Is the End of Cable Finally Here?
By Movieguide® Contributor
While it is no secret that cable has been a dying medium for years, recent moves by legacy companies reveal they may finally be laying it to rest for good.
Live sports and cable news have been the lifeblood of cable for nearly a decade. After every other form of entertainment had moved to streaming, these two remained nearly exclusive to cable, keeping the medium alive. In recent years, however, live sports has made the jump to streaming with every major league now available in some capacity.
Amazon is pushing to be at the front of these new offerings, laying claim to Thursday Night NFL games and recently acquiring access to NBA regular season and playoffs as well. Apple TV+ has emerged as another major player, securing deals with the MLB and MLS. YouTube, however, holds, perhaps, the most lucrative deal, owning the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, offering users access to all regular season, out-of-market Sunday games. Even Netflix has gotten in on the access, bringing on the WWE along with a smattering of other options, such as the Christmas Day NFL games, to subscribers.
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With sports jumping ship on cable, news is the final support remaining. But upholding the industry alone would be a tall ask. Fortunately for them, almost every major news company is underneath a larger studio which already has a streaming service up and running. These companies are now looking to transition their news stations onto their streaming sites, finally laying cable to rest.
This transition, however, is easier said than done, with many news networks having tried and failed to launch streaming services in the past. Part of the strategy is to expand their online presence, with news companies launching many podcasts to reach listeners where they are.
“I think what the networks are looking at is ‘the way we had been doing things was wonderful for us, but it’s gone and it’s never coming back,’” Ben Bogardus, an associate professor and chair of the journalism department at Quinnipiac University told The Hollywood Reporter. “Younger generations especially get their news and information online. They enjoy the podcast model, where they hear the unfiltered views of people in a longform interview, or they like the short clips of real people on social media.”
Cable’s inch towards death has also been accelerated by legacy companies siloing their assets, splitting their profitable business from those whose future look bleak. In every case, 90% of their cable news offerings end up on the wrong side of the split.
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