Television Is More Important Than Movies

I went to go see a movie today and noticed something that I thought was very interesting: television is now more important than movies.  How could I tell?  All of the video in the lead up to the movie trailers was about upcoming television shows.  Now I know that the networks just have announced their fall series.  However, as I thought about it, the more I realized that it has been this way for several years.

Even more surprising was that Ridley and Tony Scott have stooped and made Gettysburg for the History Channel.  I say “stooped” because there was a time when a big time movie star would not star on television until the very tail end of their career.  For the past 15 years they routinely have appeared on television.  But directors?  Only Alfred Hitchcock comes to mind.  Television has become a more dynamic medium, such that one of the world’s biggest directors has made something for the tube.

There are many reasons for this, but the primary reason, I am guessing, is that directors love the opportunity to fully evolve a concept rather than being limited to the 2 hour movie format.  Not only that, but also, television studios now command tremendous capital.  So big budget TV shows, series and events can be created.

But why is this important?

I feel that it is important because what has happened to the movie business, can just as easily happen to television.  The villain in charge of the ruin, of course, will be the Internet.  You see back in the dot.com era there was a large debate in the investment community about whether or not distribution or content was king.

Distribution is simply: “How the heck do I get programming to you?”  Do I use the airwaves (broadcast television), cable, satellite, movies, or the Internet?  Content is all of that programming that we watch through all of those distribution channels.  Now we can definitively say that content is king.  All of the distribution mediums mean nothing without the content and there is always a way to distribute.  Content is KING.

So who do the scraps left to distribution go to?  Ultimately, it’s my feeling it’s going to be the Internet.  The sole reason is the flexibility.  You can watch when you want.  You can view what you want.  And you can do it from anywhere.  Wow!

As investors, the spoils are going to go to those who make the Internet faster, can put it wherever you want to be, and those who create killer content.

At the movies,

Jason