“The
View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on
WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just
after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly
match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may
suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP
is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.
You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this
program at wrfalp.com
Program scripts from week of February 27, 2012
My
name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media.
TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I
always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
If
you enjoy watching the media there has never been a better time to live
than today. There’s more kinds of media and the old ideas that each
media worked its own side of the street have gone completely out the
window. I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun that following a couple of
stories that are just getting underway right now.
Google
began as a search engine online. Over the the last 16 years Google has
grown and grown. Now most of that growth was concentrated on the
Internet. Web browser, e-mail, cloud computing, social networking
Google’s reach has been extending into more areas. They’ve been working
on growing into cellular phones and television too with varied levels
of success. But now it appears they may be moving into older media. It
appears that they will move into cable TV in the midwest in 2013.
That’s
an interesting move in and of itself. Then add it that the folks at
Dish Network, the satellite TV folks, have announced that they are
looking at move into the cellular phone business. Dish has already been
expanding. They bought the Blockbuster video business and launched the
online Blockbuster streaming service. But like their primary
competitors, curiously cable operators, Dish would like to free
themselves from the stranglehold of a single delivery and profit stream.
Cable has done it by packaging cable along with phone and internet.
Now Dish wants to follow suit.
So
cable networks are in the phone business and the internet, a satellite
company is in the internet video and cell phone business and an internet
company is into, well, seemingly everything.
The
real question becomes if there’s any advantage to the consumer in all
this. Often when corporations spread themselves to thinly outside of
their area of expertise you end up with second rate services. It
remains to be seen how any of these new ventures will work out.
But then if it were obvious it wouldn’t be as much fun to watch.
There
are times when you need to step back and think twice about some things.
What seems like a good idea up front may not be such a good idea in
the long run. The problem is that our society has become so focused on
short term advantage that we can back ourselves into long term problems.
The
current instance of that has to do with the folks at Amazon. Amazon
has become the leader in the fields of both traditional books and
e-books. At the same time the money folks on Wall Street have been
pressuring Amazon to make the bottom line fatter. Given that Amazon has
been an advocate for lowering prices as much as possible they have to
put the squeeze on the publishers. So when the distribution contract
with the Independent Publisher’s Group came up Amazon told them that
prices had to go down drastically. IPG has refused and Amazon has now
pulled all of IPG’s ebook versions for the Kindle. That’s a huge
potential loss for the publishers and by extension the authors.
The
problem as I see it is that in the long run it’s going to be a problem
for Amazon too. Amazon maintains that the only people needed are
readers and authors. Um, do they realize they just left themselves out
of that equation? Sure I’d like prices to stay low on books and
e-books. But I also know that the profit margin for the publishing
industry has always been razor thin. Amazon is creating a situation
that can potentially damage the industry profoundly.
Then
think about this, there’s truth to the idea that you get what you pay
for. If we convince the consumer that ebooks aren’t worth paying
anything more than a buck or two for where’s the financial impetus to
create the product? In the long run Amazon’s bottom line would improve
if the price of books rose by a buck or two, they can maintain friendly
relations with their suppliers and keep the financial situation
profitable for the folks who create the content.
But Amazon will probably continue to think short term. And that is almost always long term trouble.
I’ve
mentioned before that I’m a big fan of NBC’s reality weight loss show
“The Biggest Loser”. I’ve reached that age where my doctor is after me
to lose some weight so the show serves as an inspiration. If they can
lose as much weight as they need to it doesn’t feel like I have any
excuse to drop the 30 or 40 pounds I need to lose.
And
it’s an interesting time right now on the show. The good news is that
the latest weekly ratings have jumped a little bit. Of course at the
Peacock network any show that brings in good ratings is something of a
surprise. Just a week ago the weekly standings had NBC slipping behind
Univision for at least one night of the week.
Meanwhile
things may not be going quite so well on the show itself. The Biggest
Loser presents a different kind of challenge to the contestants because
they have to commit to something close to six months away from home.
And the stress is apparently showing. Reports say that this past week
saw all the contestants either threaten to walk off the show or actually
do it. The producers had announced that once again they would give
contestant already eliminated the chance to win their way back into the
competition. The network has refused comment but the reports seem to
indicate that the walkout was an attempt to leverage the situation.
Unfortunately it appears that the network won and two contestants have
been ejected from the show.
In
the end that result was inevitable. The network couldn’t let any group
of contestants feel like they could put the arm on the show over the
rules. The contracts are pretty clear about what is allowed and what
isn’t. Shows like this are huge profit makers and the network isn’t
going to let anyone mess with the golden goose. In the end the network
and the producers set the rules and the participants have little choice
but to go along.
And
for contestants on The Biggest Loser maybe they need to keep the focus
on winning back their lives and health. Inevitably the trouble begins
when they forget that and start thinking about winning what is really
just a silly TV show.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
Stories Are My Life 
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