Execs Convene to Discuss Online Television

On Tuesday, NBC's Marc Graboff, CBS' Nancy Tellum, Warner Bros. Bruce Rosenblum, and the WGA's John Wells met at a B & C event to discuss streaming television for free online and the effect it's having on the industry. All of the panelists agreed that now is a crucial time for the television industry, and that they are responsible for finding a way to stop cord cutting. However, at the event none of them seemed to be able to provide any solutions.

Another topic that came up is DVR and the affect its had thus far. According to Graboff "none of us is getting compensated for time-shifting on DVRs...[and] it's a huge leak in the bucket". While DVR has had a negative financial effect on the broadcast industry, it is much less of a problem currently than everyone predicted. What the execs need to focus on is online television. This forum was a step in the right direction but I think that television executives need to start meeting more because the only way they are going to hash out a long term business model for the television industry is by coming together to address industry problems.