Are we seeing the death of "TV" and no one is putting the pieces together?

Submitted by [deleted] t3_ymm1wf in television

We've been anticipating the death of network/broadcast and cable/satellite TV for a decade or more but it feels like it's finally here and people are only seeing the small pieces.

The D+/HBO merger is gutting TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, HBO (which just cancelled Westworld, Degrassi Reboot, and others despite tons of sunk cost), the D+ cable umbrella is completely dead

Showtime is being folded into something online maybe, who knows

Comedy Central, MTV, and other niche entertainment channels are just dunzo

ESPN is gutting everything down to the bare minimum to just show their contracted games and produce as cheap as possible recap shows

CNN and MSNBC seem to be crunching hard (and don't forget the CNN+ money pit)

FX/FXX just seems to be a Hulu production house now

Network TV has like 1 or 2 "hits" a season at best and then a bunch of "that's still on?" properties that exist just to milk existing syndication

On top of all that we're seeing the bottle neck of streaming hit a brick wall where people just don't have enough time to watch all the crap being made and there's very, very little value in a show after the initial premier window (because the content just never fuckin stops)

I think this is it

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russdb t1_iv4q15a wrote

Oh no, ESPN is cutting back some of their ridiculous programming and going with contracted games? The horror!

Mtv has been hot garbage for literally 30 years.

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bcraig8870 t1_iv594ii wrote

I know right? Wouldn’t it be great if they stripped MTV’s budget to the point they had to show videos 24 hours/day?

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Ghost273552 t1_iv5umgo wrote

I suspect ridiculousness is even cheaper to air than music videos thats why they play it 21 hours a day.

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russdb t1_iv69r9n wrote

Yeh probably. The investment to innovate on music video and their delivery methods I suppose isn't cheap and would require a management who really believed in that mission. They'd have to go from making content to delivering it.

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CramPackedUp t1_ivb3kmg wrote

Music videos were produced by the record labels and MTV showed them for free. It was free content. You can't get cheaper than free.

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Xbutts360 t1_iv6273p wrote

Literally 30 years? They had nothing good after ‘92? Be real.

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russdb t1_iv68mqs wrote

Name one thing they did that would warrant continuing what they are doing now as opposed to going back to their roots of just showing music videos. Mtv was the butt of our jokes by the late 90's.

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shaka_sulu t1_iv4mv5a wrote

What were experiencing is the death of the cable TV Branded model. For 40 years success is defined by narrow niche channel for a specific demographic or interest. Hey were the network for black people, we're the network for music, were the network for food, were the network for cartoons. We're heading back to BIG networks/streamers where we get a wide variety of content. Media companies need to figure it out and figure out how to monetise it. But they'll figure it out.

Good news is content is king. No longer the betwork brand come first, the shows do. Ted Lasso, Stranger Things, Euphoria towers over their host networks. Also isn't it awesome to enjoys tv without beging tied to scheduling? Shows like You, Cobra Kai, Abbot Elementary, Community, would be lost if they were in another era. BUt now people can sample a wide variety of TV as much as they can consume.

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JohnCavil01 t1_iv75bvc wrote

Right? Goodbye stupid old cable! Now all that content and convenience can be yours only for astronomical constantly increasing prices with advertisements by default - we sure have come a long way!

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Nameless408 t1_iv4ko49 wrote

Evolve or die. I never payed for cable so I'm not going to miss it

(Except you, Cartoon Network, may you rest in peace)

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Eversharpe t1_iv4pjim wrote

None of the TV makers are shutting down. They're just changing the delivery system. Instead of cable or even over the air broadcast, with dozens of channels. It's all going online under a single or a few split services

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An_Dr01d t1_iv5qwpm wrote

I'm personally not too worried about the actual HBO content (not HBO max).

It's not like HBO hasn't cancelled shows in the past; Carnivale, Rome, Deadwood come to mind.

Westworld was too expensive for the ratings it was getting.

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KumagawaUshio t1_iv57p0q wrote

Broadcast TV will be around for decades to come just like OTA radio is still around.

Cable TV will be dead by 2030 unless cord cutting comes to a sudden halt.

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tekko001 t1_iv4kp21 wrote

On the other hand, with all the streaming services, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount, HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple+, not to mention new Streaming services outside of the US, it feels like TV/Cable is back and have reinvented themselves.

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AgentElman t1_iv5v19o wrote

Network TV has the top shows by far. It is just that r/television is too hipster to like popular shows and downvotes any talk of them.

The most popular shows are on network tv. And network tv makes money.

The streaming services all lose money except for Netflix.

What you are seeing is a streaming service bubble. With billions being spent to try to attract subscribers with the hope of becoming big enough to last.

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TheSeventhAnimorph t1_iv4o1ga wrote

> the D+ cable umbrella is completely dead

Only in certain regions; it's pretty much business as usual in the US.

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Dennyisthepisslord t1_iv4qd1f wrote

Someone needs to tell the tv studios this as i am seeing an explosion in tv studios being built to keep up with demand for shows being made

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