Skip to content

Comment on The Release Windows Archaism

Comments

On the perpetually debated issue of technologizing old-media all I can say is this: the big players, the Googles, Facebooks, etc., simply need to stop playing the waiting game and fully commit to producing their own content. To do this they have to be savvy enough to hire the right visionary and give them enough leeway to scout talent, produce content, buy programming, invest in a studio, and whatnot to make the inevitable future happen.

The question I can't answer is if there is any advantage to being a first-mover? And that's perhaps why no large technology player is taking that first step.

The big technology players don't want to enter this game because it is too dangerous. Everyone knows that a movie big flop can complicate the whole quarter for a movie company. Why would Google and others expose themselves to this risk? Also, they would become much less credible as technology providers for other content companies, which by itself would reduce a lot of the profit they generate. In other words, I wouldn't expect this happening anytime soon.

Well, Amazon is signing up authors, and if their first foray is successful, I can see them expanding to music, but video is in a completely different level. While digital filming has reduced cost, it has also increased quality expectations, so the cost for one TV episode hasn't changed all that drastically in the last 20 years or so.

If we see tech companies creating their own content, those probably won't be the giants. I think Netflix or Hulu are much more likely to start experimenting in this direction, since it's much closer to their core business.

Probably because its expensive and requires a lot of people and isn't amenable to automation even a cheap show is running at 1M per hour.

It will be interesting to see how BT Vision plays out in the UK.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.