking Bad, Louie, The Affair, True Detective; select episodes of Homeland, Game of Thrones, and Sons of Anarchy; but also the first and second season of House of Cards—though season one was a product of 2013—and iTV’s Broadchurch, also of 2013.

Modern Family's Modern Fathers

June 14, 2015 21st century television fathers reveal the complexity of modern fatherhood.

Binging Isn't Quite the Word

Oct. 29, 2014 I’ve been searching for a word to capture my new viewing habit. Though “binging” and the somewhat less pathologized “marathoning” have emerged to describe the behavior of consuming many episodes of a series in rapid succession, contemporary control and distribution technologies also allow a distinct, but not so rapid form of consumption.

Don Draper’s Sad Manhood: What Makes Mad Men Different from Breaking Bad, Sopranos

Apr. 11, 2014 Modern men aren’t allowed the narcissism of Mad Men — but Don Draper’s not exactly a ’60s guy, either