Are You Willing To Pay For Quality? Disney Thinks So
Those cute and cuddly characters at Disney are turning all mean and nasty. Wanting to start charging for online TV.
The CEO of Walt Disney, Robert Iger revealed last week that it is developing a subscription website providing TV episodes and movies with a sweetner of games and other parathenalia to temp you to part with your cash.
More worrying, Iger has also mentioned in passing that Hulu which Disney just happens to have a big stake in, may also start a subscription service for online tv content.
Iger said at the Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference:- “We have ample evidence both in traditional media and in new media that people are willing to pay for quality, they’re willing to pay for choice, they’re willing to pay for convenience. It’s possible that Hulu will look at monetizing as well. It may be not just selling ads.”
Already, the spectre of charging for online tv has been looming. Cable TV have already introduced a pay online tv model with “TV Everywhere”. Current subscribers are able to access cable streams across the net for no extra cost. Comcast has partnered with 23 networks at present, for a 5000 home trial to starting this summer.
However, Iger remained skeptical that TV Everywhere, is in programmers’ best interests. “We are not seeing evidence of cord-cutting, so why be part of something which isn’t happening?” he said at the conference, echoing comments he made at The Cable Show earlier this year.
Iger did not provide details on Disney’s pay Web site project, and Disney representatives declined to provide additional details on the plan.
The message that the big media companies are shouting from the rooftops is this. You have had your free online tv for long enough. Now we want bigger profits. The market everywhere else is dying on its feet, so online tv – We want some a piece of you!
Related posts:
- Hulu and Disney deal all but done.
- Disney online TV love triangle now includes Hulu
- Hey Hulu, Disney is swinging toward Youtube
- Cash strapped Hulu ready for Disney deal
- Hulu To Stop Being Free By 2010
