Future of Cable TV

Quote: AZDuffman

Even if when cable as we know it dies,

Has anything ever really died? Radio is
here and thriving, broadcast TV is alive
and well, telephone lines still run everywhere.
A cable can carry such a huge amount of info,
and the infrastructure is already in place.

Quote: Evenbob

A cable can carry such a huge amount of info, and the infrastructure is already in place.

Somehow the transformation came to be called "cutting the cord" when in fact the cable company is probably more important than ever. Data distributed via cellular still costs 40X the price of data arriving by cable and optionally distributed in the home via wifi.

The selling of TV episodes through Apple's iTunes Store in 2005 was more of a curiosity because the price was very high to interest most consumer.

In April 2006, Disney announced that Lost would be available for free online in streaming format, from May to June 2006, with advertising, on ABC's website, as part of a two-month experiment of future distribution strategies. In the fall of 2006 Disney moved Monday Night Football from ABC to ESPN. In 2007 both Netflix and Hulu began streaming service.

The decision to move MNF began the ascent of ESPN to the most valuable network in all of media. ESPN pushed the awareness that large fees were earned by networks by being on basic cable, and consumers had no say in what was part of the mandatory package. At the same time the streaming services made people realize that for little more than ESPNs basic fee you could purchase Netflix subscription.

The switch from broadcast from analog to digital in 2009 also meant that antennas could deliver a better picture for free than the compressed retransmission available on cable.

Quote: Evenbob

Has anything ever really died?

The big consumer product that was ubiquitous 20 years ago but is hardly ever used today is photographic film (especially slide film). Yes, you can still buy film at many many retailers.

But virtually no one does.

Quote: reno

The big consumer product that was ubiquitous 20 years ago but is hardly ever used today is photographic film (especially slide film).

I think slide film was dead as a consumer product by the late 70s.

Quote:

Yes, you can still buy film at many many retailers.

But virtually no one does.

If people didn't still want to print their photos in glossy, photo quality paper, the photo sections of all stores would all be long gone. These days they sell more memory cards and cameras than film.

Does anyone recall having to wait days, in some places weeks, to get their film developed and printed? Or the sensation caused by a few stores which offered 24-hour service? Eventually we got the automated lab machines, which could fit in a store and print a 36-print roll in one hour (!) Shortly thereafter, digital swooped down and killed it.

At that, does anyone recall ? It was a great idea. After you shot the 3-minute (silent) roll, you put the cartridge a tank with some chemicals for a few minutes, then you had your home movie. Remarkable. Alas, it came out when tape-based video cameras were getting cheaper and portable. The latter could record for hours, with sound, and of course could be played instantly.

I think Polaroid's product had other issues. If memory serves, it needed a dedicated projector, and there were color and/or light issues. So it wasn't just killed by video.

It has been all but forgotten, though.

Quote: Evenbob

Has anything ever really died?

VHS videotapes & VCRs are mostly dead.

Floppy disks are completely dead, as are 8 Track tapes, LaserDiscs, and black&white TVs. Cathode ray tube TVs will never be manufactured on a mass scale ever again. Too bulky and heavy.

Quote: Evenbob

Has anything ever really died? Radio is
here and thriving, broadcast TV is alive
and well, telephone lines still run everywhere.
A cable can carry such a huge amount of info,
and the infrastructure is already in place.

Telephone landlines are as good as dead, the phone company has to force them on people as part of a bundle. Most people I know that have a landline never use it and only have it for the bundle.

Record stores and movie rental places are dead. A few record stores soldier on, mostly as places with used books, records, and videos. Movie rental places are mostly in lower to middle income areas. One by me, always hiring managers but they are in the same places as "Dollar General." Median income in my town is under $40K.

Radio is not what you knew in the 1990s. Shows come from miles away and are cut to sound local. The DJ in Pittsburgh may cut a show in 2 hours, production will fill in the music and promotions, then he will cut one for Seattle doing the same thing. Yes, big local stations still, but it is not what is was years back.

The local shopping mall is dead, Most are empty hulks of space with some remaining stores. GNC must have unreal margins as they seem to always be the last store to leave.

Quote: AZDuffman

The local shopping mall is dead,

No, I disagree. I'm not suggesting that online shopping hasn't cut into brick&mortar retail, it certainly has. But online shopping hasn't killed it completely. Most of the malls near me are typically full of shoppers, with very little (if any) vacant retail space.

I admit that there are plenty of dead, or half-dead malls collecting dust... but I get the sense that the real culprit is the newer, fancier mall 5 miles away. The biggest retail item that keeps malls afloat is clothing, and most people still prefer to shop for clothes in person, not online. (That may change in the future.)

I've never bought clothes from Amazon, have you?

Quote: reno

No, I disagree. I'm not suggesting that online shopping hasn't cut into brick&mortar retail, it certainly has. But online shopping hasn't killed it completely. Most of the malls near me are typically full of shoppers, with very little (if any) vacant retail space.

I admit that there are plenty of dead, or half-dead malls collecting dust... but I get the sense that the real culprit is the newer, fancier mall 5 miles away. The biggest retail item that keeps malls afloat is clothing, and most people still prefer to shop for clothes in person, not online. (That may change in the future.)

I've never bought clothes from Amazon, have you?

Quote: reno

Floppy disks are completely dead, as are 8 Track tapes, LaserDiscs, and black&white TVs.

I've seen floppies still for sale here and there. A video doorbell I got recently has a tiny B&W CRT display. But I haven't seen 8-tracks since 1986 or Laser Discs since the mid 90s.

DVDs and Blueray will, IMO, hang on for some time. Streaming is all well and good, but owning the media for treasured movies and TV series is something else entirely.

Shopping malls, in one form or another, will remain for a very, very, very long time, as will movie theaters, stadiums, museums, aquariums, casinos and many other places with online competition. People like to socialize, see things live, browse actual objects, try things on, etc.

Quote: AZDuffman

Record stores and movie rental places are dead.

That's not what I meant. I was talking
about electronic ways of delivering
information to your home. Phone,
radio, TV, cable, it's all still here. I had
a sat dish for awhile, but I much prefer
the big fat cable.