Sky. Disruption just makes a new middleman.
Sky has put Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO and more into a single subscription for 24 quid a month. Cable TV is back with a vengeance.
THE GIST ON SKY: "Return to Sender"
What has Sky done?
Sky has put Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO and another streamer into a single subscription for 24 quid a month. Remember cancelling Sky? Netflix turned up, and suddenly you didn't need loads of channels you didn't watch.
How did we end up here?
Then Amazon waded in, then Disney, then HBO, then Apple. Everyone went direct to customer and Sky was finished. Except we cancelled one subscription and got six instead, each with its own bill, its own login and its own interface. All together they cost more than cable TV did. We cut the cord and remade it for ourselves, but worse.
Why can't the streamers fix it?
They fragmented the market so badly that no single one is enough. You can cancel any of them and barely notice. And they're all haemorrhaging money or barely breaking even. Not a ringing endorsement for the brave new world. Competing yourself into commodity status. And like all the best businesses, commodities need a distributor, which is why they're all sitting back on Sky for 24 pounds a month.
What is the lesson?
The promise is always the same: own the content, own the audience. But the power ends up with the person who sits between the content and the customer, the distributor. Record labels thought they owned music. Now Spotify does. Streamers thought they owned TV and now they're back on a legacy TV service.
Disruption doesn't get rid of the middleman. It just creates a new one. And the art of good business is being a good middleman.
Would you pay £24 a month for one streaming bundle?
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Quick answers
What does Sky's new bundle include?
Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO and another streamer for 24 pounds a month.
Why are streamers in a weak position?
They fragmented the market so badly that none is enough alone, and you can cancel any of them and barely notice.
What is Huw's point about middlemen?
Disruption doesn't remove the middleman, it creates a new one: first record labels, then Spotify, now Sky.
See you on the next one.
What should the next one be? Suggest a topic for Huw to explain
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