This article uses the neoclassical economic principles of substitutable goods and switching costs to examine how the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) intended its digital media ecosystem, UltraViolet, to intervene in the U.S. market for long-form digital video. The article provides a detailed blueprint of the ecosystem’s industrial arrangement, an account of its bungled rollout, and an analysis of the DECE’s long-term strategy. The piece also contributes to a dialogue on the use of economics within the field of digital distribution scholarship by arguing for the value of neoclassical principles within this field.
BabeR.1995. Communication and the Transformation of Economics: Essays in Information, Public Policy, and Political Economy. Boulder: Westview Press.
3.
BergerR.2011. Interview with the Media Industries Project, July26. Transcription. Carsey-Wolf Center, Santa Barbara, CA [Original Sound Recording in Possession of Media Industries Project].
CalabreseA.2004. “Toward a Political Economy of Culture.” In Toward a Political Economy of Culture: Capitalism and Communication in the Twenty-First Century, edited by CalabreseA.SparksC., 1–12. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
LemleyM.McGowanD.1998. “Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects.” California Law Review86:479–611.
22.
LevinsohnP.2010. Interview with the Media Industries Project, 21May. Transcription. Carsey-Wolf Center, Santa Barbara, CA (Original Sound Recording in Possession of Media Industries Project)
23.
LiebowitzS.2002. Re-thinking the Network Economy: The True Forces that Drive the Digital Marketplace. New York: American Management Association.
24.
LobatoR.2012. Shadow Economies of Cinema: Mapping Informal Film Distribution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
25.
MankiwN.2007. Principles of Microeconomics. 4th ed.Mason, OH: South-Western.
26.
McChesneyR.2004. “Making a Molehill Out of a Mountain: The Sad State of Political Economy in U.S. Media Studies.” In Toward a Political Economy of Culture: Capitalism and Communication in the Twenty-First Century, edited by CalabreseA.SparksC., 41–64. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
27.
McChesneyR.2008. The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas. New York: Monthly Review Press.
28.
McDonaldP.2007. Video and DVD Industries. London: British Film Institute.
29.
McDonaldP.2012. “Connected Entertainment UK: Behavior, Taste, Experience, and Value.” In Connected Viewing Initiative 2012 Final Report, 28–34. Santa Barbara: The Media Industries Project of the Carsey-Wolf Center.
30.
McKenzieR.2003. Digital Economics. London: Praeger.
31.
MillerT.GovilN.McMurriaJ.MaxwellR.WangT.2005. Global Hollywood 2. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
MoscoV.2009. The Political Economy of Communication. 2nd ed.Los Angeles: Sage.
33.
MurdockG.GoldingP.1973. “For a Political Economy of Mass Communications.” In Socialist Register 1973, edited by MilibandR.SavilleJ., 205–34. London: Merlin Press.
34.
NagleT.HoganJ.ZaleJ.2011. The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably. 5th ed.Boston: Prentice Hall.
OlsonS.1999. Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency. New York: Routledge.
37.
O’ReganT.2012. “Remembering Video: Reflections on the First Explosion of Informal Media Markets through the VCR.” Television & New Media13 (5): 383–98.
PertierraA.2012. “If They Show Prison Break in the United States on a Wednesday, by Thursday It Is Here: Mobile Media Networks in Twenty-First-Century Cuba.” Television & New Media13 (5): 399–414.
40.
PosterM.2006. Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines. Durham: Duke University Press.
RifkinJ.2000. The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism Where All of Life Is a Paid-for Experience. New York: Putnam.
43.
ShapiroC.VarianH.1999. Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
44.
SnickarsP.2012. “A Walled Garden Turned into a Rain Forest.” In Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media, edited by SnickarsP.VonderauP., 155–68. New York: Columbia University Press.
45.
SteirerG.2012. “Added and Subtracted Value.” Paper presented at the bi-annual Flow Conference, Austin, Texas, Novermber 1-3.
46.
SteirerG.2014. “The Personal Media Collection and the Electronic Sell-through Marketplace.” In Connected Viewing: Selling, Sharing, and Streaming Digital Media in a Digital Era, edited by HoltJ.SansonK., 79-95. London: Routledge.
47.
StroverS. L.MonerW.2014. “The Contours of On-Demand Viewing.” In Connected Viewing: Sellkng, Streaming, & Sharing Media in the Digital Era, edited by HoltJ.SansonK., 234-253. London: Routledge.
48.
TaylorJ.2013a. Interview by author, 9May. Transcript. Glendale, CA.
VonderauP.2014. “Beyond Piracy: Understanding Digital Markets.” In Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming, & Sharing Media in the Digital Era, edited by HoltJ.SansonK., 99-123. London: Routledge.
55.
WaskoJ.2003. How Hollywood Works. London: Sage.
56.
WasserF.2001. Veni, Vidi, Video: The Hollywood Empire and the VCR. Austin: University of Texas Press.
57.
WilkieR.2011. The Digital Condition: Class and Culture in the Information Network. New York: Fordham University Press.
58.
WinseckD.2011. “The Political Economies of Media and the Transformation of the Global Media Industries.” In The Political Economies of Media: The Transformation of the Global Media Industries, edited by WinsekD.Yong JinD., 3–48. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
