The internet revolution has brought great changes to the communications industry, both in terms of infrastructures and contents. For infrastructures, the scenario shows a different level of investment, a change in keeping with regulation and new business models. Today’s prospects are for a Pan-European map that should provide guidelines for the sector’s new organization.
There was a great deal of discussion on the role and extent of possible public investments in the sector, seen by some as indispensible and by others as not entirely necessary. The latter believe that what is most needed is better organization and a clearer, more transparent model of competitiveness. There are many who feel that rather than financial resources, the real need is for new leadership capabilities to create new initiatives, ideas and reorganization. Risk and courage are ultimately more productive than any public support.
The growth of broadband and increase of demand were also discussed, with many emphasizing that Italy in particular still has to overcome a substantial digital divide. While the US government is strongly committed to supporting the sector, there are deficiencies in Italy. In times of crisis – it was said – state investments are unrealistic, and co-investment projects more feasible. For that reason, a starting spectrum for the development of new policies should be established. On the other hand, some participants believed that new public policies are necessary, most of all for the new network generations.
The regulatory aspect – in particular vis-à-vis a rationalization of legislation – was another key point in the debate. New rules are needed for a new world. The delicacy of regulation regarding infrastructures, but not only, has an impact on fixed and mobile telephony. Unbalanced regulations, it was observed, can seriously damage investments and endanger future market growth. While many were in favor of operators sharing infrastructures, others believed that the business model should be changed and that consumers should pay for service quality. The question of pricing is becoming more and more of an obstacle and the moment has come to draw up a map of the values and costs involved.
When speaking of content, the internet revolution has led to radical changes that are not by any means definitive. Consumer behavior has changed. Television is no longer the media leader, even though it is still the most important and influential. There is a crisis in the newspaper business and many prestigious papers are closing or cutting down on staff. The number of online papers is growing and the idea of news for pay is gaining ground. After an initial period of news for free, we are approaching another era, when services must be paid for.
Blogs and phenomena like YouTube and MySpace have veered the media ecosystem in the direction of democratic participation. Consequently, we are headed to a widespread, democratic form of journalism, which – while it does have its share of risks and errors – has created a crisis in the old system of communication. For this reason, we need to find a balance so that these changes will be positive, maintaining the media ecosystem’s info-diversity and guaranteeing the quality of information. For journalism to survive, it should once again start expounding recognizable ideas and positions. Radical tendencies like those of Fox News might be excessive, but the fact remains that users increasingly appreciate seeing the media make a definitive choice, rather than trying to remain unbiased. Some participants suggested that the media pay more attention to local issues. The crisis at CNN is proof that the global choice is not necessarily the best.
The revolution brought on by internet has not only affected news, but entertainment as well. Consumers have more choice today, partly because the market is more fragmented. The business model has changed. Contents must follow the consumer on the various means that technology makes available: today, ideas must be “transmedial”. The problem remains of how to produce high quality contents for widely different platforms. The challenge is to obtain complementary platforms.
Another problem at the center of the debate is how to obtain greater earnings in the digital age and how to design a working payment system. Many authoritative papers make the customers pay on whatever media they used, from iPads to smart phones. Common standards of payment should be sought, although there are numerous difficulties here, given that national legal systems are quite different.
While, on one hand, telecommunications must continue development to allow customers to use these new services, on the other, the media must be prepared to offer innovative content, solve the question of copyright defense and find new ways of defending themselves from increasing content piracy. The world of communications has changed deeply and the system will never be the same. In the passage from the old to the new world, there will be a sort of natural selection where the winners will be innovation, new business models, quality and value.