Etourism – “Global Distribution Systems †Going, Going, Gone”

Global Distribution Systems – Going, Going, Gone? | Table of Contents Introduction:2 Timeline3 Airline Reservation System3 Computer Reservation Systems (CRS)3 Global Distribution Systems (GDS)4 Who uses GDSs? 5 GDS – Through the years:5 The Future of GDS:6 What should they do? 6 What is the role of the global distribution system in today’s travel agencies? 6 The Internet7 Conclusion8 References9 Books:9 Articles:9 Websites:9 Introduction: GDS – Going, going, gone? Well, certainly Global Distribution Systems have been going for a while but are they yet gone?This paper is on the history, present time and the questionable future of Global Distribution System (GDS). Firstly I go through each stage of their timeline: – Airline Reservation Systems began in the 1960s and is a computerized system is designed to control flight inventory, maintain flight schedules, seat assignments and aircraft loading. It’s used to store and retrieve information and c arry out transactions associated to any air travel. The modern airline reservation system is comprehensive suite of products to provide a system that assists with a variety of airline management tasks and ervice customer needs from the time of initial reservation through completion of the flight. – Computer Reservations Systems (CRS) began in the 1970s. These types of systems charge other travel suppliers for the right to market their products and services through these systems. ‘The computer reservation systems are completely keyboard driven and you must learn the formats in order to operate it efficiently. The web based booking engines are the point and click environment. ’ Travel Agent Training Centre, (2011). Global Distribution Systems (GDS) began in the 1980s and refer to the booking tool travel agents use when making an air, hotel, car or other travel service booking. They provide pricing, availability and reservation functionality to many online travel ag encies. There are currently four major GDS systems: 1. Amadeus 2. Galileo 3. Sabre 4. Worldspan Hotel-ICT, (2011) – The Internet has become the main sales channel and customer interface for low-cost airlines because of its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Timeline The timeline stages of CRS/GDS according to Werthner & Klein (1999), is as follows: ———————————————— Time1965197519851995 SystemAirline ReservationCRSGDS Global Travel & FocusSystem Tourism Information Airline Reservation System Airline Reservation System was one of the earliest modifications to improve on efficiency. It’s a moderately simple standalone system that controls flight inventory, maintains flight schedules, seat assignments and aircraft loading. ‘It provides a system that assists with a variety of airline management tasks and service customer needs from the time of initia l reservation through completion of the flight. Videcom, (2006). ARS contain airline schedules, fare tariffs, passenger reservations and ticket records. Airline Reservations Systems sooner or later evolved into Computer Reservation Systems (CRS). Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) ‘A Computer Reservation System (CRS) is a computerized system for saving and retrieving information when needed related to air travel. CRS were created and used by airlines and at a later point they were finally used in tourism intermediaries like travel agencies. ’ marcelvacek. logspot (2010)   An airline's direct distribution works within their own reservation system, as well as pushing out information to the GDS. The second type of direct distribution channels are consumers who use the internet or mobile applications to make their own reservations. Travel agencies and other indirect distribution channels access the same GDS as those accessed by the airlines' reservation systems Well known CRS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as global distribution systems (GDS).Airlines have separated most of their direct holdings to devoted GDS companies, who make their systems available to consumers through Internet gateways. Modern GDSs naturally allow consumers to book hotel rooms and rental cars as well as airline tickets. As well they provide access to railway reservations in some markets although these are not always integrated with the main system. CRS and GDS seem to have the same functions but the major difference between these two systems is that CRS only provide information about airlines whereas by using GDS you can reserve a ticket, a room in a hotel and also a rental car.This is why they are called Global Distribution Systems because you can use GDS to reserve basically everything. Global Distribution Systems (GDS) ‘The term GDS (Global Distribution System) describes a network of one or more CRS for distributing product offer s and functionalities of the participating networks in different countries of the world. In addition to the airline product also other products such as accommodation, car rentals, cruises, or tour operator products are included. Werthner & Klein (1999) Today the travel marketplace is a global arena with hundreds of thousands of buyers (travel agents) and sellers (hotels, resorts, airlines, car rental companies) working together to reserve and deliver the services to the buyer – the traveller. Increasingly Global Distribution System is known for a Global Electronic System, which connects users and suppliers. GDS offer instant access to the supplier's information (i. e. hotels) with immediate function. Many main web portals are also associated to  GDS, including Expedia. com, Orbitz. om, Travelocity. com and priceline. com to name a few. For many years the GDSs had a dominant position in the travel industry. To bypass the GDS and avoid high GDS fees, airlines have started to distribute flights directly from their websites. Another possibility to bypass the GDS is direct connections to the Travel Agencies. According to ITSA there are currently four main GDS companies in operation, these are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. These are by far the most used systems, comprising the vast majority of the global bookings in the GDS industry. The Global Distribution Systems (GDSs), a development from the Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs), were for a long time the most important distribution channel for airlines. They were effectively developed as travel supermarkets in the pre-Internet era and their primary objective was to connect travel agencies with airlines (Buhalis, 2004). GDSs are still a vital element in the light of the huge variety of tariffs to be administered. GDSs are the main link between airlines and intermediaries, such as tour operators and travel agents.They are also empowering Internet transactions by providing the background link be tween electronic travel agencies and airlines. ’ (Egger ;amp; Buhalis, 2008) There is one downside of using GDS and it is the fact that it costs airlines money to go through a GDS process. Airlines complain that the prices are too high and therefore some poorer airlines have decided to post their best offers by using their own websites instead of the global distribution system so that they do not go bankrupt. CRSs (Computer Reservation Systems) and GDSs were the most important facilities of change in the tourism industry before the arrival of the Internet, as they were established as a comprehensive travel marketing and distribution system and were often called travel supermarkets. The need for GDSs arises from both the demand and supply sides as well as from the expansion of the tourism industry in recent decades. ’ (Buhalis,2003. ) Who uses GDSs? A majority of travel agents (worldwide) and travel websites use the Global Distribution System (GDS) to book their air, ho tel and car reservations. There are currently over 600,000 travel agents worldwide who have access to  GDS. On top of that, there are hundreds of thousands of web portals that use  GDS  to provide information on hotels, airlines, car rentals,  etc. ’ According to 1Hotelsolution, (2009). GDS – Through the years: There have been 3 stages of evolution the first reservation system was called an Airline Reservation system, the second a Computer Reservation System (CRS) and the third evolution is today’s Global Distribution System (GDS). The establishment of the Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs) in the 1970s and Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) in the 1980s, followed by the development of the Internet in the late 1990s, have transformed the best operational and strategic practices in the industry dramatically. ’ Buhalis ;amp; Laws (2008) The big winners here are the airlines, followed by the GDSs. The carriers' major concern was to overhaul their di stribution economics and they did that – reducing the fees they pay the GDSs by about 33 per cent per segment.And the airlines, with assistance from the GDSs, did it on the backs of travel agencies. Travel agencies bear about 80 per cent of that reduced airline payment to GDSs through the incentive cuts the agencies agreed to, while the GDSs foot about 20 per cent of the lost revenue themselves. With travel agencies already under financial pressure, the 80-cents incentive cut they agreed to could mean the difference between profit and loss, survival and bankruptcy, according to the article Airlines the big winners in ‘the GDS wars’ Schaal (2006). For the amount of contestable market share is limited given high load factors. Worse this is not going to get any better due to the constraints on supply due to the high price of fuel. If  we look at the market share of the 3 major alliances they now occupy more than 50% of total traffic. When you then remove the Low C ost carriers out of the loop as they don’t participate in the GDSs the amount of neutral traffic unaligned falls significantly. Perhaps for this reason we see traditional unaligned airlines like Virgin Atlantic starting to evaluate their options seriously.   4Hoteliers, (2011). The Future of GDS: Over the last 10 years, the Internet has proved to be a crucially successful platform for selling travel, appealing to a vast group of suppliers. According to Breaking Travel News (2004), the number of travellers booking airline tickets, hotel rooms and other travel services online continues to grow. The GDSs were actually among the first e-commerce companies in the world as early as mid 1970s. Earlier before the beginning of the GDS, travel agents spent huge amounts of time manually entering reservations.The airlines realised that at this point they could make travel agents more productive and essentially re-invent them as an extension of the airlines sales force. It is these orig inal legacy GDSs that provide the strength to the Internet Travel distribution. While online commerce was growing at a fast pace, agents are more and more facing a new reality whereby customers are finding the cheapest fares for themselves on the Internet. The airlines can no longer afford to put fare content through GDSs and are complaining that the prices are too high.The low-cost airlines have added to this pressure, having found an alternative form of distribution that bypasses the GDSs, as stated by Breaking News Travel, (2004). In an attempt to cut their own costs, traditional airlines have started to make their best fares available on their own websites alone. Although GDSs are still a very useful distribution tool, at this stage it is crucial that they reduce their distribution costs in order to restore profitability and ensure the airlines survival (none of the GDSs are now owned by airlines). This is no doubt leading to the volume of the GDS transactions diminishing.What s hould they do? Moving into a de-regulatory environment will change the rules for GDSs, meaning a shift in focus creating new opportunities. They really need to concentrate on value, content and pricing as priorities in moving ahead. They should also re-evaluate their costs and agent incentives. British Airways (BA) has recently negotiated a deal with Amadeus, Sabre and Galileo, which gives them full access to BA’s fares as indicated by Breaking Travel News, (2004). What is the role of the global distribution system in today’s travel agencies?With the dramatic expansion of the Internet and the proliferation of new sources offering bookable travel content, GDSs are still the primary, most comprehensive and reliable platform for travel agencies and their corporate clients to access, shop and book travel. It is also through GDSs and their rich portfolios of travel planning and management tools those agencies and corporations reconcile and manage daily travel business. Due to their range, extent and supplier relationships, GDSs are also fundamental to the supply of travel products to retailers in the online channel according to Travelport, (2011). The InternetThe Internet has become the main sales channel and customer interface for low-cost airlines because of its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The most recent stage of distribution system increase happened in the mid-1990s and counterparts the fast growth of the Internet and its widespread penetration into households by the end of the decade. The internet gave rise to alternative booking channels. ‘ Instead of going to the travel agent to pick up brochures, customers will request details of holidays over the Internet and watch video pictures of the accommodation before booking with the swipe of a credit card. Morgan, (1996). ‘Airlines have a number of options for Internet distribution including airline-owned websites, alliance sites, electronic intermediaries and other forms of sales i ncluding electronic auctioning of unsold seats. A major advantage of these types of services is the ability to offer 24-hour, 7-days-a-week service that in the near future will include bookings via cellular phones using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology. ’ Buhalis & Laws, (2001). By combining the simple protocol of the Internet with a user-friendly interface it represents the main â€Å"vehicle† for creating a worldwide electronic community, integrating research institutes, private companies, public organizations and, most important, private households. ’ Werthner & Klein, (1999). Conclusion The questions are if there is a concentration of power in the hands of the airlines and the intermediaries, is there really a need for a neutral distribution system? What if there was no GDS? If this were the case – would the prices of the products go down or stay the same?From the research in this paper I believe that GDS today is costing us more . As 4Hoteliers stated previously in the paper, the market share of the 3 major alliances they now occupy more than 50% of total traffic. When the Low Cost carriers are removed out of the loop they don’t take part in the GDSs the amount of neutral traffic not united falls considerably. I would agree that the GDS has over time restrained competition and indeed cost the consumer more. GDS – Going, going, gone? They did indeed lasted many, many years but yes I believe they are on their way out.A new generation of people are coming in with more knowledge about technology than the last. They have more of a grasp about computers and the workings of the Internet therefore they will not need GDS, thus, will not need to use travel agencies who are the main users of GDS to book their air, hotel and car reservations. Once travel agencies are out, Global Distribution Systems will no longer be needed. They are soon to be gone. References Books: * Buhalis, D (2003). eTourism. Harlow , England: Pearson Education Limited. P93-94. * Buhalis, D. & Laws, E. (2001).Tourism Distribution Channels-Practices, Issues & Transformations. Cornwall, UK: TJI Digital. P221 * Egger, R. & Buhalis, D. (2008). eTourism Case Studies. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann P264 * Morgan, M. (1996). Marketing for Leisure and Tourism. Hertforshire, UK: Prentice Hall. P263 * Werthner, H. & Klein, S. (1999). Information Technology and Tourism – A Challenging Relationship. Austria: Springer-Verlag Wien. P79 * Werthner, H. & Klein, S. (1999). Information Technology and Tourism – A Challenging Relationship. Austria: Springer-Verlag Wien.P185 * Werthner, H. & Klein, S. (1999). Information Technology and Tourism – A Challenging Relationship. Austria: Springer-Verlag Wien. P188 Articles: * Breaking Travel News (2004) The Future of the GDS. Available from http://www. breakingtravelnews. com/news/article/btn20040216144254916/ [accessed 8th Oct 2011] * Buhalis, D. & Laws, E. (2008) Progress in Tourism Management: Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research. Available from http://www. sciencedirect. om/science/article/pii/S0261517708000162 [accessed 7th Oct 2011] * Schaal, D. (2006) Airlines the big winners in ‘the GDS wars’ in International News. Available from http://0-web. ebscohost. com. ditlib. dit. ie/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? vid=5&hid=8&sid=562024d9-8116-4049-8ab3-6bb0295294dd%40sessionmgr13 [Accessed 7th Oct 2011] Websites: * Hotel-ITC, (2011). GDS (Global Distribution System) – Connect to the world. Available from http://hotel-ict. blogspot. com/2011/04/gds-global-distribution-system-connect. html [Accessed 8th Oct 2011] (Image) * ITSA – GDSs and LTDs http://www. nteractivetravel. org/IndustryBackground/Attachments/GDSs_and_LTDs_FAQs. pdf [accessed 8th Oct] * Marcelvacek. blogspot, (2010). Touri sm & Hospitality Business Applications. Available from http://marcelvacek. blogspot. com/2010/10/what-is-crs-and-gds. html [accessed 7th Oct 2011] * Travel Agent Training Centre, (2011). Computer Reservation System Training Available from http://www. travelagenttrainingcenter. com/Computer%20Reservation%20System%20Training. htm [accessed 8 Oct] * Travelport, (2011). What do travel agents

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For Antigay Church, Losing Its Cause before Its Founder - Essay Example According to Paulson (2014), the church has been laden with internal wrangles even before its founder died, most of which can be blamed on dissatisfaction of power distribution and waning religious radicalism among some members. As a result, the church’s future is not confidently optimistic. This future is made even bleaker by the fact that virtually all members belong to Phelps’ family, which implies that there is limited external support. According to the article, the fanatical members of the Phelps’ family isolates itself from their neighbors, despite the latter’s efforts to associate with them. All these are factors continually deteriorating the church’s popularity, especially because their fanaticism seems more like an attempt to spread cultural hate. The public has met this harsh intolerance with counter protests, like buffering veterans’ funerals, car honking and jeering (Paulson, 2014). In my opinion, the Westboro Baptist Church is trying too hard to go against the dominant course of the contemporary society. This is because the American public is progressively embracing gay rights and religious communities are gradually reducing their hostility toward gay people. Further, the church is clearly not adopting some of the principal bible teachings; for instance the explicit provision to love one’s neighbor unconditionally and to refrain from making harsh judgments about others. Christianity is also a religion primarily founded on compassion and tolerance, as clearly illustrated by the death of Christ. Therefore, the church in question is evidently going against fundamental Christian values, by discriminating against gays and spreading hate speech, thus inflicting harm on innocent people. Paulson, M. (2014, March 22). For Antigay Church, Losing Its Cause before Its Founder. Retrieved from

Womem and men and media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Womem and men and media - Essay Example Consequently, many young girls often adopt approaches that jeopardize their health to attain skinny and or curvy figures that flush across television screens and also take center stage in the cover of many magazines. Moreover, the portrayal of female bodies in the media has significantly sexualized both male and female teenagers at tender ages leading to high moral decadence in the society. As such, this topic deserves much attention, especially at this time of high technological advances and emergence of technology savvy generation. Over the past decades, the media has been tirelessly working to construct the ideal image of what a beautiful woman should look like. Television channels, movies, and magazines among other media platforms have brainwashed young girls with misinformation about certain features that they must acquire in order to be considered beautiful. Deviating from the traditional definition of beauty, the media features pictures of models with thin bodies and other features that fit the media’s definition of beauty. Young girls often want to associate with television anchors or models they usually see in advertisements that plague the media. In order to be as close to the perfect woman, young ladies have taken to risky approaches to attain the shape and color of the images that keep hitting their eyes and filling their imaginations of what a beautiful woman should look like. In order to attain the body sizes that the media uphold as beautiful, young women have resorted to unhealthy eating habits. Some of the skip most meals in order to reduce their body weights so that they can match the size of a â€Å"perfect woman† while others use skin lightening products so that they can achieve the complexion of â€Å"perfect women† that they see more often in the televisions, magazines, movies and even social websites. Skipping

Budget and Budgeting Techniques Essay Example for Free

Budget and Budgeting Techniques Essay Answer- 1: Answer- 1 India was a closed economy in the beginning. Policy banning imports. The Liberalization of India’s Government in 1991. New Industrial Policy. Strict policies regarding the entry of foreign brands. Trade rules regulations simplified. Foreign investment increased. Pepsi enters in 1986. Coca-Cola follows in 1993. Contd †¦ Slide 14: Unlawful to market under their Western name in India Pepsi became â€Å"Lehar Pepsi†. Coca-Cola merged with Parle and became â€Å"Coca-Cola India†. Different Laws for Pepsi and Coke Coca-Cola agreed to sell off 49% of its stock as a condition of entering and buying out an Indian company. Pepsi entered earlier, and was not subject to this. Contd †¦ Slide 15: India forced Coke to sell 49% of its equity to Indian investors in 2002. Coke asked for a second extension that would delay it until 2007 which was denied. Pepsi was held to this since they entered India in a different year. Coke asked the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to block the votes of the Indian shareholders who would control 49% of Coke. Change in oversight of the FIPB: Past lobbying efforts made useless. Contd †¦ Slide 16: Could these problems have been forecasted prior to market entry? Probably not Inconsistent, and changing government. How could these developments in the political arena have been handled differently? Coke could of agreed to start new bottling plants instead of buying out Parle, and thus wouldn’t of had to agree to sell 49% of their equity. Answer-2: Answer-2 Coca-Cola’s Pros Cons of Timing of Entry in the Indian Market: Coca-Cola’s P ros Cons of Timing of Entry in the Indian Market Benefits Parle offered its bottling plants in 4 major cities. Made its return to India with Britannia Industries India Ltd. Disadvantages Rigid Rules and Regulations. Buying of bottling plants leads to 49% disinvestment. Local demand of carbonated drinks is as very low. Harder to establish themselves. Pepsi’s Pros Cons of Timing of Entry in the Indian Market: Pepsi’s Pros   Cons of Timing of Entry in the Indian Market Benefits Own set up green filled bottling plants. Advantage of coming before Coca Cola. Government policies favored the company. Joint venture with Voltas and Punjab Agro. Gained 26% share by 1993. Disadvantages Pepsi approached Parle but it was rejected. Launched 7up and there is stiff competition in the market for lemon drinks. Answer-3 Responses to India’s Enormity : Answer-3 Responses to India’s Enormity Pepsi and coca-cola responded in many ways to the enormity of India in terms of it population and geography. Conti .. Cont..: Cont.. Product Policies: Catering to Indian tastes Entering with products close to those already available in India such as colas, fruit drinks, carbonated waters Waiting to introduce American type drinks Coca-Cola introducing Sprite recently Introducing new products Bottled water Conti .. Cont.. : Cont.. Promotional Activities: Both advertise and use promotional material at Navratri . Pepsi gives away premium rice and candy with Pepsi Coca-Cola offers free passes, Coke giveaways as well as vacations Use of different campaigns for different areas of India â€Å" India A† campaigns try to appeal to young urbanites â€Å" India B† campaigns try to appeal to rural areas Cont†¦: Cont†¦ Pricing Policies: Pepsi started out with an aggressive pricing policy to try to get immediate market share from Indian competitors Coca-Cola cut its prices by 15-25% in 2003 Attempt to encourage consumption to try to compete with Pepsi and gain market share Contd ..: Contd .. Distribution Arrangements: Production plants and bottling centers placed in large cities all around India More added as demand grew and as new products were added Answer-4 Coke and Pepsi’s â€Å"Glocalization Strategies†: Answer-4 Coke and Pepsi’s â€Å" Glocalization Strategies† What is â€Å" Glocalization †? Global + Localization = Glocalization By taking a product global, a firm will have  more success if they adapt it specifically to the location and culture that they are trying to market it in. Both companies have successfully implemented glocalization Pepsi’s Glocalization: Pepsi’s Glocalization Pepsi forms joint venture when first entering India with two local partners, Voltas and Punjab Agro, forming â€Å"Pepsi Foods Ltd †. In 1990, Pepsi Foods Ltd. changed the name of their product to â€Å"Lehar Pepsi† to conform with foreign collaboration rules . In keeping with local tastes, Pepsi launched its Lehar 7UP in the clear lemon category. Pepsi’s Glocalization: Pepsi’s Glocalization Advertising is done during the cultural festival of Navrtri , a traditional festival held in the town of Gujarat which lasts for nine days. Pepsi’s most effective glocalization strategy has been sponsoring world famous Indian athletes, such as cricket and soccer players. Coca-Cola’s Glocalization: Coca-Cola’s Glocalization First joined forces with the local snack food producer Britannia Industries India Ltd. in the early 90’s. Formed a joint venture with the market leader Parle in 1993. For the festival of Navratri , Coca-Cola issued free passes to the celebration in each of its â€Å"Thumps Up† bottles. Also ran special promotions where people could win free vacations to Goa, a resort state in western India. Coca-Cola’s Glocalization: Coca-Cola’s Glocalization Coca-Cola also hired several famous â€Å"Bollywood† actors to endorse their products. Who could forget†¦ Answer-5: Answer-5 Yes, we agree that Coca-Cola India made mistakes in planning and managing its return to India. They wrongly forecasted Indian political environment due to which they had to dilute their stakes later (49% disinvestment). They rejected the plan to put up green fields bottling plants as they took over Parle’s existing bottling plants. Coca cola tried to get extensions twice. Answer -6: Answer -6 Pepsi and Coke can confront the issue of water use in the manufacturing of their products by the use of canal irrigation rainwater harvesting. Then they can also put water recycling plant to treat the discharged water from their factories and then they can provide that water to farmers for their agricultural use. This way the ground water problem can also be solved and managed. Cont..: Cont.. Coke can further defuse boycotts or demonstrations against their products in California by doing Ad-campaigns in which they can ask the experts from the ministry of health to convey the message to the public that their products are safe and healthy. They can also hire celebrities to do the Ads for their products because the public follows them. Coke should address the group directly because their company was not wrong and they should justify themselves. Answer-7: Pepsi Better marketing and advertising strategies Widely accepted More preferable More market share Less Political conflicts Coke Government conflicts Trailing Pepsi in market share Pepsi will fare better in the long run Answer-7 Answer-8 Pepsi’s Lessons Learned: Answer-8 Pepsi’s Lessons Learned Beneficial to keep with local tastes Beneficial to pay attention to market trends Celebrity appeal makes for exceptional advertising It pays to keep up with emerging trends in the market Coca-Cola’s Lesson’s Learned: Coca-Cola’s Lesson’s Learned Pay specific attention to deals made with the government Establish a good business relationship with the government Investment in quality products Advertising is crucial

The Cable Tv Industry Media Essay

The Cable Tv Industry Media Essay The rapid development in the area of technological innovation that has occurred over the last decades in the telecommunication industry, has led to a thriving growth in the digital entertainment media, shown by the emergence of new sophisticated products and a wide variety of services. This evolution has caused an increment in competition in the cable television industry. The development of these new technologies and the convergence of media and telecommunications have allowed consumers to access a greater number of services. Within this context, streaming sites to watch movies and TV shows over the Internet have become a direct competitor to the powerful business of cable television in the U.S. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies used by major cable TV providers in the U.S. to counter, or even avoid, the emergence of new competitors. These strategies generate controversy because they might pose a risk against free market competition. Two main branches, one in charge of production and the other in charge of the distribution form the Cable TV industry in the U.S. Together they share an estimated $300 billion market value (Arango, 2009). The multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) such as cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and wireline video providers give the distribution part of the equation. These companies generate revenues close to $100 billion per year, and it mostly comes from monthly cable subscriptions, additional charges from premium channels, and rental fees from set-top boxes (Shen, 2011). These companies are generally known as Multiple System Operators (MSOs) and include firms such as Time Warner and Comcast. These two providers serve almost half of the demand for cable TV in the U.S. The video programming networks that produce the content consumers watch integrate the second component of the industry. Broadcaster networks such as ABC, NBC, and CBS, that produce their content, make it available on cable TV and over-the-air, form the producers network market. There are also non-broadcasters such as MTV, Comedy Central, and TBS whose content is only available through cable subscriptions (Ammori 2010). As the distribution network, the programming network is a highly concentrated market dominated by a few powerful and prevailing programming networks. These companies mainly derive their revenue from advertising and retransmission fees. Contrasting broadcast television that relies on advertising to originate its revenue, cable networks receive revenue from fees paid by cable operators. For example, Comcast pays closely to $1 billion a year to carry ESPN (Arango, 2010). However, as the costs of pay-TV grow and consumers spending power stays the same, the traditional business model follow by cable providers appears to need a major change. Furthermore, the appearance of new online companies like Netflix and Hulu has put pressure on the cable industry to change their business model. For many years, both systems have harmonized and work together in a model, that now many predicts will eventually decline thanks to the proliferation of internet TV. In an attempt to minimize the effect of this new internet trend and keep the revenue stream and business model of subscription TV, the cable TV providers have discussed the need to prevent the spread of television programs, most of which are now available online free. Consequently, they have discussed the introduction of a new model commonly known as TV Everywhere. The objective of this initiative is to ensure the delivery of the online content as a natural extension of the existing Cable TV model. Through this system, consumers can view programming online only if they identify themselves as cable TV subscriber, that is, only the cable subscribers can view the most popular content through the internet. The agreement reflects the profound concern of the satellite TV, telecommunications companies and cable industry to allow free access to this content, as it could lead to problems similar to those faced by the music industry and the news, which nowadays have to struggle to establish su bscription-based business models. Another argument for the introduction of these barriers lies in the lack of regulation regarding access Internet content, which could push subscribers to cancel their TV service and use only the Web. The main promoters of this campaign have been the cable companies, but satellite and telecommunications companies are joining the fight. Due to fear of violating antitrust law through collusion, the cable television executives have tried to hide their actions by eliminating a paper trail. Their strategy has been to have informal discussions, leaving nothing in writing. According to reports by the New York Times, the electronic media chiefs, including [Time Warner CEO Jeffrey] Bewkes, Jeff Zucker [CEO] of NBC Universal and Philippe P. Dauman [CEO] of Viacom, among others, have been more careful to avoid being accused of collusion. Much of the discussions have been on the phone and in private, one-on-one conversations during industry events. Price is rarely, if ever, discussed, according to executives involved in the discussions (Arango, 2009). The executives have emphasized the importance of finding an industry-wide solution, and this can be achieved only if they collude, as such solution is not in a companys interest unless others agree with one another on the solution. A focal point of a free market economy is that consumers are better off if each company follows its own self-interest rather than colluding with its competitors to raise prices, allocate markets, or otherwise harm consumers and competitors (Ammori, 2010). Stephen B. Burke, the chief operating officer of Comcast, has publicly admitted that if each current operator and programmer merely followed its own self-interest, just like each should do it under the law in a competitive market), then each company would be worse off. As the New York Times reported, the problem is that if each goes in different directions some offering more shows free, others holding them back only for cable subscribers then the economics of the industry could crumble. The industry have come a predictable conflict between two discordant models for broadcast content: cable TV and the Internet. The circumstances seem difficult, and it suggests the possibility facing the prisoners dilemma. Setting it in a simple scenario, broadcasters and cable companies play the role of the prisoners. Thus, given that both cooperate to maintain unlicensed Internet-delivered TV programming off connected-TV sets, they both obtain gains (Frank, 2010). Whereas broadcast gets its large retransmission fees, cable providers get to sell diverse premium services at a substantial profit. However, the appearance of internet TV has come to propose the dilemma. In the case of broadcasters, internet TV offers the opportunity to sell programming direct to consumers, at potentially higher margins than through the cable companies. In addition, it allows a more straight control over advanced advertising and interactive capabilities that currently the cable companies are trying to cont rol. Conversely, to cable providers, internet TV gives them the opportunity to gain more advantage in retransmission negotiations by potentially offering content that is free on the Internet for free to their cable customers as well. In most cases, the result of the prisoners dilemma is the desertion of both players, since in terms of game theory the defection strictly dominates over cooperation. Although the situation of Internet TV has not yet predict this result, the benefits of desertion still clearly outweigh the benefits of cooperation. Broadcasters are not likely to get more money from online TV providers that cable companies, and cable companies are not likely to gain enough influence to offset the potential loss of subscribers in case of losing access to popular programming. However, the evolution of Internet TV can lead to broadcasters have to choose between the programming offered on the Internet knowing that people can watch on TV as well, and the loss of a large part of the growing online audience. Distributors, meanwhile, will have to choose between continuing to pay increasing rates of carriage to holdout broadcasting or take their chances with online television. To avoid this step in the dilemma, the distributors are working with broadcasters on the TV Everywhere concept, which lasted subscriber based on conditional access to video on any device. C. Anticompetitive effects of this new strategy On the markets On the consumers V. Conclusion