The "Controlling Content in a Digital World" session's panelists, including representatives from VEVO, Verizon Communications, Yahoo!, and Rainbow Media addressed this issue during the first day of Dow Jones and Nielsen's Media and Money Conference at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood today.

Yahoo!'s Jimmy Pitaro started things off by noting how subscribers to a number of Yahoo!'s message boards preferred paying for access as it "keeps the riff raff out."

Verizon's Terry Denson then highlighted how the distinction between platforms where content is obtained is changing.  As advertisers look for more "bang for their buck," the importance of content providers diminishes as more creators emerge.  He noted that this will more likely be influenced by the number of mobile phones with advanced capabilities by 2012 than by the company's own FiOS given how the mobile devices allow greater interaction with the content.

Cablevision's Rainbow Media's Joshua Sapan talked about making content freely available online, saying that Rainbow only puts content online "for promotional purposes" as he thinks the industry shouldn't "Napsterize" itself.  He went on to explain that Rainbow sees a "devaluing" of content's advertising value when it's put online in short order after it airs.  He thinks, however, that a model like TV Everywhere which will require users to subscribe will add value.

VEVO's Rio Caraeff shared his opinion that the number of people who buy music is diminishing and that the music industry, which has largely been business-to-business focused, needs to get its content to more consumers directly using the company's Hulu-like model.  When the site launches, he explained, it will be reaching 460 million screens through a partnership with YouTube.

During the question-and-answer session that followed, Denson did address the issue of the iPhone being available through Verizon Wireless, noting that he doesn't see "a need for Apple to exclusive."