So said Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO. Now I believe that he is fairly correct about this but I believe there needs to be some clarification.
First off, I think you will always be able to watch television using your cable/antennae/ or satellite dish. I don't think that's going away anytime soon. What I think Mr. Hastings means is that broadcast television will no longer be rife with content. For instance, Netflix is releasing a ton of movies and television shows this December including Marco Polo, a show I am immensely looking forward to. It looks like a historical version of Game of Thrones and the show is being released on December 12th. Now, why, do you ask, would this show be released on such an unusual date? Well because there will be nothing else to watch. Many of the fall television shows will be on a holiday hiatus which means you could either watch re-runs or watch brand new content. Netflix is also releasing a ton of films, including Wolf of Wall Street and Anchorman 2, both in December, because they know that people will have a vacuum of time in which they will want to fill with new and exciting stuff.
Also, CBS and HBO, and many others will follow suit, will be releasing their stand alone services for individuals to purchase and watch. Standalone you say? What does that mean? Well cable, being cable, meaning being downright awful, makes you bundle. Oh you want HBO? Well now you have HBO and a whole other set of channels you will never ever ever watch because you wanted a quality channel and we decided to give you the Home Shopping Network as well. Now, HBO is offering a standalone service so that people can buy it and watch it. By itself, Through the internet, if they want to. No more bundling! CBS is doing the same thing, I believe they already have begun, and eventually many other channels such as Showtime, FX, AMC, and many others may begin to do the same because people want what they want. If they want HBO, they will be able to get HBO, by itself.
Which brings me to my last thought, with the competition in the television and movie market ever increasing, I believe, like Mr. Hastings said, that broadcast television will be obsolete, unless it can make some significant changes. Because money will be going to Netflix and HBO and less money will be siphoned to channels like FOX and ABC.
Written by cwm on Nov 28, 2014
Hope not
RIP
I couldn't agree more. Something needs to change, and the change is already coming. When we users can get all channels on one site, that will be a great day for television :)
cwm, maybe so.
david, agreed.
For now there's one advantage to your cable provider though: having one single contract instead of having to sign up with 20 different services individually. If somewhere in the next 16 years someone manages to get all these different entities on board for one single platform where we can instantly watch any episode ever made, regardless of if it aired yesterday or 10 years ago, regardless of if it was produced by ABC, Netflix, the BBC, or some Swedish/Danish channel you've never heard of... they'll be so filthy rich :)