Showbiz Sandbox 332: How Cable Companies Will Profit From Cord-Cutting After All
August 22, 2016
We keep hearing that cord-cutting is going to destroy the U.S. cable industry. But SNL Kagan analyst Ian Olgeirson says the economic outlook for the business over the next decade is actually quite solid. Olgeirson joins us to explain how cable companies are turning cord-cutters into more profitable cord-swappers and what that means for their long-term health.
Meanwhile, for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio you didn’t need to have a cable subscription since so much of the action was streamed live online. In fact, while television viewership may not have reached the levels some networks around the world had hoped, a record number of hours were streamed over the Internet from this year’s games.
We also launch a new segment that tells you the one new book worth reading out of the thousands that are published each week, as listed on BookFilter, a book lover’s best friend.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including the dispute over Tom Cruise’s salary for “Mission: Impossible 6”, the power struggle at Viacom nears a resolution and Barbara Streisand tells Apple’s Siri how to pronounce her name properly.
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Showbiz Sandbox 291: Media Companies Come Clean On Cord Cutting
August 24, 2015
After years of denying cord cutting was happening on any level, several large media companies are finally confessing that cord cutting is a growing trend which may soon affect their bottom lines. After decades of steady growth, cable operators are now beginning to see flat or declining subscriber numbers as new content streaming services pop-up.
Clearly, the business models the television industry has relied on in the past are evolving rapidly, more so than movies or theater or even publishing at the moment. Yet some industry insiders believe the cable cord isn’t being cut, but that it’s slowly fraying as the definition of what it means to be a television network has changed.
Some media companies aren’t waiting to study market indicators before making strategic moves. Last week NBCUniversal made a $200-million investment in the online news outlet Buzzfeed, leaving many to wonder how this could possibly benefit the network.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how boy band One Direction wants to take a break, why Spotify wants to breach your privacy and Cirque du Soleil is headed to Broadway.
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