Bud TV

The concept of brands providing content directly to consumers is nothing new…if you’ve been paying attention to the marketing world for the past year or two.

Anheuser-Busch has decided to throw their hat in the ring and they’re either going to change the way marketers and sponsors do things…or they’re going to fail miserably.

A-B is in a unique position amongst brands going direct to consumer. Their buying power in the Sports and Entertainment world could result in concerts, games and events being aired…or broadcast…or whatever it will be called…exclusively on Bud TV. That is HUGE. Either they’ll be the HBO of brands…flipping an industry on its ear…or they’ll be conservative and ruin a once-in-an-existence chance to be innovative.

This from Adrants.com:
Anheuser-Busch will use its Super Bowl commercial time to launch a direct-to-consumer network called "The Bud Screen." The network will offer all manner of programming, branded content and advertising delivered to the desktop or an iPod. The brewer intends the network to be long-lived and to eventually be named "Bud TV." We've said it before and we'll say it again, the middleman - the networks - just aren't needed any longer. When a brand or program producer can deliver content directly to the consumer, there's no need for the current TV network set up. Oh sure, big changes are years away but it's happening and it will continue to happen faster and faster as more brands and content producers realize they can have their own channel of distribution.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=39353&Nid=18157&p=117792