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professor of media studies at U-M, writes in a recent article that the entry of large content providers like Disney into the realm of internet-distributed video doesn’t mean that a single service will eventually dominate, or that video services will necessarily compete against each other. Instead, Disney’s new streaming service points to the growing range of offerings consumers will be able to choose from in the coming months and years. Lotz says that when envisioning the future of TV, think of a shopping mall. “It helps to think of new television streaming services as specialty stores like the Gap, Chico’s or Justice. All sell clothing, but they compete minimally with one another because each targets consumers of different ages,” Lotz writes. “When it comes to streaming services, they might all deliver the same thing – video – via an internet connection. But it’s important to understand that all video services are not in competition. Many are quite complementary. Most offer completely different libraries of content and instead compete with cable and satellite packages.”
