Net Neutrality Repealed: Legacy Media's Last Stand
Main Stream Media (or better referred to as legacy media) are the giants of entertainment. But the truth is, they are a business, and each of these giant media corporations do everything they can to monopolize and remain in their own niche, competition free. This allows them to bilk advertisers for the privilege of reaching an audience.
Big Media can justify the high prices paid by advertisers because space is limited, and the advertising spot always goes to the highest bidder - as long as the advertisement and regular programming are targeting the same audience. Kellogg's probably doesn't want a corn flakes commercial airing after a news story about food poisoning, and the cartoon network probably doesn't want to advertise adult toys.
In Legacy Media, the advertisers are the ones footing much of the bill for the main content that attracts the audience. Television is probably the worst because the content often leaves you in a half hypnotized and suggestive state, and then the commercials play just long enough for everyone to get up and go to the bathroom or grab a snack. Commercials play louder than the regular programming content for this reason. They don't want you to sit there and watch the ads, they want you to do something else while your subconscious mind listens and is programmed.
But this begs the question: on a platform like the internet, how does legay media stay relevant when the internet is overflowing with free news, entertainment and information? Just think about the advertisers, who can pay far less for advertising on the internet than with legacy media. How much does a Facebook or Google ad cost? And, advertisers can be more confident that their ads are reaching a target audience, because the platforms have analytics built in that reveal almost every detail in general about the audience viewing the ads, and only show ads to people that the data says will match.
Of course, there's always adblock.
Legacy media can't compete with the internet on any terms other than those dictated by them, because they have relied on a system of bilking advertisers trying to reach consumers ever since the invention of the radio. Heck, it goes back even to the first newspapers.
The legacy media look at the internet and exclaim, "WTF! Google, Facebook and other giants are practically giving away their advertising space for free!"
Here in Canada, a great example of this is the Yellow Pages in the back of the phone book. Not only are phone books practically obsolete (unless you are without internet), but the advertisements are ridiculously expensive. Bell Canada, in an attempt to move their cash cow yellow fingers advertising over to the internet, tried to keep the same pricing structures for their online listings. The only problem is, there are countless online listings for businesses that don't charge money, but use google adsense and advertisements on their sites to generate a revenue stream. These listings are then added to google search results.
Any business wanting to get front page on google only needs to add their business to a dozen or two of these freebie websites, and bam! You're at the top of the page when someone in your geographic location searches for what your business offers. Add in your website with relevant tags hidden in the HTML that google crawls through, and you are golden. No one needs a yellow pages app or website, as they are no longer holding a monopoly on advertising space. In lay man's terms: yellow pages is a dinosaur.
In my opinion, this is really what net neutrality is all about. To the legacy media, net neutrality is like a fortune telling mirror that reveals their eventual doom, because they cannot monopolize a platform that refuses to be bent and shaped to follow their rules. These dinosaurs have endless mountains of money to throw at the problem, but at the end of the day the bugbear for legacy media is net neutrality and complete control.
But one has to ask: what are legacy media going to do with net neutrality repealed? It's no coincidence that mainstream news sources are covering this story like flies on crap; all the mainstream news companies are controlled by a few, very power entities with a lot of influence and power, even extending over to the FCC - which crumbled like a matchstick under the influence these dinosaurs wield.
The mainstream news are all telling the same story: that somehow Net neutrality kept the ISP's from controlling your data, and now they are going to do bad things. oh noes! And to a degree that may be true if an ISP just so happens to also be a media dinosaur that wants to also deliver their content to you, not the competition's. But the real threat with Net neutrality being repealed was always from the legacy media dinosaurs. They have always controlled the platform in which content was delivered, and for the first time in history they couldn't just buy out or cut off their competition.
But that influence only goes so far. We have seen the results of their attempts to buy up new media and control it.
Take a look at youtube, where companies like Disney have effectively bought control over a lot of content there. While Google is a smart company, they can only sit back helplessly and watch the Youtube platform be dismantled piece by piece as the media Dinosaurs try and bend the platform to shape their needs. They have failed. The talent on youtube were there specifically because it was not nearly as restrictive or controlled, and now that talent has moved on to better platforms.
Yes. The dinosaurs have failed, and now they are having a temper tantrum, shouting "Fine! if we can't control the internet by buying everything up, then we'll pay the rule makers to change the rules. Now try and stop us! trololol"
I'm paraphrasing of course. But the message is loud and clear. The mainstream news outlets have relayed the message to the public: "we are the media giants, and we will win. kkthanxbye."
Of course, the giants won't win because the internet is like Pandora's box, which cannot be sealed back up. Just don't tell them that, ok?
What everybody seems to miss is that the entire net neutrality scam was created by Obama Administration. Look at what happened with FB and Google (Alphabet) reacting to Russia. The internet was better off without net neutrality.