My prediction on the future of cable tv

My prediction on the future of cable tv…

First, to set the stage for this prediction, a few realities:

1. There are more and more video consumers “cutting the cord” on Cable TV. Meaning they are choosing the internet for video vs traditional cable boxes.

2. The days of a family huddled around a TV in the living room are dying. People all have very unique tastes in genres. And tablets / phones / laptops are great ways to consume personalized content. This spells disaster for traditional cable DVR’s.

3. Also, keep in mind, kids these days are more happy to watch someone play a video game on something like Twitch or YouTube than a scripted detective show about a murder.

4. Streaming video services, like Netflix, will continue to lose their third-party licensed content, like Marvel, and rely more heavily on its own content, like Stranger Things.

What you’ll begin to see are companies who own a ton of content will begin to create their own premium streaming services.

Some of these streaming services still require a cable tv subscription, like AMC. Mostly because of contracts. But those with stronger positions in the market, like Disney, can begin to charge for the content independently.

The days of cutting the cord (on TV) was a panacea promised by streaming services.

But now we will all subscribe to 5-10 different services, e.g. Netflix, STARZ, HBO, Disney, ESPN, Twitch, etc.

Suddenly the convenience of cutting the cable tv cord becomes 10 different bills we have to pay each month.

So here’s the prediction: after a few years of multiple streaming services cluttering up our credit card statements, we will see a service promising to wrap all the services into one offering.

This service combining all streaming services will be a virtual replica of the cable tv box everyone initially ran away from. The circle of life will be complete.