Wi-Fi TV Inc. chairman Alex Kanakaris in a live interview with Alan Rothman, on the Business of Success talk radio show, created a stir when he called Blockbuster and Hollywood Video dinosaurs on the verge of extinction. In the interview that lasted thirty minutes, Kanakaris expressed his belief that the potential merger of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video will prove meaningless in the big picture of how content delivery is changing. “What’s behind my statement is a list of antiquated thoughts trying to persevere by becoming a bigger and bigger monster, not realizing that no matter how big the dinosaur is, at some point it’s destined to die,” said Kanakaris. Well known for the delivery of the first full-length movie online in 1995, the Wi-Fi TV chairman went on to say, “All the old business models are dead, and the youth of the world have taken charge of a new way of talking, communicating and sharing entertainment.”
Kanakaris, who was invited on to the show to discuss the introduction of totally free local and long distance phone calls on the Wi-Fi TV virtual phone dialer powered by Ad Calls Inc. at the web site www.wi-fitv.com, went on to say that no one should ever have to pay for a phone call, and anyone who says otherwise is just indulging in cheap talk. When probed on costs, Kanakaris said that revenue from ads and instant pay-per-view downloads will bolster a more efficient and larger distribution platform than traditional solutions for phone calls, movies and TV viewing, while ultimately giving the end-user more value.
“The young people of the world have stood up and gone to the door and said: I’ve had enough and I’m not going to take any of this old technology any more and they’re throwing it out the window. So its televisions, out the window; telephones, out the window; video tapes, out the window; DVDs, out the window; drives to the video store, no more, and what’s replacing it is a singular internet connection, and through that singular internet connection the ability to more efficiently do the things that we have traditionally done with all these items that the young people of the world don’t want anymore,” stated Mr. Kanakaris.
The interview, conducted on March 20, 2005, may be heard online at www.wi-fitv.com. A full transcript of the interview also appears on the web site.
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