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The problem with media bundles

At a recent presentation, I held up two newspapers to illustrate a point. "This is what's wrong with old media," I said. "It bundles so much unwanted news with news I care about at that moment."

At the time, I wanted to get prepared for the presentation by reading up on the latest news on the topic I was interested in. (If I had my laptop,  I would have searched for news.) Unfortunately, all I received was what the editors of the papers felt was worth reading and it turned out that was no help whatsoever.

It was a reminder to me of how much we're really starting to dislike bundled media packages.

This mentality is killing the newspaper industry. It is also disrupting the music industry.  "Disaggregation of the album" is one of the biggest games changers in the music industry, Larry Kenswil, President of eLabs Universal Music, told me in a recent interview.  And, now this un-bundling problem is becoming a real challenge for TV show content owners. The problem is that they can't just throw in bad content in with good content, much like they do with their cable contracts today.

Read the column on MarketWatch and take the poll surveying Net Sense readers on which way they'd like to pay for their digital video. The options are: 99-cent, 24-hour rentals; $1.99 purchases; $20-a-month unlimited rental, a la Netflix; $50-a-month "all you can eat" content, including on-demand programs; Free content, but with built-in commercials.

I cast my vote for the Netflix rental model (It's just too bad it doesn't exist today).

Read Net Sense on MarketWatch

 

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