The Day Streaming Crushed TV and Why it Matters

One of the biggest changes in media in the last generation is the number of people who don't have cable, or even a television in their homes. When I grew up, every kid I knew had a TV. Now, not so much.

While some people may think cable cutting is a great thing, here's why it's not, at least for people working locally in the television industry.

From Rabbit Ears to Algorithms

The first television I can remember watching was a black and white box that had “rabbit ears” sitting on top. They were connected to a wire that went out the window and up the outside wall to an antenna on the roof. If you wanted to improve reception on one of the three channels we got, you played around with the rabbit ears and if that didn’t work, Dad had to get a ladder, climb onto the roof and fiddle with the antenna.

I’m serious. I remember it happening.

My first memory of seeing colour TV in the mid-60’s came when I went with my parents on a shopping trip to Great Falls, Montana. On a Saturday afternoon my father and I stood in the middle of a department store’s TV section with our mouths hanging open. I’ll never forget seeing a baseball game in colour on television. It was amazing!

A year or so later we got a colour TV. In was in a big wooden cabinet and it seemed to be as big as a Buick.

This was long before the days of cable, stations from the US and the power of choice. There actually was a world out there beyond CTV, CBC and CBC French.

For the next four decades or so cable TV ruled. It seemed every other year you got more channels, more choice and higher prices for those options. Then came streaming and we’re now seeing the beginning of the end of television as we know it.

Imagine trying to explain streaming to me as I stood in that Great Falls department store drooling over colour TV?

Streaming Has Officially Taken Over

Last week some interesting stats came out. In May, for the first time, the total viewership for streaming services in the US was higher than for cable and broadcast television combined. Cable and broadcast viewership combined for 44.2%, while viewership for streaming services was 44.8%.

The numbers are for the US, but I don’t think they would be far off in Canada. Of course, our system is different because you need cable to watch TV in Canada. We don’t have such a thing as broadcast.

Stats from last year show 42% of Canadian households did not have cable. By the end of next year around half of Canadian households will not have a TV subscription. 80% of Canadian homes subscribe to at least one streaming service. Just like in the US, the number of Canadian homes with cable is dropping steadily, while those subscribing to streaming services continues to leap each year.

It’s not hard to envision where this will end up.

When Netflix Beat the News at 6

While it may seem kind of cool to for streaming services to overtake television, it causes a big problem.

Fewer television viewers mean fewer advertising dollars. Less revenue means poorer bottom lines and that has already led to layoffs and the closures of TV stations.Earlier this month I wrote about the closure of CHAT TV in Medicine Hat, following the closures of television stations in Lloydminister.

People wonder why CTV has stopped local news broadcasts at noon across the country and eliminated local news on the weekends. People in Edmonton also scratch their heads when they watch weekend television newscasts on Global Edmonton and get Calgary anchors reading the news.

This is exactly why this is happening. Fewer advertising dollars are leading to layoffs and trying to do more with less. More changes are on the way. Look for Global to soon air more “taped news” in order to save money. It’s a vicious cycle.

It’s another example of how changing technology and demographics are disrupting media in Canada and around the world. Get a Netflix and YouTube subscription and you’re set. Who needs cable? Who even needs a TV?

The same has happened to newspapers. People have said for years “I get my news online.” Fewer people are reading and subscribing to newspapers. That directly leads to a loss of revenue, doing more with less and job cuts. All of that means less local news – the news most people care about.

Radio has felt it too. Who needs to listen to the radio driving to work in the morning when you can listen to your own music, digital services or a podcast?

The problem is, with very few exceptions, none of these services employ local people. Once again what’s happening in the community isn’t getting covered.

There are exceptions like Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen, The Breakdown with Nate Pike, Taproot Edmonton and national outlets like Blacklock’s Reporter, The Tyee, The Narwhal and Canadaland.

I respect what everyone behind those outlets is doing. They are the coming wave and I hope that wave gets bigger and bigger because the model for traditional media is badly broken.

A note from Grant:

With summer here I like to slow down, so there will be fewer blogs over the summer (maybe none) but we'll see.  Have a great summer!