learning lessons from others

I saw this at The Register - a piece about Tescos setting up a digital download service next year:
A couple of extracts;
"...buying digital music isn't a habit that has caught on. The global market is worth $3bn annually, but that's a drop in the ocean; Reg readers pour scorn on people who actually fork out real money for digital songs - on a song-by-song basis - calling them "paytards"."
and
"Our commercial broadcasters - and the BBC - are hoping that we'll get into the habit of paying for TV shows and movies. The Beeb already sells Dr Who through iTunes in the USA, and is awaiting the arrival of Kangaroo to sell us repeats here, too. But if current behaviour patterns persist, that's only going to increase the attractiveness of PirateBay."

Apart from the fact that the Tescos venture will probably come about five years too late. I was struck by the fact that digital music downloads only produced $3bn dollars revenue last year. This makes you realise what a state the music business is currently in. With UK mainstream broadcasters - BBC and commercial - looking for salvation, with a business strategy involving Internet revenues and online programme sales, they should be careful. Illegal music downloads are outstripping legal sales by a factor of 20 to one. There is no obvious reason why the market for quality television output won't go the same way. At best the broadcasters plans look risky at worst they could be a recipe for disaster.