Standing on the shoulders of tech giants: Media delivery, streaming television and the rise of global suppliers

Jean K Chalaby,Steve Plunkett

doi:10.1177/1461444820946681

Abstract

This article uses the case study of Internet Protocol (IP) delivery for streaming television to demonstrate how technology and globalization combine to change what media firms do, how they create value and with whom. Media delivery – the sum of the value-adding tasks necessary to transfer content from source to audience – has become a mosaic of technologies that sustain a complex and fast-evolving video ecosystem. Broadcasters had been in charge of the full transmission process once, of tasks deemed core to their business. Today, media delivery is externalized to the market and devolved to a network of suppliers. These suppliers are no ordinary firms, but tech giants that have developed deep global capabilities. They gain further leverage by being cross-sectoral, serving clients across multiple industries. Who are these suppliers? What makes them unique? And what are the implications for the television industry?

Highlights

IntroductionThis article uses the case study of Internet Protocol (IP) delivery for streaming television to demonstrate how technology and globalization combine to change what media firms do, how they create value and with whom
How does media globalization work? Which dynamics does it bring into play and how do they re-shape the industry? This article uses the case study of Internet Protocol (IP) delivery for streaming television to demonstrate how technology and globalization combine to change what media firms do, how they create value and with whom
Streaming is a requirement in order to remain relevant in a fast-evolving and competitive video ecosystem

Summary

Introduction

This article uses the case study of Internet Protocol (IP) delivery for streaming television to demonstrate how technology and globalization combine to change what media firms do, how they create value and with whom. These suppliers are no ordinary firms, but tech giants that have developed deep global capabilities They gain further leverage by being cross-sectoral, serving clients across multiple industries. Media delivery is externalized to the market and devolved to a network of suppliers that collaborate along the value chain These suppliers are no ordinary firms, but tech giants that have developed deep global capabilities and can leverage an unprecedented infrastructure to deliver content to and from (almost) any location in the world. Engineering was once part of the broadcasters’ corporate identity but traditional broadcasting has had to ‘pivot away from what’s been an engineering-led activity’ (Greenaway, interview 2019), to redefine the contours of organizations and sometimes form larger entities (as illustrated, among others, by the acquisition of NBCUniversal by Comcast; Crawford, 2013)

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