The regional networks are failing due a drastic shift in what and how people get their entertainment. People aren't subscribing to cable/sat dish anymore. Current total subscriber numbers are on on par with the late 80's/early 90's and steadily dropping. Cable blew up in the in the late-90s/early 00s and that's when channels start popping up out of the woodwork. Now with subscriber numbers dropping channels will start shutting down.
Netflix is going to kill cable the same way it killed Blockbuster. Well Netflix alone won't do it, but they gave the blueprint on how to make make streaming successful.
Which is funny because streaming companies saw this opportunity and jumped at it BUT most streaming companies also lose money. There’stoo much maybe saturation. I believe I counted, at one point, 18 different streaming services -this does not including TV streaming such as YoutubeTv or Sling.
There’s not THAT much good content to support 18+ streaming services, plus who can afford that? Most people ditched cable because it was/is in the $100+/month.
If they, the companies, were smart, they would consolidate to maybe 5 streaming services max. But instead of content companies each having their own streaming services, they would license out the content to (numerous different) streaming services.
Much like how you used to be able to (can you still?) watch The Office on Netflix. Instead of having to purchase a subscription to PeacockTv or whatever it’s called.
As a side note, before the boom of streaming platforms, online piracy was at an all-time low. After the boom, or currently, piracy is, or is close to, an all-time high. In short, people don’t want to be nickel and dimed.
See the outrage over BMW trying to charge for seat warmers as a subscription.
