TV industry should change their business model

Television industry is highly protected by laws and regulations. A limited resource of frequency of radio waves justifies these regulations, and it is difficult for normal companies to enter this industry. Television companies have largely three functions to distribute TV program, namely (1) program production, (2) distribution of the program, and (3) archive of the program.

A half century ago, all three functions are dominated by just television companies. For example, TV camera was too expensive for the public to afford, and they did not have a channel to broadcast their program even if they had nice contents. However, the technical development changed the landscape. TV cameras and record mediums have become cheaper and been in widespread use within last two decades. Furthermore, in this decade, broadband capability and services has developed very fast.

These facts mean that the public in general and TV companies are almost same ability to distribute TV program. Despite this big change, television industry seems not to have changed their business model. They insert commercials within the program and obtain money from their sponsors. I think television industry should change more rapidly in this Internet age instead of just bashing new technologies.