MCNs and the New Television Ecology: A ‘Middle Range’ Approach

• In Event: Television’s New Intermediaries: The Rise of Multichannel Networks (MCNs)

Abstract

This paper approaches the phenomenon of the hyperbolic growth of multichannel networks from the perspective of Schumpeterian ‘creative destruction’. Capitalism, Schumpeter said, ‘is incessantly being revolutionised from within by new enterprise’. How much are MCNs ‘worth’ (in David Stark’s sense of both new creative and cultural value as well as new economic value)? Based on early 2014 analysis, the founders and CEOs of 14 out of the top 34 MCNs had no movie, TV or music industry experience so may bring new attitudes to ingrained industry paradigms. The other 20 had top executives who had worked in content businesses, but several of these roles were for independents. Most MCNs are based in the US, but many are not ‑ significantly greater spatial and cultural diversity is a feature of the new television ecology. Nevertheless, it is notable how rapidly the new content production environment has institutionalized along similar lines to established TV production cultures.

Stuart Cunningham is Distinguished Professor of Media and Communications, Queensland University of Technology. His current research, focused on digital transformations of the screen sector, is being pursued as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 2014-15 based at University of California-Santa Barbara. His most recent book relevant to MCNs is Screen Distribution and the New King Kongs of the Online World (Palgrave, with Jon Silver, 2013).

Author

• Stuart Duncan Cunningham, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation