With the launch of an HBO service not requiring cable in time for the Game of Thrones debut and the kickoff of the Daredevil series this week on Netflix, is there a worse time to be a cable outfit? Apparently not.
It is appearing more and more Cable is dead.
Not that Cable. The kind that doesn’t come into my house!
A great article but the WaPost details the difficulties many cable channels are having at delivering viewers in the age of Netflix and YouTube.
It has been the worst year in recent memory for cable networks, with MSNBC, the History channel, Bravo, BET, USA Network and Comedy Central all seeing double-digit declines in audience this year. In March, cable ratings were down about 10 percent from the previous year. With new streaming services stealing away viewers, cable TV has been hit with a Darwinian shake-out where only the most popular networks, such as HBO and ESPN, are able to find paying customers.
Essentially, networks are experiencing the same things newspapers realized a decade ago.
Still, channels like HBO and ESPN are still profitable. What a stunning development? The channels people actually WANT are doing fine. I am as liberal as the next guy, but the socialism that is cable bundling makes me sick. Probably because it is corporate socialism that benefits THE MAN. And that is wrong!
Gabbing Geek 