Cringely: On With the Show: Downloadable Video Cringely is on His Way.
What many people failed to grasp, or more likely what I failed to adequately say, is that this is, to a certain extent, a matter of change or die. My column, while one of the best- read parts of PBS Interactive, has never broken-even for PBS, nor does it particularly add readers to the main portal, since most folks get to me through bookmarks, links from other sites, or from our “Tell Me When” notification service. This makes me vulnerable should PBS decide to cut back in future. While it may not be outwardly obvious, adding video means for the first time creating a staff and building some depth — depth that would be supported by new funding that would be completely separate from PBS.
… One thing we won’t do is to ask people to pay for content or sell their names to anyone else. In fact, we won’t even collect names.
In other words, the column isn’t making any money now, and to solve this problem, he’s going to expand into the money-sucking video streaming business, build up a support staff to develop new content, and give away that content for free. Building up expenses like this (while doing nothing to further revenue) will allow him to ask for additional funding from the government, and because this is all an offshoot of PBS, he might actually get it.
Finally, a sustainable business model for the Internet: leech off the taxpayers. I love it.
§
I am no longer accepting public comments on this post, but you can use this form to contact me privately. (Your message will not be published.)
§
© 2001–9 Mark Pilgrim