Several of my friends have long since cut the cord. I can’t, and won’t, because I don’t see the benefit, and because I see the endgame.
In the here and now, I still have cable because the bulk of what I watch on TV is news and sports, so streaming, which doesn’t offer much in the way of news and sports, will never suffice.
Even outside that, though, it’s not like you can just go with one streamer to get what you want to watch.
You end up putting together a patchwork to be able to cover all the bases, so you’re still paying out the nose to be able to watch TV.
You can do that, though, and get local channels digitally, and keep up with the news online.
Seems like a lot of work to me.
And then there’s the endgame part of this, which is coming up fast: in that the economics of the streaming business aren’t working out for the people in the streaming business.
They’re all losing money, even Netflix, when you factor in Netflix’s $14 billion debt load.
You don’t have to guess how that’s going to work out for consumers, because the streamers are already raising prices and at the same time cutting back on the availability of titles to try to save money.
That’s going to go on for a while longer, until we get to the consolidation phase – this is just how capitalism works.
One or two streamers, basically the ones with the deepest pockets, or the most tolerance for carrying debt, are going to end up ruling the roost.
What that means for you: yeah, your prices go up, and you don’t get what you want in terms of what you’re paying for.
What you’ve been doing to try to save money with home entertainment, inconveniencing the hell out of yourself in the process, isn’t going to pay off in the end.
It’s not paying off now, either, but you knew that already.
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Chris Graham
