| "But if everyone does that, the economics of content production totally change. The shows you're buying now might not even get made in the first place." I would argue quite the opposite. If everyone switched to 'cord cutting' more content will be made for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc, maybe even pushed to all rather than exclusive deals. "The truth is that the current TV system is a great deal for everyone."
I partially agree with this statement. I would remove 'for everyone' here. Clearly for darkchasma, cord cutting was more cost effective. Personally, if ESPN was available online, I would cut the cord because there is nothing else I need from cable. The OP clearly has the numbers incorrect (only looking at primetime data) but does have a point about a-la-carte prices being higher. However, the assumption here is all viewers are on cable or all are off it. However, with a gradual transition, the price will not have a drastic impact. Lets assume that ESPN makes itself available online. You might see a flurry of cord-cutters flock to online-only mode but there will still be plenty left on cable. Between the two, ESPN will continue to hit the revenue numbers by refining the cost on each side. I personally think that over time, the online model will follow cable where content providers will group channels to provide discounted programming. |