Instead of blaming factors like their own failure to evolve and lengthy network blackouts due to contractual disputes, the executives at Dish Network have decided to blame internet TV service Hulu for their decline in subscribers.
In a panel about consumers giving up pay TV services at this week’s Streaming Media West conference, Dish Network VP of Online Content Development and Strategy Bruce Eisen voiced his opinion that Hulu is making it too easy for people to watch new network programming, thus giving them less incentive to pay.
“If I can watch Glee tomorrow morning and I don’t have to pay a pay TV service –- I think that’s bad,” Eisen told his peers and audience members. He went on to say that the Hulu model is detracting from the industry by making content available too early and that there should be a 30-day waiting period after a new episode of a series originally airs. “If people decide that they don’t have to pay for pay TV, then one of the pillars (of the TV industry) starts crumbling,” he added.
The moderator of the panel session, Jonathan Hurd from Altman Vilandrie & Company, shared a survey his company did about people dropping pay TV subscriptions. According to the data, 3.9 percent of the survey respondents in the 25-34 age group have already given up their subscriptions and an additional 20% were considering it due to the availability of online programming.
It’s no surprise that cable and satellite companies that reigned supreme for years with their pay TV service monopolies are starting to flail now that something new has come along to potentially replace them. For over a decade we have been hearing frequent consumer complaints about shoddy service and rising fees from these corporations and now that there is a choice, of course their customers are going to take their service elsewhere.
But is it fair to begin imposing regulations on new services simply to placate old school corporations and preserve their business? Netflix and Redbox have already agreed to delay new releases for 28 days in order to get better pricing on DVD's (and more streaming content, in Neflix's case). DirecTV gets to offer new releases on-demand the day of release. This is working out so well for the film industry that they want to increase that delay.
So where does it stop? How do we take away the power from these corporations who are forcing services that we no longer want?
