Cable TV Next To Go Away?

Will cable TV be the next victim to the ever changing world on how we get our TV news and entertainment?

It appears so. HBO is offering to stream their telecasts via the internet for $14.99 a month. This follows on the heels of Amazon's Fire TV unit ($99) enabling users to stream the services of Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and HBO GO, plus games, music, and more. Netflix is offering their assortment of programs starting at $7.99 a month


These are not the only ways to view what once was only available on cable TV. The major networks and the programs on them are many times offer them for free as well via the internet.


Good Or Bad For Customers
I'm nearly certain as these services gain in popularity over traditional cable TV and it fades prices will go up for them. The free offerings no doubt will fade as well. Most likely because they will partner up with these newly emerging TV streaming services who are yet in their infancy.

Here's how I think it will turn out. The really smart cable companies will manage to do quite well by charging more for their internet services. Then start moving away from offering the traditional TV channels of today.

For years consumers have requested cable companies to offer à la carte TV. Unfortunately the entertainment industry has tied their hands by requiring them to take all of their offerings or none at all. So cable companies are not the bad guys in all of this. With this new way for entertainment giants to market their products they are able to circumvent cable companies nearly altogether. Will this be the demise of Cable TV companies? Not if they offer internet services which most of them do.

Instead of customers paying for singularly bundled services for everything we already see how cable companies are offering VOD and premium pricing tiers for more money. So yes customers will initially save money. However once people are roped in (cable TV no longer exist) there is nothing stopping these services from doing the very same thing. Viewers could one day see bills resembling those of a hospital bill with so many itemizations it would take a certified account to figure them all out. It's possible one day people will look back and yearn for the good old days when cable first started and everybody paid one price for them all.

Cable TV companies probably already figured out the advantages of not having the expenses of maintaining these 100's of channels and the franchise fees that go along with them. Instead choosing one day to provide only internet and telephone connections. Thusly well managed cable companies should do quite well by charging more for these internet services w/o all the expenses present day TV offerings incur to them.

The struggle for the future of TV has already begun. Hence why the ongoing arguments for and against 'net neutrailty' that's taking place in courts and in Washington D.C. and why it's so important. Anyone who is a student of history knows these big boys don't make these kind of sweeping changes w/o having future expectations of making even greater profits.

To the folks who say screw them I'll use an antenna. Good luck with that. Over 70% of today's TV offerings aren't available over-the-air. Even then only a handful of those signals are capable of viewing in any particular locality.

I envision a day when local TV stations aren't going to continue spending $100,000's for transmitters, trained engineers and the electric to run them. Not when they can simply stream them instead and get money from every single person who tunes in.

Plus individual local stations are limited to having only one to three over-the-air channels. There's no limits on the number they can stream instead.

How can I put this nicely.. hmm I can't.

Anyone wanting to enjoy videos and TV in the future.. they gotcha by the gonads.

Ya chust don't know it yet :-)