This comment by David Banks, director of Blue Room for AT&T (T), probably says it all for the changing entertainment industry, "We're not just a communications company but a communications and entertainment company."
What's he talking about? They now have created what they call their Blue Room. Which is a web site created for broadcasting live webcasts of concerts.
It seems to be doing well. In May, according to ComScore, the site garnered 87,000 unique visitors. While the June numbers aren't out yet, Hitwise estimates that the traffic exploded in the middle of June by 500% because of the Bonnaroo concert.
Last year, after buying the music property, AT&T started aggressively adding content. They started with three webcast concerts last year and will offer five this year. It will include the coming Chicago concert on the Lollapalooza tour.
Not only are they entering the competitive concert partnerships, but they have made deals with Coldplay and Keith Urban, among others, to increase traffic and make people aware of their site.
With AT&Ts acquisition of Cingular not too long ago, they are initiating a strategy to distribute their offerings across computers, TV and cellphones.
They are calling them "screens" with no thought of movie theaters being part of the mix.
The bottom line question to me is not What is the entertainment business? - but rather: Is anybody not in the entertainment business anymore?
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