A recent post on Instapundit linked to a good article on the fall of Pacifica radio. Pacifica is an old standard network of stations who represent some cutting edge content providers.
They are falling apart. As I read the article, and having been in radio myself for a brief period (I quit my job when I found out I was working for Nazis). But Pacifica's woes are now typical of the present state of ALL media.
It matters not if you are in print, radio, TV, movies or any other "brick and mortar" media outlet. The rise of broadband distribution (internet, cable and satellite) have cracked the market irrevocably.
A consumer now has a nearly limitless range of choices. It is a known fact that when consumer choices exceed a certain numberfor an item, the consumer actually suffers a disutility of choice.
So what?
Well, as WiFi becomes more ubiquitous and satellite delivered services become more portable (think GPS, XM, Sirius) traditional "hard located" services will fall by the wayside. We will, I think, see print as you go kiosks for newspapers and periodicals.
Because, after all a PDA without a battery is a rock.
4 comments:
We will, I think, see print as you go kiosks for newspapers and periodicals.
We already have that. It's called the blogosphere! (it that one "g" or two?)
The big problem I see for Pacifica is that they are not "broadcasters" anymore. They have become "narrowcasters", much like the majority of offerings on cable, satelite, and the internet. And they survive on selling product or getting donations from their listeners. Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that as their listenership and main source of income decrease, and inflation naturaly increases the cost of doing business... Pacifica, meet the Passenger Pigion.
PS. Thanks for visiting my blog. I'll link to yours when I get the chance.
I thin the blogosphere will endure, but reliable and vetted content providers will offer options for readers who may want to take something to a "non connected" world. We have it, in some fashion with iTunes and the like.
I could forsee a consortiom of news outlets offering a bot search and quick print of a few interesting articles.
Thanks for dropping by!
Scoot, I think there will always be room for the "real life" experience of a film. Perhaps we will have "on demand" theaters in which patrons might sign up to relive a big screen viewing of Casablanca.
I imagine the cleaning deposit will be steep.
Post a Comment