Cord-cutting Accelerating

SilverSurfer wrote 7 years ago: 1

https://www.techspot.com/news/75652-cord-cutting-accelerating-faster-than-expected.html

Is streaming to broadcast/cable as broadcast was to old time radio (OTR)? There was a time few thought radio could lose it's dominance to the new comer television. Yet in short order CBS, NBC Red and NBC Blue (ABC) quickly moved into TV while Mutual, once a radio powerhouse, didn't.

1. Can broadcast/cable evolve and adapt efficiently and quickly enough to survive?

2. If history repeats itself, which current big four US broadcaster will suffer the same fate as Mutual (MBS) and which three will move on to the new platforms/delivery systems?

3. Can other countries networks who followed a similar path (eg CBC in Canada, BBC in UK), survive and adapt to this paradigm shift.

4. It's late, these questions pop into my mind. Why?

JuanArango wrote 7 years ago: 1

I think that all four big networks will survive in some Kind of way, but they will more and more adapt with online streaming.

LadyShelley wrote 7 years ago: 1

We got rid of the satellite dish more than ten years ago. There was very little we wanted to watch and it was costing more than $100 a month for it. (and that was *without* things like "premium" channels) We kicked it to the curb and never looked back. The only thing I really miss is baseball and hockey games. Everything was pushed off to cable channels a long time ago so I see very little now, but they aren't worth going back to that $100 a month bill.

I've been saying for years, the advert model of funding used by the US and the government fee used in the UK were both in trouble, a shrinking audience for the first and fewer people actually buying TVs in the case of the second. What will replace it, I'm not sure. I doubt it will be hundreds of online subscription sites, especially since they are starting to play the same games as the cable companies and bundling together a bunch of stuff I don't want but still making me pay for it.

SilverSurfer wrote 7 years ago: 1

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/discovery-ceo-david-zaslav-teases-direct-to-consumer-future-1202887550/

Another group of channels looking at a streaming future.

heyted wrote 7 years ago: 1

For many cable TV customers that are not cutting the cord, the cable bill keeps going up due to nontransparent fees added by the cable companies. A recent Consumer Reports article describes this. For those that are not willing to cut the cord (at least for now) but are sick of paying the high cable bill, shaving the cord should be a consideration. A significant amount of money can be saved by purchasing a DVR or a home theater PC instead of using equipment from the cable company and getting rid of premium channels. In the USA, federal rules require cable companies to allow their customers to purchase their own equipment in most cases.

I think over the air broadcast TV will be around long after cable TV as we know it today no longer exists.