Interactive Media Envy

Traditional media companies are falling all over themselves to do content deals with their new media rivals -- Internet and mobile companies. NBC Universal did a deal to allow AT&T to offer their owned stations a chance to be broadcast on AT&T phones -- welcome to some mighty lucrative markets. Google and Yahoo announce deals on an almost regular basis. And even without alliances, traditional media is rushing to find new ways to offer their content digitally. MTV is developing niche broadband channels. HBO is mulling putting their content on broadband. Newspapers ally themselves with Yahoo and hope that the lure of local content will help Yahoo help themselves. Fox News is using in-text keywords on their web site that allow a box to pop up with a small ad in it. I guess all this is good, but it looks like desperation. Traditional media so doesn't want to wind up like radio. TV companies especially are trying too hard to be YouTube. Working too hard to do deals with new age companies as a way of sort of covering their bets. The best use of time and money is to get serious about program development. There will always be new ways to deliver content to the public. But it seems like these TV companies want to be in the technology business more than the content business. Hopefully this urge will pass before their chance passes to adapt to a new digital world.