Image via CrunchBase

Analyst Laura Martin needs to lighten up. In assessing the evolution of content from TV-only to TV/Web mix (face it, my mother will NEVER watch her soaps on her laptop…) it is easy to see that the demand for quality content remains, regardless of device. The top-end owners of Hulu content (ABC=Disney, Fox=News Corp., NBC=GE…for now) are all invested in seeing profit from the venture. If they don’t, they are quite likely to pull their content, which is unlikely as they can sense the moving of the tectonic plates of media consumption and will not be caught off-guard.

And then there’s Comcast….

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Comcast will be a winner, regardless of the device on which you consume your content. With their imminent deal with GE to takeover NBC Universal, Comcast will potentially own the pipe to your TV and your PC…..so consumption in either place is profitable, and if you watch the content on your phone, it’s still profitable, since it’s their content.

I agree that there will need to be a mix of profit models, especially when considering that the global audience for content consists of segments of users on each consumption platform. That will make forecasting profits and usage more difficult, but not impossible…..and there is bound to be some “leakage” of pirated content, but that takes place today, so that shouldn’t scare the controlling corporations. It feels like the analysts are concerned about the complexity of moving from the mostly monolithic TV-mode of consumption (and its comfortable and well-documented models) to the frenetic multi-platform mode that the world is becoming and will be. It’s not easy any more…..sorry, no easy-TV-money for you.