JC Francois (40)
I fell into computing and networking when I was a little boy
I work in business development for an IT company
I am a firm believer in openness: open standards and open business models
JC Francois (40)
Syndicate
The self-destruction will be televised
JC — May 11, 2005 - 23:39
Belgacom —the Belgian incumbent telecom operator— just got awarded Belgian football broadcasting rights.
This is a great opportunity for me to share with you The recipe for Belgacom's big TV entertainment
- Start by investing hundreds of millions in a new network capable of delivering real-time video;
- pay unreasonable amounts of money to purchase compelling (questionably) content: 36 million EUR for football broadcasting rights that used to cost 19 million last year;
- pour massive amounts of cash in a marketing campaign to create awareness and demand for the IPTV service;
- charge a much lower monthly subscription than cable (the only real motivation for a customer to switch);
- Do this on a market where cable + satellite household penetration is already 99+%.
The secret for the success of this recipe is to keep the whole thing very hot by burning as much money as possible (good old monopoly trick). Enjoy your TV meal!
