Yesterday we posted an assessment of CBS and HBO’s announced forays into interweb subscription streaming and thought that was the last word. But lo and behold – just when we think we have Deadline.Com pegged as a voice of conservative H’wood, along comes a big breaking curveball. Namely, this wonderfully cynical analysis of the recent announcements that CBS and HBO are going to offer paid streaming on the web:
by David Lieberman
Do you think that Big Media companies are about to blow up one of the greatest rackets in American business – one that accounts for the vast majority of their profits? The New York Times apparently does based on its geewhiz front page storythis morning (in sync with a lot of trendy commentary this week) pegged to new initiatives by CBS and Time Warner’s HBO to offer some of their programming online to people who pay them monthly subscription fees.