The time for a la carte TV has come!!! The days where consumers spend $200+ a month on a channels they don’t watch will soon be gone! Truth be told, there are probably only 5-10 channels you watch on a regular basis. A la carte TV means viewers would be able to select the individual channels they want to pay for and ignore the rest. While we already have Netflix, Amazon on Demand, Hulu and others, in the past few weeks two major players have stepped onto the playing field: HBO and CBS, with a phenom called going Over-the-Top – media lingo for being able to watch TV with only a broadband connection.
As you can imagine, the top cable companies in the US (Time Warner, Charter, Cox) are not happy about this shift. But… where have they been? Surely they have not noticed the cable-cutting trend? Gfk, a market research firm, estimates that 19% of American TV households live without cable – and that was a year ago! IMHO, the best hope for the Big 3 cable companies is to do whatever it takes to ensure the sports community, namely the NFL, does not play ball with the a-la-carte TV business model but this is no small feat. The NFL’s nationally televised schedule includes broadcasting on ESPN, FOX, NBC and CBS. From CBS’s website:
“Some sporting events, including NFL coverage, are not available for live streaming through CBS All Access. We are continuing to work towards offering more live programming as part of CBS All Access.”