Re: Original Holmes cards

[P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

Larry Berlin wrote:

> **********************   The very fact that the TV industry sees their
> numbers significantly changing as a result of Internet usage is the
> tell-tale that seems significant.

I'd be interested in your source for this fact, Larry. The numbers I see every 
day indicate otherwise. Network share of viewing in prime time has basically 
leveled off over the past several years at a very dominent level. Cable has 
likewise leveled off, but their *combined* share is about half that of the 
networks (that's all cable channels combined).  VCR usage increases more 
slowly than in years past, and trails a distant third. DBS is not growing in 
any meaningful way in the context of these numbers. And then we have the 
comparatively very small number of households with PCs, even fewer with 
internet access. With the average family spending 7 hours and 14 minutes in 
front of the TV every day, whatever fractional gains internet usage is 
experiencing, it is not significant at this point when compared to the 
dominence of television. In sort, the TV industry is not seeing their numbers 
significantly changing as a result of Internet usage.

Will this change? Likely so. Do we know when? Do we know in what direction?
Will internet growth emulate the cable model, meaning a small slice of the pie 
will be spread in miniscule portions accross hundreds of thusands/millions of 
web sites? No one has the answers to these questions, but...

> The Internet will always offer
> more unique *programming* precisely because it's not homogenized and
> produced by the relatively small TV industry. (compared to the population
> involved in using and writing/creating for the internet.)

...one thing we do know, that the most powerful of the internet, PC, and 
telecommunications companies are moving to form partnerships with television 
entities such as broadcast and cable networks. This is because these are the 
people who know the mass market programming business and will likely play a 
major role in programming the mass market internet of the future (and the 
present, BTW!), 3-D or otherwise.

Sorry to continue off topic here...


Eric G.


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