The end is near.
Television, over the last 40 years, was dominated by the cable and television package. It was the norm since pay television became a thing in the 1980s. Each month, subscribers pay their bills to receive a host of channels, something that got into the hundreds.
Over time, this became a bad deal for many. Sports lovers were being subsidized by the non-sports fan as the likes of ESPN has the highest fees, which everyone pays regardless of whether the channel is watched.
Much of this was disrupted by streaming. Here was a promise of cheaper monthly fees along with better service. This allowed the viewer to chose what he or she wanted, not having to have costly channels which were never viewed.
Of course, we most are aware, this turned out to be less of a Golden Goose than originally touted. While Netflix was a huge success, other services have struggled. Also, from the consumer's perspective, it is impossible to find anything. When a show or movie pops up, what app is it on is one of the main questions.
And we won't even go into the costs.
In spite of this, DIRECTV and Spectrum are moving towards streaming.
The End of Satellite and Cable Television
When it comes to satellite television, nothing is bigger than DIRECTV. The same is true in the United States with Spectrum when it comes to cable. These are the two largest players.
Both are now starting to phase out their traditional delivery services. As the replacement, users will be fed into their streaming platforms.
Spectrum, the largest cable TV provider in the U.S., is aggressively steering customers toward its streaming platform powered by Xumo Stream Boxes, while DIRECTV announced this weekend that it’s phasing out its DIRECTV STREAM branding, unifying all offerings under the DIRECTV name with a focus on streaming.
The move is undertaken due to costs. Streaming is less costly to operate. Of course, subscribers cannot expect their month bill to decline. The companies are charging the same. Spectrum is also putting a premium charge on the traditional box to help push users over.
Traditional cable requires costly hardware—set-top boxes average $200/unit to deploy—while satellite demands expensive ground stations and orbital assets. Streaming leverages existing internet infrastructure, with cloud DVRs cutting storage costs by 60%, per a 2024 Leichtman Research study.
The End of an Era
Smaller operators already started to make this transition. What this means is we are nearing the end of an era.
Just like free television is basically a thing of the past, cable and satellite television will soon be gone. It is only a matter of time before companies such as Comcast join the fray.
Is this really a step forward?
So far, streaming has underwhelmed. In fact, we can say it is really a mess. To me, it seems like the only winner in this is piracy. As users find content they want to watch, yet blocked since they do not have that app, many are turning to the illegal sources. There are plenty of online sites that pirate the material.
It reminds me of the early days of digital music. Napster broke the music industry by providing the ability to share files on a peer-to-peer basis. This could be anything that was stored on one's computer, including a song that was under copyright protection.
Napster bit the dust, having its illegal operations shut down. The company did make an attempt at being a paid service, only to fail. In its place were a host of sites that replaced Napster. It literally became a game of whack-a-mole.
Piracy streaming sites are the same way.
Illegal or legal, it is safe to say that streaming is killing the traditional cable and satellite model. Even the companies in that industry realize this. The next iteration is streaming.
How long this lasts as the model everyone follows will be interesting. Things are moving fast within the technology world.