2022 BEA Research Symposium: Triaging the Streaming Wars

Sunday, April 24, 2022 | 9 am –  5 pm PST
Las Vegas Convention Center,  West Hall | Room 223

 Research Symposium Chair:
Robert Alan Brookey, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Telecommunication, Ball State University; rabrookey@bsu.edu

Our industries are undergoing a significant disruption with the introduction of several new streaming services. Both Disney+ and Apple TV+ were introduced in 2019, while NBC/Universal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia launched HBO Max in May 2020. These streaming services are in addition to the established ones, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and CBS All Access (rebranded as Paramount+ in 2021). Smaller services are also available including Discovery+, AMC+, YouTube TV, Roku and Pluto TV. The shift to these services has been accelerated during the COVID pandemic, which upended the distribution models for both film and television.

This symposium will be an opportunity for scholars to consider the different implications of the rise of streaming services. Already we can see how streaming has changed the industry. For example, Disney’s acquisition of Fox was in preparation for the launch of Disney+, and resulted in a significant consolidation of the media industry. Labor issues and compensation have been driven by the shift to streaming, and these concerns were central to the conflict between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) members and their agents. The divide between networks and affiliates has been broadened given that streaming content renders those legacy media relationships obsolete. Finally, there are a variety of business models behind these services that defy the traditional advertising models and standard revision procedures.

Click here to see the Research Symposium program