Is Streaming Really "Becoming Cable TV?"

There is a popular line of thinking that the creation of bundles of streaming services means streaming is becoming the new cable TV. It’s an easy conclusion, but is more nuanced than immediately appears. 

The evolution of television has been in the direction of “more choice” while the evolution of video has been in the direction of “more convenience.” Cable TV began life as a distant signal importation service that brought metro-area over-the-air TV broadcasts to rural areas beyond the range of the over-the-air transmitters. 

Being able to watch broadcast TV was, in that use case, a form of greater choice. That began to change with the advent of satellite-delivered “channels” or networks such as Home Box Office and Superstation TBS, which kicked off a decades-long evolution of specialized content formats (news, sports, movies, childrens’ programming, drama, comedy, “classic” fare, music, history, learning and shopping, for example). 

All those channels and networks represented an explosion of choice, bundled together in subscription format, but remaining a “broadcast,” linear, scheduled service. Among the nuances is the ability to use physical and then digital recording to time shift viewing and achieve some amount of “on-demand” viewing. 

The “video” business offered different value, namely “on-demand” viewing whose key attraction was “convenience,” the ability to watch what you wanted, when you wanted. Early cable TV “pay per view” services were an effort to capture some of that “convenience” value. 

The key difference from cable or broadcast TV was the use of pre-recorded media to allow consumers to rent or own individual titles, as well as time shift linear content for more-convenient viewing. The advent of videocassette recorders enabled the early trend and was followed by DVDs, then eventually by Netflix and streaming services. 

Also, cable TV is a “TV viewing” service, while streaming has been “view on any device with internet” from the start. Again, the situation is nuanced, as cable services add some amount of virtual pause, rewind and fast forward control, plus launching their own branded streaming services in some cases. 

The new “bigger bundles” still remain focused on on-demand viewing, though streaming services also are adding more “live event” programming, often sports programming. Even the bigger bundles of several services are still based on offering “convenience” (both one bill for several services; more-attractive pricing; watch what you want, when you want). 

Curation still matters, both for “choice” services (cable TV and programming networks) and “convenience” services (on-demand streaming services) as no single service can license but a fraction of all available content, forcing curation choices. 

And while many note the role of “original content” for the streaming services, unique content has always been important for broadcast and cable TV networks, to attract viewers (creating audiences to monetize through advertising) and create brand loyalty. 

The nuance is that cable TV networks have always relied on huge amounts of content across scores of channels (networks) to create a “something for everyone” means of attracting and retaining subscribers. 

Streaming services also rely on unique and original programming as a way of creating distinctiveness, acquire and retain subscribers, but with less ability to rely on the huge array of genres possible on cable TV services featuring hundreds of channels (networks). 

Broadcast and cable TV networks always curate their content, but streaming services also create collections by genre for the convenience of their customers. 

Still, a bigger bundle of streaming services still fundamentally remains a “convenience” product whose primary value is on-demand consumption, rather than becoming a “choice” product such as cable TV. 

The picture is nuanced as streaming services start to add more “live” or “event” programming with a scheduled initial broadcast format, and cable TV has added digital time-shifting options. 

But the fundamental positioning remains: cable TV always has been about “more choice” while streaming (and its precursors video and DVD rental) has always been about “convenience” and on-demand consumption, even as curation, original and unique content and “view on any screen” plus on-demand features are found to some extent on linear and on-demand services.