ABC Attempts Brand Suicide
I have no idea what the 11th-hour agreement between ABC and Cablevision was last night to bring the ABC singal back online to 3.1 million folks in NYC... But I do know that this stunt by ABC has majorly pissed off a lot (millions) of their customers. The 'bad light' is squarely on ABC, not Cablevision, from where I sit.
Here's a quick backgrounder on the situation.
It's amazing to me that ABC thought that turning off the lights to 3.1 million consumers would be putting more hurt on Cablevision than on themselves. Really?? Someone in Disney (ABC) PR should lose a job over this. Or perhaps the entire team. What a brand disaster.
Folks, don't hold your customers hostage to gain leverage with a partner! It is on the Business 101 "Don't Do" list. It is also brand suicide. Amazing.ABC, of course, will survive. Generally speaking, the companies further upstream, closer to content (the TV networks in this case), hold the cards. However, ABC's misguided stunt could now shift some of the power over to the cable companies.
