Posted on 10/23/2020 5:37:09 PM PDT by Magnatron
CNN’s economic model depends on carriage fees and advertising. Carriage fees from cable are declining as people cut the cord but that loss is offset if cord cutters subscribe to a streaming service carrying bundled channels such ad Hulu, Sling, YouTube or DirectTv’s streaming service.
Advertising revenue depends on ratings. As ratings decline, advertising revenue declines. As ratings rise, advertising revenue rises.
Truly free markets are efficient. They are characterized by numerous competitors engaged in aggressive competition which lowers prices and drives the innovation required to gain a competitive edge. In colonial and early US the news business was highly competitive. Even small towns had multiple, independently owned newspapers. Government regulation was nonexistent and cost of entry was low.
Today the news business is controlled by oligopolies allied with big government. The cost of entry is high, parts of the business are regulated by government, and the oligarchs keep new competition out by excluding new entrants from carriage bundles. No doubt if some of the new conservative networks (OANN, Blaze, and Newsmax) were included in the same cable and streaming bundles where CNN, MSNBC, and Fox are carried, the upstarts would be growing rapidly at the expense of the older news networks. More competition would force CNN to adjust its programming either going farther left or shifting to the middle.
The solution is the same as it was over 100 years ago. Use antitrust legislation to break up the cartels to increase the number of competitors. Comcast, ATT, News Corp, Disney, CBS/Viacom, Google, Amazon, the big newspaper chains, should each be broken up into dozens of companies which will have to compete aggressively to grow and survive.
Permitting consumers to buy all channels independently, instead of having to buy bundles of channels they don’t want, would also be a huge move toward a more free and competitive media market. CNN would see a significant drop in its carriage revenue if consumers could buy all cable channel a la carte instead of in bundles. OANN would experience rapid growth.
Making America great again requires the energy and innovation of free markets. It is past time to break up the mega corporations and “too big to fail” banks. Hopefully Trump in a second term will wear the trust busting hat of Teddy Roosevelt.
One additional benefit of having dozens, or even hundreds of competing businesses in an industry — more jobs. Corporate mergers and consolidations almost always result in job losses for the middle class.
ratings, schmatings: Sucker has done EXACTLY what he was hired to do, and did it to perfection, namely, he turned CNN into a lying, leftist shill, propaganda outfit dedicated exclusively to attacking Donald Trump and promoting the insane left ... his only fault has been that MSNBC has out-crazied CNN, and he apparently doesn’t know how to ratchet up the crazy at CNN to Eleven ...
. . . and Fox News Channel just mentioned that, even apart from Trump’s own rallies, pro-Trump events are being locally organized and well attended.
compassion, I really think we’re headed toward better territory.
The efforts to protect Biden and throttle a major news outlet, The New York Post, will create the mandate for 2nd term regulation of social media.
The wire services and Lamestream media are losing mindshare; social media, especially conservative media, is on the rise and will help protect our freedom.
compassion, I really think we’re headed toward better territory.
The efforts to protect Biden and throttle a major news outlet, The New York Post, will create the mandate for 2nd term regulation of social media.
The wire services and Lamestream media are losing mindshare; social media, especially conservative media, is on the rise and will help protect our freedom.
Sure hope you’re right in assuming a second term.When you look at all historical tendency - Senators don’t unseat sitting presidents, and it’s even been a century since a senator even beat a governor in a race for POTUS - and presidents are shooting stars more like JFK, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, W, Obama, or Trump than like Biden, of all people, this election should be a walk for Trump.
Not to mention Biden’s frail appearance, age, gaffes, and even “the laptop from hell" and Hunter's partner’s testimony. What we are seeing is the Deep State, Big Journalism/Big Tech, and gigabuck $$ undertaking to prevent people from “believing their lying eyes.” And, to a scary degree, succeeding.
And before Trump I thought the Bushes were doing a good job.
Trump definitely changed my perspective.
I had no idea we were grave danger of losing the Republic till he came along and explained our reality.
So yeah, to be blinded by the MSM is pretty normal.
The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing. — Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
I think I’ll steal that quote. Excellent.
If you follow the link, you’ll find it edifying to read further than that quote.
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