OT: Cable Continues to Decline

[Retired711]

: From this morning's Axios newsletter:

I post this because it is so important to the future of college sports: Paramount Global took a $6 billion write-down on its cable TV business on Thursday, the day after Warner Bros. Discovery did the same for $9 billion. Why it matters: Both companies are struggling to convince Wall Street that their streaming bets will make up for those losses, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer reports. By the numbers: Paramount Global's stock tanked 12% in after-hours trading Thursday despite posting a streaming profit for the first time. Warner Bros. Discovery's fell 9% to an all-time low after its earnings release. The bottom line: Both companies were created by megamergers — yet neither is considered big enough to compete with Big Tech for streaming dominance.

 

[Brisket and Bourbon]

Delightfully cable bill free since 2013…thousands saved…$0 streaming bill…

 

[WhiteBus]

This isn't a surprise at all. Really doesn't need a thread, honestly. This is where TV is going. I was a DirecTV guy since it's first year 40 years ago. At the time the best sports venue there ever was. But I bailed after 2/3 years after AT&T destroyed it. Have an indoor antenna for local TV channels and pay Peacock for most of my sports. Had Paramount but it's horrible. More about reality and very little sports. Loved the MLB package until they don't show games on Friday and other games because of streaming agreements. As long as I get baseball, cycling and golf I'm good.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

Earlier this year, the news was Max was turning a profit for Warner Brothers.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/max-delivers-first-streaming-profit-6639658/

Perhaps Peacock and Paramount+ need to do more than reruns of the office or hang their hat on Star Trek… I’m not convinced exclusive games on streaming platforms is magic bullet either… I know in Ohio legislators have discussed bills to require providers to show games over the air or via standard cable.

I am so interested to see what happens with Notre Dame and NBC - hoping that network partner provides the final shove to have them finally join the Big Ten.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5073677/2023/11/18/notre-dame-nbc-tv-contract-extension/

 

[Retired711]

This isn't a surprise at all. Really doesn't need a thread, honestly. This is where TV is going. I was a DirecTV guy since it's first year 40 years ago. At the time the best sports venue there ever was. But I bailed after 2/3 years after AT&T destroyed it. Have an indoor antenna for local TV channels and pay Peacock for most of my sports. Had Paramount but it's horrible. More about reality and very little sports. Loved the MLB package until they don't show games on Friday and other games because of streaming agreements. As long as I get baseball, cycling and golf I'm good.

You're right that we all know that cable is declining. I posted this to show the speed and extent of the decline. FWIW, we are still cable people, but then again we're dinosaurs.

 

[ashokan]

Content sucks.
People left cable because they were paying a lot for things they didn't watch.
Streaming then added content most didn't care about.
Now they add content that people actually loathe (same for films).
Network/cable news sucks and a lot of people are watching/listening to podcasts.
My Youtube TV started at $40+ and now its $70+ after adding more useless channels.
Sports is biggest draw but it takes so long to get through a game that watching highlights is better.

 

[WhiteBus]

You're right that we all know that cable is declining. I posted this to show the speed and extent of the decline. FWIW, we are still cable people, but then again we're dinosaurs.

I'm not young at all. I don't need 200 channels. Sports and news. Peacock works for me on multiple levels. In the US they are great for golf, soccer and European cycling