The blogosphere is aflutter with the woes of the newspaper industry.\u00a0 I think most papers won’t make it, with the printed newspaper becoming as quaint as home milk delivery.<\/p>\n
Newspapers are really in two different businesses that got fused together:\u00a0 content and distribution.<\/p>\n
The Internet is replacing proprietary distribution (i.e. printing newspapers).\u00a0 The content side can’t stand alone because of increasing non-newspaper competition, and (I suspect) value subsidy from their proprietary distribution (e.g. what you paid for getting the news at your doorstep was subsidizing the newsroom).<\/p>\n
Remember AOL:\u00a0 the Internet killed the dialup business, and they didn’t shift content fast enough to be compelling without a captive dialup user base.<\/p>\n
Cable companies & TV networks are next:\u00a0 as bandwidths increase, users are starting to get their video on-line, instead of through proprietary cable and TV networks.\u00a0 Over time, the “cable networks” will feel like the old TELNET network, and get disconnected like copper phone lines.<\/p>\n
What’s the next business to have a proprietary distribution model blown up by the Internet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The blogosphere is aflutter with the woes of the newspaper industry.\u00a0 I think most papers won’t make it, with the printed newspaper becoming as quaint as home milk delivery. Newspapers are really in two different businesses that got fused together:\u00a0 … Continue reading