Exclusive Mobile Content Deals Could Be Problematic
The latest problem with various "closed" walled gardens in the mobile space is that carriers are negotiating "exclusive" deals for content, such as sports highlights and live videos. This could get very problematic in creating a balkanized world, where it's simply impossible to get the content you want on your mobile phone unless you have phones from a variety of different providers. This is yet another attempt at providing lock-in, rather than what consumers actually want, and it's likely to backfire, by slowing the overall growth of the market for mobile data, rather than encouraging it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
