Strategy Insight

ABC-Disney followed through with its threat tonight by pulling the New York-area WABC-TV from Cablevision after it failed to reach a re-transmission agreement with the cable giant.  Some 3 million Cablevision customers in Long Island, Westchester, Brooklyn, and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey were affected.

The two corporate giants are playing a giant game of chicken on Oscar night. If no one blinks, several million people will not be able to see the Oscars tonight.

Regardless of who wins this battle, both companies may lose more than they ever considered. Let’s talk about the unintended consequences.

If people decide they really, really, really want to watch this very popular television event, they may turn to the web and seek the tens, perhaps hundreds of sites, who will be streaming the Oscars over the web. Several million people may learn tonight that they can watch their favorite shows just as easily over the Internet — without paying for it.

If that occurs, Cablevision and ABC-Disney may have educated millions that their companies are not required to deliver home entertainment. And if that happens, the two companies may learn about unintended consequences in a way that they have never intended.

I know I’ll be tuning in to see who is the real winner on Oscar night.

This entry was posted on March 7, 2010 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Crisis Management, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: ABC-Disney, ABC-TV, Academy Awards, Cablevision, Competition, Decision Making, Disney, Dolan, Oscar, Oscars, Oscars Night, Oscars Online, Unintended Consequences