The year is only half over, but so much has already happened in the world of cable TV. Sling TV, HBO Now, and Showtime are just a few of the major groundbreaking changes, and there is more to come!
HBO has been one of the main reasons people continue to subscribe to cable TV. With HBO Now, tens of thousands are jumping ship and becoming cord cutters. Showtime, the second-largest premium cable network, is joining HBO and releasing a standalone subscription service in July. Antenna sales have doubled since Sling TV came out, according to the CEO of Mohu Antennas in a recent AMA on Reddit.
All of this points to one thing: 2015 is the year cable TVs death grip on content ended, as CBS, Showtime, HBO, and other networks offer content directly to the consumer.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts all but said the company is changing its focus to the Internet at the May 2015 MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit when he said, If the consumer wants to have a fantastic video experience over the Internet, hopefully, we will be the company they choose to have that with.
It is true that cable TV is in no danger of completely dying off right now. Just as CD sales have yet to completely go away with the rise of digital media, cable TV will be around for some time; however, their stranglehold on content is over. When you can skip the cable TV middleman and pay the content owners directly, cable companies no longer control what you watch.