The Cable Television Era Comes to an End

In the United States cable began in the postWWII years as a way to bring broadcast television to hard to reach areas of the countryamp160 It was a bridge utility largely for rural Americaamp160 Then in the mid1970s it started to reach beyond that with the early launch of such networks as Superstation TBS followed in short order by CNN MTV HBO and ESPNamp160 By the end of the century there were hundreds of channels available in many householdsamp160 Demographic and subject segmentation in television something ultimately embraced by advertisers and of course embraced by consumers because of the explosion of choiceFirst cable was just about televisionamp160 Then it became the dominant way for consumers to jack into the Internetamp160 Then it took on the phone companies and provided landline telephone serviceamp160 We have all been pitched the bundled threeway package to the homeThe MSOs Multiple System Operators owned the last mile connectivity to the homeamp160 They also had geographic monopolies awarded by municipalitiesamp160 This created an industry with one of the lowest levels of customer satisfaction and serviceamp160 Waiting for amp8220the cable guyamp8221 became a clichamp233 for bad customer service second to none in poor ratings This has always been the rap against the industryamp160 Now however with developing alternatives and new media consumption patterns even though the MSOs have improved service dramatically the bad taste of poor customer service from the past lingersThere is no customer emotional loyalty at allamp160 Not a good place to be at a time of fundamental technological changeAfter three decades of explosive growth the tide is turning against themamp160 Of the amp8220three playamp8221 products landline phones TV networks and Internet connections one is rapidly disappearing another is being accessed outside the home and the third is going to be challenged by companies outside the MSO industryamp160 The MSO cable business is a 20th century business that is now facing the technological realities of the 21st centuryIt occurred to me that 100 years ago ATT stood for American Telephone and Telegraph Company The name incorporated the dominant and new communication technologies one from the 19th century and one from the 20th centuryamp160 So the amp8220twoplayamp8221 of a century ago is a historical parallel to the amp8220threeplayamp8221 of the cable industry todayamp160 What happened to ATampampTATTamp160 It is of course out of the telegraph business and largely out of the landline phone business and into the 30year old cellular phone business where it seems to be doing quite wellWhat will the leaders of cable MSOs do in the next 1015 yearsamp160 Will they look ahead and fully go down the path of reinvention as ATampampT obviously did albeit over a much longer time Or will the embedded sense of being entitled monopolies keep them from transformationThe politically powerful cable industry has largely had its way in the political arena during the last 20 years Politicians did not want to mess with their constituentsamp8217 addiction to TV nor lose all the platforms for onscreen exposure the MSOs provided themamp160 Now the Internet powerhouse companies are winning the lobbying gameamp160 This is similar to the failure of the movie industry to win the copyright regulation of the Internet when millions of Internet connected consumers responded to calls from Wikipedia Reddit Google and others to send messages to Congress that the Internet should be kept amp8220freeamp8221As a long time student of media and having spent some 20plus years in media and entertainment I know the truism that old media does not go away when new media comes into beingamp160 There are just more categories of media and they get sliced ever more thinly However dominance moves to the newer mediaamp160 Newspapers ruled the roost then had to share with magazinesamp160 Then they had to share with radio which led to television and then cable televisionamp160 Then all of them were ushered into the Internet Age really the high speed wireless Internet Age and the slaughter beganamp160 The Internet is the connective tissue of all media let alone society and the global economyThe MSO business will be a big and lucrative one for years to come That said it is inevitably entering a decline amp160Whether this is a rapid or slow decline depends on how the industry adapts and if they do it with speed That decline will of course trigger new economic realities for all television networksamp160 Unbundling cordcutting streaming infinite content ever more available anywhere and anytime and often free are realities that force the MSO industry to redefine its business model how it interacts with old customers and how it attracts new customers if there are anyIt has been a wonderful transformative incredibly lucrative 40year era for the MSOs and the networks that benefited from the must carry digitally expansive television landscapeamp160 I was fortunate to be part of the early years of cable with the launch of MTV VH1 Nickelodeon and CNN Headline Newsamp160 That time now feels almost prehistoric when viewed from the high speed wireless world of handheld devices of 2015amp160 It was a great runamp160 How much longer might it lastThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Media Village management or associated bloggers Image at top courtesy of freedigitalphotosnet

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

The Cable Television Era Comes to an End

Author

Publish date

Channel

David Houle

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

The Cable Television Era Comes to an End

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

David Houle

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

The payment was successful

Cookies