Note: This is an article I wrote for CABLEFAX, a daily trade publication serving the broadcasting and cable industry in 2007.

7 Facts for the Cable Industry to face up to in ‘07:
by Jeff Boortz.

1. If an 800lb Gorilla goes up against an endless stream of Army Ants, the Gorilla will eventually go down. HDV Camera + Laptop + Good Storyteller + Brightcove = TV Show/Network/MSO.
2. You can’t do everything equally well. Corporate culture stunts, stifles, and often completely suffocates creativity. MSOs should focus on what they do very well, moving content, rather than creating it.
3. There is more to be gained in an open wilderness, than in a closed garden. Independent creatives only want a fair split of revenue with Media Aggregators and Distributors, and Cable Nets and MSOs are no longer the only game in town.
4. Embrace net neutrality. It is, for all practical purposes, inevitable. Charging content creators for speedy downloading/streaming of their content as a means of Cock-Blocking the Internet Portals won’t work in the long run, because technology is advancing faster than consumer demand/appreciation is.
5. Even “slow” tomorrow will be twice as fast as today’s speediest speeds. Not to mention, you still need to deliver on what you advertise to consumers in order to sell consumer broadband access, “We’re speedier than the competition! ”
6. “Search” and “recommendation engines” are not the only way people find what to watch. On-air promo, the equivalent of the carnival barker, has been guiding viewers to programming for 50+ years, and could easily be technologically enhanced to breathe new life (and advertiser value) into linear TV. Call me.
7. To solve the problem of obese, product-obsessed, TV watching children their Pediatricians are harping about, you only have to insert a barter/exchange mechanism between the viewing of ads and the viewing of the TV Programs paid for by advertisers. What parent wouldn’t endure viewing a couple of ads/ or buying stuff they want anyway, from a site that rewards them with credits redeemable for ad-free TV Viewing by their kids? I bet they’d even willingly give you their product preferences, and consumer life Call me.

And finally, a prediction. ‘07 is the year that internet video generates its first mega-hit series. It will dwarf all viewing records set by the likes of Friends, and Seinfeld, CSI, and SpongeBob. It will come from some poor schmucks that have been busting their asses, paying their dues in Hollywood, who got tired of waiting for their ship to come in, and so built themselves a raft.