It should be obvious to anyone who’s really paying attention that Trump is getting the hang of it. He’s a gifted reality television host, who happens to be President.

And I’m not going to talk about politics. There are plenty of channels filled with talking heads who specialize in that game of ping pong.

If you look at Trump as a celebrity, you’d have to say he’s as big as they get. In the history of media, can you name anyone more famous? More controversial? With bigger ratings or exposure? Is there a bigger star in the entire world? Probably not.

Would you say that we have all become more media driven than at any time in human history? Yes, obviously. These darn smartphones are addicting! And are there more outlets with more channels and more networks including social and broadcast than we ever imagined might exist? Sure.

So, what is it that they have a never-ending thirst for?

Content.

No president, no pop star, no sports figure, no celebrity, no CEO, no person alive creates more content on a daily basis than Donald Trump.

That’s his talent.

The AT&T /Time-Warner merger was approved today. Of course, it was. You can’t let Comcast buy NBC and tell other distributors no. Distributors need content. Why? Because technology changes so rapidly.

Remember when AOL bought Time-Warner? Same thing, huh?

Except that was when you had to sit down at home and plug a PC into your phone modem to dial into the internet. All the cool people had AOL email addresses. How quaint.

So here we are in 2018.

The big media companies want to grab as much programming as they can to keep you subscribing. Netflix led the way. Google, Amazon, and Apple are pushing video & music services and creating original content. Spotify just announced they plan to sign independent artists and cut out the need for a record label.

Netflix never cared how you watched, as long as you subscribed. They even made sure you spread the word by not giving a shit that you shared your password. Smart. Now HBO, SHOWTIME and even legacy networks like CBS are cross-platform, as long as you pay you can watch on any device.

All of this is far from settled.

Net Neutrality just ended. That is both a big deal and not a big deal.

Is your Netflix going to get choked? Probably not. That isn’t really what this is about. Net speeds are going to rise so fast that will quickly make “buffering concerns” as outdated as your square television and your flip phone. 5G Wireless is only a few years away. Gigabit speed will be commonplace.

So forget about that.

These companies will fight amongst each other about the one thing they all crave.

Content.

If you listened to FCC Chairman Pai, that was his point. Let the free market decide. Otherwise, the federal government treats media like a public utility.

https://www.marketplace.org/2018/06/07/world/Ajit-Pai-FCC-Net-Neutrality

Not that I buy that the FTC will stop anticompetitive practices so the little guy can compete. That’s horse shit. But the part about letting infrastructure grow unregulated ain’t all bad. As long as you accept that someone is going to pay for all of that speed and content. That someone is always the consumer.

Which brings me back to Trump. He’s compelling content. And his enemies give him power. Look what just happened with little Rocket Man.

And at least for now, Content is King.

Bob

Note: Yesterday’s column, which featured the King Trump video, mistakenly said we wrote it 6 years ago. It was actually 2 years ago… I apologize. I was on Ambien when I wrote that.