[peteforde]

Great article with sound reasoning. I love reading op-ed style pieces that legitimately educate me on something just outside of my radar.

Two points to add:

1. I disagree that Netflix can't win by trying to out-HBO HBO, because as I understand Netflix' strategy is closer to Amazon Prime. Amazon loses money on Prime shipping (although with volume, not as much as you think) but in exchange they become the default place that customers come to buy just about anything they need, which means that loss in shipping was actually a massive reduction in marketing. They tilt the customer acquisition cost lower and the LTV higher. If Netflix succeeds in creating content that most consumers can only get in one place, it will dramatically increase the size of the iceberg under the surface.

2. One of the most interesting and successful tech/media hybrids I'm aware of is hitRECord, which is spearheaded by the brilliant Regular Joe aka Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This is a stunning example of crowd-sourcing and community collaboration working. http://www.hitrecord.org/ - check out "Morgan M. Morgansen's Date With Destiny" on the Greatest Hits page: http://www.hitrecord.org/greatest

It's silly to speculate whether YC will or will not fund the evolution of entertainment. It's also not an interesting debate.