Future of Cable TV

I'm thinking that inevitably some startup will form an aggregation service for online TV and movies.

I mean, as things are now, you need multiple services if you want to see everything. Not every one does, naturally, but I can see how people would want to watch some Netflix, Amazon, and CBS series. Perhaps paying for all 3 isn't that hard or expensive, but as more online content gets produced, what will you do?

It will start with small, amateur productions, some of which may now play on YouTube for free. Someone will think "I can get all these semi-popular programming together on a good streaming server and charge $5 per month for it!"

We'll see. Media markets tend not to stay fragmented.

Holy crap, in 2015 FoxNews was number TWO in
all of cable, behind ESPN. CNN was 22nd. This is
nuts, a news network watched by that many
people. I only watch two of their shows, the
6pm news and O'Reilly. Fox hates Trump yet
they have him on 3-4 times a week. Roger
Ailes hates Trump, I should say.

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cable-network-ranker-2015/280768

Quote: Evenbob

Holy crap, in 2015 FoxNews was number TWO in
all of cable, behind ESPN.

See Disney/ABC has the #1 spot with ESPN, Fox has FoxNews and FX, and NBC owns USA. CBS is the last broadcast network not to be a major player in cable so they have to have the highest rated broadcast shows (The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, etc).

That's why FOX survives on broadcast with only three shows with over 5 million viewers. CBS has to pay for shows that will attract broadcast viewers, because they don't have the cable backup.

Millions
12.28 | FOX Empire
5.53 | FOX Bones
5.45 | FOX Rosewood

16.78 | CBS NCIS
15.65 | CBS Big Bang Theory (renewed)
12.88 | CBS NCIS: New Orleans
10.49 | CBS Blue Bloods
10.34 | CBS Madam Secretary
9.55 | CBS Scorpion
8.88 | CBS Survivor: Cambodia
8.71 | CBS Hawaii Five-0
8.68 | CBS Life in Pieces
8.68 | CBS Criminal Minds
8.48 | CBS Supergirl
8.36 | CBS The Good Wife
8.27 | CBS NCIS: Los Angeles
8.02 | CBS Limitless
7.41 | CBS Mom
7.25 | CBS Code Black
6.26 | CBS 2 Broke Girls
5.98 | CBS CSI: Cyber
5.43 | CBS Elementary

8.56 | ABC Grey's Anatomy
8.46 | ABC Scandal
8.21 | ABC Modern Family
7.63 | ABC The Middle
7.06 | ABC How to Get Away with Murder
6.89 | ABC The Goldbergs
6.81 | ABC Last Man Standing
6.64 | ABC Castle
6.02 | ABC Black-ish
5.68 | ABC Dr. Ken
5.08 | ABC Quantico
5.00 | ABC Once Upon a Time

8.93 | NBC Chicago Med
8.34 | NBC Blindspot (renewed)
8.01 | NBC Chicago Fire (renewed)
7.04 | NBC Law & Order: SVU
7.02 | NBC The Mysteries of Laura
6.94 | NBC The Blacklist (renewed)
6.44 | NBC Chicago PD (renewed)
6.28 | NBC Superstore


NONSCRIPTED SHOWS
12.74 | CBS 60 Minutes
7.70 | CBS Undercover Boss
5.89 | CBS The Amazing Race (Fall)
11.62 | ABC Dancing with the Stars
6.28 | ABC Shark Tank
5.20 | ABC America's Funniest Home Videos
5.04 | ABC 20/20
12.02 | NBC The Voice (Fall, Mon)
11.22 | NBC The Voice (Fall, Tues)
5.18 | NBC Best Time Ever w NPH (cancelled)

I reattached the cord
I am just a huge Basketball fan.
So much basketball in on cable and just cable, NBA on TNT.
College basketball on ESPN especially
With Maryland Men and Women's basketball very highly ranked, want to watch my favorite teams.
May disconnect after Basketball season.

AT&T is rumored to have a plan to sell television this fall under the DirectTV brand where you get to indicate how you want it. Satellite, Internet, or Cellular.

Quote: Pacomartin

AT&T is rumored to have a plan to sell television this fall under the DirectTV brand where you get to indicate how you want it. Satellite, Internet, or Cellular.

What I want is a total control plan
I hate all these cable packages
What I want is just my particular channels, and just pay for those.
Why doesn't ESPN sell their channel on the Internet?
I would gladly pay and cut the cord.

Quote: terapined

What I want is a total control plan
I hate all these cable packages
What I want is just my particular channels, and just pay for those.

I want Lori Grenier to dump her husband for me, lets see who gets lucky first.

The big channels, ESPN in particular, do not see the danger in front of them. I once figured I would happily pay $20 for a dozen channels I would like. Then $10 for maybe five. Now I might pay a few bucks for FNC just for breaking news and the Saturday AM business block. Since cutting the cord i find so many new things to do. Latest is a small grow-box for the garden. If it works I will get into the plant business small-time next spring. I got the bees. I got some woodworking tools. I have no desire to go back to being a lump watching cable when I can be a lump watching YouTube.

ESPN reminds me of GM in the late-1970s. They see their market is going to collapse, but they are so late seeing it and are just nipping at the edges of the real problems.

Quote: AZDuffman

ESPN reminds me of GM in the late-1970s. They see their market is going to collapse, but they are so late seeing it and are just nipping at the edges of the real problems.

My brother said he had a friend who worked for ESPN, and they have been aware for a decade that their business model would collapse someday. But as cable goes down in numbers they just keep raising their price.

If they sold ESPN as a stand alone service for $40 / month they would sell very few subscriptions and the cable companies probably wouldn't care. But if they sold it for $20 / month then cable companies would hit the roof.

We may see the demise of smaller Cable TV companies as they convert to Internet Service Providers only. This fall AT&T/DirectTV will start selling full size cable packages available from Internet Protocol Television. The previous packages sold as Sling TV were limited numbers of channels. The small cable companies may find it is more profitable to sell internet only and take a finder's fee from AT&T. It's difficult for a small company to negotiate with so many networks.

viewers or subscribers or what?

Half the time I leave the TV going so the cat doesn't feel lonely. Ain't nobody watching it.

Amazon Prime vs Netflix?
I currently have Netflix
I see Amazon Prime has the series Bosch
I'm a huge Michael Connelly fan, read all the Bosch books
Thinking of switching to Amazon Prime just for Bosch