Distribution: Disney Gets It

I hate to tell you, but I'm 100% on the opposite side of Jim Cramer's analysis of the secular decline of DVDs. The movie and TV studios aren't complete Luddites like the music labels were.

In that vein, I'd note that the studios aren't completely averse to letting some of their content be used in "fair use" ways at YouTube and elsewhere. And they figure they can make some money on Net distribution in coming months and certainly in coming years.

Meanwhile, of course, why are the music labels still fighting the best distribution channel they could ever dream up: P2P file trading? Try monetizing it instead of fighting it! It's not going away, for crying out loud.

At any rate, studios like Disney (DIS - commentary - Cramer's Take) (especially now that its CEO is a tech-lover with a vision, instead of the endlessly self-serving Eisner) are suddenly seeing their addressable market explode from a few tens of millions of DVD owners and cable subscribers to the 1.5 billion people who can type "YouTube.com" into their browsers. (You have to subtract a few million people since Iran is now trying to block YouTube. Good luck with that.)

More and easier distribution is a good thing for most businesses. And the studios are going to coin money as the Internet video revolution comes full bloom over the next couple of years.

Disney is another name I'm going to be getting long into the new year.

Get the Revolution, indeed.

At the time of publication, the firm in which Willard is a partner was net long Google, although positions can change at any time and without notice.

ALL CODY WILLARD BLOG ENTRIES | POST A COMMENT | READ COMMENTS  

---

Cody Willard is the manager of CL Willard Capital Management, LLC. He is a regular guest on Fox News, CNBC and other networks, and he writes a monthly column for the Financial Times. He is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and the author of TheCodyReport.net, a monthly stock market newsletter. Willard appreciates your feedback -- click here to send him an email.