The TV industry, like the film industry, believes in release windows. By allowing viewers access to content only through a sequence of distribution outlets, they hope to maximize the value of the content. The order of the windows depends on the relative margins of revenue: so, for example, content owners earn the most revenue from premiere episodes on HBO or broadcast networks; they earn less selling the rerun episodes to a basic cable network; and even less to a streaming service like Netflix long after the premiere. Likewise, audiences pay the most for access to the first window and pay less and less for the later windows.

In my opinion, windowing is an “old media” strategy based on forcing audiences to fit their viewing to industry preferences rather than audience convenience. In a digital media environment, in which it is technologically possible for programs to be available to audiences anytime anywhere, the legacy industry will not deliver this to audiences because they don’t want to lose the windowing business model. Likewise, by fragmenting access across many services so that viewers have to hunt for programs, the TV industry is hoping that viewers will give up and just pay a cable MSO or DBS or telco for the convenient expensive big bundle of program services, thus preserving the traditional business model.

But don’t feel bad! As media scholars we can justify paying the subscriptions for research purposes!