• Reuters, Friday, April 28, 2006 10:45 AM

Several of the entertainment industry's heavyweights gathered this week at a Milkin Institute Global Conference to discuss the future of their business and big media in general, with most agreeing that social networking, made possible by the Internet, is rapidly transforming their industry. Youthful, tech-savvy consumers clearly want video delivered 24/7, at their convenience--with sharing features always available--and this poses both a challenge and an opportunity for media makers, said the execs at Milkin. Some even seemed confounded by the durable popularity of musty clips that can be seen on various platforms. "I don't know how many times you can watch a pet bite someone in the crotch, but somehow this is interesting to people," said Robert Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company. But he added, "I'm not sure it's necessarily bad for the traditional industry because we are living in a world where people are consuming more [media content]." Peter Chernin, president of News Corporation, observed that, in some ways, the U.S. is behind Asia in the deployment of news-and-entertainment-enabling technologies, and he said we should look to those markets for inspiration. "I think anyone [in the industry] who loses is anyone who tries to protect their traditional business. I think you've got a bad 10-15 years ahead of you if you try to do that," Chernin told conference-goers. He said the U.S. government should help facilitate the spread of broadband technology to bring "very backward" U.S. broadband adoption into line with Asia. "We should have a government policy that addresses it," Chernin said. "You're already seeing certain products in certain areas [in Asia] that are much more advanced than we are." In a bit of news, Chernin said Fox TV was considering a plan that would permit consumers to pay $4 to download episodes of certain TV shows to their mobile handsets in advance of the shows' airdates .

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