I believe that we can all agree that cord cutting has become a fairly common topic of conversation within the entertainment industry. With so many different instant streaming services being introduced into the market constantly, is it inevitable that television will follow a similar path as the music industry? In my own personal life, I subscribe to Spotify, Netflix, Hulu and many of these other newer services. Previously, in a prior post, I wrote about the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable and whether or not this will cause a spike in people cutting the cord. Brent Lang wrote in this article that “the percentage of pay television subscribers who said they definitely plan to discontinue their service in the next 12 months climbed to 10 percent, a 2 percent gain.” The television industry is definitely changing.
What is most interesting about this change is the simple fact that more and more people are resorting to their mobile devices to view content. The introduction of the smartphones and tablets have definitely made a large impact on the industry as a whole. If you have not done so already, check out Aereo. They have come up with the ingenious idea to take what is being broadcasted for free over the antenna and swing it back to the internet for live streaming. It has, however, caused a majority of the broadcasters to react with a lawsuit. The company has been able to retain service, for now.
In the end, the main goal for everyone in this industry is to turn a profit in order to continue producing new content. (Thus, we all know what the effects have been due to piracy via torrent sites.) What needs to happen, more than anything, is an update to the overall business model. Cable television thrives on subscribers and advertising sales. However, in the instant streaming world, what does the audience prefer? For instance this Forbes article mentions that ““Hulu Plus carries current season episodes for 5 of the top 6 US broadcast networks, which is something that Netflix is only able to do for a select few shows in international markets,” Devitt says, noting that parent companies ABC, NBC and Fox have made huge amounts of their content available on Hulu, which currently boasts a TV catalog of 86,000 episodes from 2,900 TV series. In other words: Netflix may be great for binge watchers, but cord-cutters looking for next-day viewing of their favorite shows are likelier to go to Hulu Plus.” So if many are looking to cut the cord and resort to instant streaming, what will we choose? A service that costs less with more content readily available (with commercials) or a service that provides content within a later timeframe and no commercials. Only time will tell.
