2018 was a great year for cord cutting full of new services and cord cutting devices. Today, I want to quickly look back at some of the biggest cord cutting stories of 2018 that I think will have the biggest impact going forward.
So, here are some of our biggest cord cutting trends of 2018:
AT&T Merger with Time Warner
After a long legal fight, AT&T won a court case to merge with Time Warner without any conditions. This led to the launch of AT&T Watch TV and a host of announced but yet-to-be-released services coming from AT&T.
The most interesting part is how this merger has opened the floodgates for others. There is a growing list of companies in the middle of mergers or in talks about a possible merger. It seems that media companies are trying merge to get a bigger piece of a shrinking budget.
Internet Options
For years at best most people had two Internet options: DSL and cable. In 2018, there were a flood of efforts pushing new wireless Internet options from companies as diverse as local municipalities to Microsoft.
The hope is a combination of wireless Internet options from 5G to Fixed Wireless will bring new options to both major cities and rural areas. Keep an eye on these new Internet services into 2019 as the push for new, faster Internet continues to grow.
Disney
Disney doubled down on cord cutting in 2018—from the new ESPN+ streaming service to buying most of FOX. Yet Disney did not stop there. In 2018, we learned a lot more about Disney’s plans to dominate streaming by owning most, if not all, of Hulu in 2019 and launching a family-friendly Disney+ streaming service at the end of 2019.
Keep an eye on Disney as they could set the bar for how traditional media companies fight cord cutting in 2019.
There you go. The top three cord cutting stories of 2018 that I think will have the biggest impact on cord cutting in 2019. What would you add to this list? Leave us a comment and let me know.
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