It's April Fool's Day, But This Is No Joke!

Well it39s finally quotinfrastructure weekquot so it seems like a good time to look around and get ready for a new ecosystem that is just in progress not at the mature game amp8230 yetSo there39s time to think and to actOn the one hand quotstreamingquot is the relatively new poster child that defines I almost typed quotdivinesquot the future of the video and data and email and quotpublicationsquot distribution system known as the quotinternetquotBut does streaming really define the internetTo a large degree yes amp8230 and there has been much tearing of garments agonizing over the death of local overtheair TV because of the National Football League scoring a 100 billion 11year advertising deal with existing national nets and their local broadcast affiliates with reverse compensation that is ABC CBS NBC and Fox their owned and operated stations and affiliates Does it really signal the end of television as we know itFor today not really In 11 years or so Yeah maybeIn the meantime we39ve got today and today is not standing still Next Gen 30 broadcasting is experimenting all over the place A streaming package is being distributed over the local TV station39s spectrum to consumers in Boise Idaho with a second market on the way albeit a small adjacent one with its own spectrum A number of 5G wireless deployments are being tested for the internet via broadcast towers There39s the proliferation of other channels such as broadcast channels for Scripps via quotmust carryquot that dodges the retransmission question And speaking of retransmission consent how much consent is too much as some NFL games will be streamedLocal broadcasting is being set up for a yearslong test of its business models Look for more tests of B2B 5GAlso feeling the heavy hand of change are traditional cable operators and networks and those traditional bundles that just kept getting bigger and bigger and more expensive with more tiers until amp8230 well just yesterday One solution for the cable folk could be dropping any channel with low ratings cutting the bundle in half and charging a couple thirds amp8230 at a price likely to be lower than the mass of streamers the average TV household will have by the end of next yearAll that of course takes us back to the most basic questions of all Who pays whom What for How much What are my costsThe answer to those questions will help determine what happens to well everything Retransmission consent the broadcasters39 future in retail the existence or nonexistence of program aggregators and on and onIn any case my personal bet is that the players once called cable all come out on the winning end amp8230 joined by those onetime telcos We39ll all be ISPs For the forgetful what internet service providers were once labeled RIP quotcablequotMeanwhile whatever the government and big tech land on just might throw another wrench or two in the mix There always has to be a spoiler somewhereBut I39ll bet we39ll have most of the answers about halfway through this decade By which time even newer technologies will be raising newer questions amp8230 and so it goesRandom NotesWell as long as it is still April 1st I39d like to point out the senior executives at ATampampT have really no kidding made a brilliant decision Comcast is bidding for Charter and Altice while talking to the Justice Department about an original quotBell Marketquot being created Discovery and ViacomCBS are threatening to verify and vet each stockholder as to their fiscal soundness Internetwork Neutrality is back and everything Ajit Pai did including those bad jokes has been censored thanks go to Mozilla Democrats and Republicans will unveil their new animal kingdom mascots soon amp8230 guess which is which Gorilla or quarter horse All of the settopbox really why couldn39t cable operators have made them so small before sellers will go to a monthly feeYou probably noticed that ATampampT dropped its noncharge of bandwidth for its own HBO Max streamer amp8230 that California version of Network Neutrality law prohibits that kind of gifting amp8230 but that law doesn39t apply to TMobile so it is expanding special 10month pricing for Philo the base streaming service to include special discounted premium pricing for YouTube TVOn the good news in April side Adaptive Spirit one of the winter US Paralympic ski and snowboard teams39 major fundraisers brought to you by cable plus starts again on Wednesday April 7amp160for a virtual twofest including speakers a keynote by Discovery39s David Zaslav sponsors and a silent auction highly recommended More at adaptivespiritcomClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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It's April Fool's Day, But This Is No Joke!

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Paul S. Maxwell

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