Tough times for traditional TV

The Future. Traditional television companies are in limbo, grappling with one of their most challenging years. From mass consolidation to channel selloffs, the recent transition to streaming has thrown the business models of TV’s biggest firms into disarray. Meanwhile, firms that opted out of the streaming wars, like Fox Corp, have seemed to fare okay — at least, with investors. Perhaps it can be best to stick with your bread and butter.

Telly blues
Television had one of its roughest years ever in 2022.

• Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, and Comcast are all set to sell or combine with other media entities in the next few years.
• Smaller TV companies are also having a rough go of it — Starz is up for sale, while AMC Networks is laying off 20% of its staff.
• Meanwhile, Disney’s stock plunged to one of its lowest levels in 21 years last quarter due to losses from streaming.

Streaming struggles
Much of TV’s languishing comes from the transition to streaming. Many companies bet big on streaming to fill in for cord-cutting losses — but didn’t see that bet pay off. Everyone from Paramount to Comcast says they don’t expect their standalone streaming offerings to break even until 2024 or 2025.

Today, only two-thirds of US households pay for a cable, satellite, or fiber TV subscription, down from 85% in 2007.