saila.com

Comments

1. Brian G:

   Asper is a smart man! I used to work at Allinace Atlantis, and it frustrated the heck out of me that they owned not only the pipe to distribute the content, but in many cases the actual content itself! At the time a few TV shows were starting to trickle out on DVD, and what was AA's response? Put out "The best of" CSI on VHS. Wow...what a brilliant calculated risk. 2 years later they released the first season on DVD, but only at the insistance of their other partners on the venture.
   When I see quotes like this: "Asper said that in order to succeed in the digital world, CanWest will do three things differently: Own more of its own content, not rent it; develop new revenue streams from that content - like DVD and CD products, books and other merchandise; and re-purpose content across multimedia media platforms."
   - it gives me hope for the future.

   Mar. 13 2004 at 11:09 AM EST

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2. Craig Saila:

   True, and all of Asper's comments are exactly the right thing to say, unfortunately I've seen at so many media companies (in Canada: Torstar, Rogers, and Quebecor) fail to leverage their assets. Even when they do, like our very own BGM, they usually de-converge just as the various units were starting to understand each other. CanWest has over the years has proved incredibly adept at generating revenue at the expense of quality. While they may succeed at the latest convergence endeavour, my cynical side says it won't raise the bar on quality. (That being said, if they do buy BDM, I'm willing to bite my tongue re: the Aspers). For the record, I think in all likelihood CanWest will target Craig Media before BGM.

   Mar. 13 2004 at 12:13 PM EST

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