Why Aren’t FX Shows on FX? Basic Cable Is Dying, But Here’s a Fix for Its Branding Conundrum to Inject Some Personality in These Waning Days

The legacy companies (Disney, NBCU, Paramount, WBD, Fox) are stuck in a purgatorial period between media systems, trying to wring out the massive but rapidly declining profits of the linear age while transitioning to the sports streaming era. It’s like that puzzle in Die Hard with a Vengeance where Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson must move exactly the... See more

There is a lot of excitement about traditional TV companies transitioning to streaming, but an unavoidable conclusion is that the streaming business is structurally much less profitable than traditional TV.

Trouble arrived early in the 21st century, when upstart companies powered by new digital technologies began to challenge the status quo. Entertainment executives reflexively dismissed the threat. Netflix was “a channel, not an alternative.” Amazon Studios was “in way over their heads.” YouTube? No self-respecting artist would ever use a DIY platfor... See more

Until recently, the relative resiliency of traditional pay TV and the rapid growth of streaming have obscured the inevitability that TV will go through a similar transition. But we’re on the cusp of it now. Traditional TV is, finally, rolling over, and streaming profits won’t likely be big enough to make up the difference. Many of the downstream ef... See more

While cord-cutting has stabilized during the pandemic, pay TV services are still being replaced by over-the-top streaming apps, which require strong broadband connections.

It is important to point out that neither the music nor radio nor the news industry nor the TV/film industry died, its that the incumbent players were simply shunted aside by new companies without the institutional bloat and interests that nearly always keep incumbents from advancing to the next thing.

Thus, as the cable-tv-dominated status quo crumbles, pro sports will develop a new playbook, centered around better telling player stories. Players will also have more opportunity to tell and sell these stories themselves, direct-to-consumer:

It is clear to us that — because of the internet and the increased competition/innovation it brings — the future of TV is