Is the U.S. Cable /Satellite Channels business facing its Napster moment?
- That’s when a disruptive online solution (Napster) sucks the revenues out of an established business model (the CD-based retail music industry.)
Cord-cutting accelerated to record levels in the 3rd Quarter, surprising industry analysts.
Cord-nevers:
- The mainly Millennial non-cabled home is a growing segment.
- Cord-nevers and cord-cutters grew from around 4 million to 11 million U.S. households since 2015.
Skinny Bundles Rising
- Consumers accelerated their take-up of packages of fewer channels.
- The rise of the Skinny Bundle partly offset the loss of subscribers to the 400+ channel / $100+ packages.
Commissions Cut
- But budget-priced skinny bundles are at a lower price point than the full package.
- Like the cord-cutters and cord-nevers, they drain revenues from the programming eco-system.
- The dozens of Cab/Sat channels that powered the 30-year production boom are cutting the volume of their unscripted and documentary commissions.
- Netflix, Prime and other online video subscription services are not substituting for the lost volume from Cab/Sat channels.
Read more: “Bad to Worse”
- Wall Street Journal: “Outlook for Traditional TV Goes From Bad to Worse. Cord-cutters continue to chip away at cable and satellite providers’ dominance of the living room.” 11/19/18
- Will Richmond explores ‘record cable subscriber losses’ in his brilliant VideoNuze.
Recent Posts
Revenues Drain from the U.S. Cable / Satellite Programming Ecosystem:
- Subscriber Losses for a Snapshot for 23 Channels
- Advertising Shows Modest Decline
- Factual Channels Continue to Lose Distribution & Revenues. A Year-to-Year Snapshot with Byron Media’s Dr John Morse
