For decades now, the debate has raged: Where does the ultimate power of media reside? Is it in the pipes, or is it in content? In the early 90s, the view was that the phone companies would control everything, through their pipes. Then, in the late 90s, it was AOL. Now. it's--your choice, Google, Facebook, or maybe even Twitter.
In the meantime, of course, most content providers have been laid low, even destroyed. Copyrights and walled gardens seem to mean little.
And yet. And yet. Content providers of various kinds are hanging in there. Such as Hulu.com. And now a pipeline company, Comcast, is buying up a content provider, NBC-Universal, assuming that all the regulatory kinks can be worked out--see below.
The Cable Gamer has always taken the view that content was king. TCG has never doubted that people watch TV--including cable news--because they want to see people and stories, not because they want to watch pipelines at work.
So that's why TCG figures that Comcast will do pretty well with NBC-U, aside from the millstone of the corporate chieftain it will be inheriting Jeff Zucker. But of course, as I think about this, it occurs to me that the folks at Comcast are smart--they can see that Zucker has taken NBC from first to fourth in just a few years. So I now have a hunch that the Comcastians have a plan to get rid of Zucker, even if Jeff Z doesn't know it yet. In the meantime, Comcast just needs some stability, until they can get the deal done.
Meanwhile, here's the article that prompted these musings. The Washington Post's Cecilia Kang outlines some of the federal issues surrounding Comcast's proposed acquisition of NBC-Universal:
With Philadelphia-based cable operator Comcast apparently hoping to acquire NBC Universal from General Electric, federal regulators are realizing that they may be thrust into a new era. A combination of the two would create the prospect of a single company controlling how customers access information--through cable and online -- and what they watch there.
Comcast, for instance, could consider same-day releases of Universal movies for its cable customers. With control over more news and entertainment content, it would have greater flexibility to explore online business models, perhaps offering cable subscribers free online access to certain content, such as the show "30 Rock" or CNBC or USA Network programming. Comcast already is the nation's second-largest provider of Internet access, and NBC owns a large stake in Hulu.com, where television shows can be accessed through any broadband connection.
Such are the makings of a complicated regulatory challenge. Any merger would have to be approved by antitrust officials at the Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Communications Commission would determine whether the deal would benefit the public.
