Tag Archives: consumers

The Achilles Heel of the Cable Networks

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Chris Dorr

In Betting Against the Cable Bundle, Emily Steel captures some of the fault lines that exist in today’s mass media ecosystem. A cable TV provider, Suddenlink Communications, is in a dispute with Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns several cable … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadband, Cable, Distribution, Internet, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Will Hollywood learn from The Fault in Our Stars?

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Chris Dorr

In June of 2012 I wrote Another Crack in the Mass Media Wall, a post that detailed how Lionsgate effectively used social media for the first time to get a huge opening weekend for The Hunger Games. It is worth … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

How Cable TV Invented Crowd Funding

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Chris Dorr

We assume that crowd funding first appeared when Kickstarter launched five years ago. We may be wrong. You see, the cable television business invented crowd funding a long time ago, when they created the basic cable bundle. The basic cable … Continue reading →

Posted in Cable, Distribution, Innovation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

When TV Viewers Get Control

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Chris Dorr

Netflix released the second season of the House of Cards Friday February 14, 2014.  All thirteen episodes were immediately available. My wife and I viewed 5 of them in one afternoon.  We plan to complete the season within the next … Continue reading →

Posted in Cable, Distribution, Hollywood, Innovation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

When (and Why) Did I Start Paying for CBS?

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Chris Dorr

The broadcast TV business model has always been very simple.  Convince a large number of people to view your show at the same time and advertisers will pay a lot for the right to get their attention. This is how … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Cable, Distribution, Innovation, Internet, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Is ESPN worth what we are forced to pay?

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Chris Dorr

Recently The New York Times revealed how much the typical cable operator (TWC or Comcast) pays per month for ESPN.  For each subscriber the operator pays $5.54 for ESPN and .70 for ESPN 2-a grand total of $6.24 per month.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Cable, Distribution, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The 1,000 True Fans Strategy

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Chris Dorr

In the movie business, the audience is usually described as either mass or niche.  Typically, Hollywood movies seek a mass audience and independent movies seek a niche audience. Today, there is a new way of thinking about the audience that … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution, Independent Film, Innovation, Internet, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Are you Mister Jones?

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Chris Dorr

In 1965 Bob Dylan released Ballad of the Thin Man, which contains this memorable three line chorus, “Because something is happening here. But you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mister Jones?” These lines were referenced in an excellent … Continue reading →

Posted in Independent Film, Innovation, Internet | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The great untold story: Netflix is TV Everywhere!

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Chris Dorr

Something very dramatic is going on and so far I have seen no good detailed reporting about it. Netflix is quietly becoming available on massive numbers of TV screens across the US and no one seems to be noticing. The … Continue reading →

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In this digital age, what is a filmmaker?

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Chris Dorr

Isn’t it curious in this age where more moving images get created and distributed digitally that there is this group of people who still call themselves “filmmakers”?  It seems a term that is so archaic, so analogue, so yesterday’s news. … Continue reading →

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