From Ted Hope's twitter feed. Industry executive Barry Diller talks about charging for online content.
An excerpt:
"Anything of any value…is going to get paid for" online, Diller said during the event, which was co-hosted by Internet juggernaut IAC and Digital Hollywood.
Diller said the switch to more paid offers is "absolutely inevitable" in order for content producers to survive and the change is already underway. News Corp. and other media biggies have recently signaled they are gearing up efforts to charge for more digital content.
Diller said he expects micro payments to be one pay model on the Web once billing systems become simpler, and he described the success of iPhone applications as a clear sign where things are headed.
"People will pay for content," he said. "They always have."
He may be right, but unless he has some new take on these models or the meaning of "value", he's probably wrong. This illustrates the exact kind of thinking I referred to in my last post that relies too much on the past rather than looking at the present for changes affecting the future. It's the dangerously closed-minded perspective that ignores cultural shifts, which will result in further problems for media companies of all sizes.
