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THE answer to this question, I must admit, eludes me. But the era of deep and complex narrative television born with The Sopranos (and carried through Deadwood, Mad Men, etc) seems to have moved into another chapter as HBO and CBS announce streaming services. Here’s the beginning of my new piece on Salon:
The most prestigious of the cable channels and the most-watched of the traditional networks both now announced moves to streaming services. CBS’s service began last week; HBO’s will launch sometime next year, and its details are currently unclear. Both HBO Go and CBS All Access will allow people to watch their shows without subscribing to a cable service, and will add to the millions of existing “cord cutters” — a group, heavy on young viewers, that was already growing.
…Los Angeles Times business columnist David Lazaruz calls it “an understatement to say that this will shake up the pay-TV business as we know it.”
This could all be good for creators and consumers alike; my view is not as bleak as Salon’s headline. But remember Robert Frost’s line: “Nothing gold can stay.”
In the heyday of the three networks, television worked as a unifier to Americans across the entire spectrum of society. The dethronement of the networks paralleled the increasing Balkanization of the country. The proliferation of streaming services will continue the disintegration of a national conversation.
I think that’s all hard to deny… Some would argue that things will be better, of course.
You do realize the HBO streaming news was released in the morning and had NO effect on Netflix’s stock price, right? Netflix’s stock closed at $448.59 on Wed Oct 15th and open up at $332.73 on Thu Oct 16th. It fell in after hours trading due to Netflix’s quarterly numbers after the close on Oct 15th. Their new subscriber numbers fell way short of the companies own estimates! Signs of a slowdown is bad growth stocks. The CEO put the blame on the $1 increase in subscriber plans.
I guess attributing the $100 drop in price to HBO and CBS streaming announcements makes for a better read? 🙂
Bryan makes a legitimate point: The market does not tell us why it responds the way it does, but the Netflix drop was shaped in part — and perhaps in whole — by other factors, namely the service’s weak subscriber growth. I was aware that it was not all due to HBO when I wrote the piece, but probably emphasized the HBO’s effect too much — though some outlets pegged the collapse on the streaming news.
I’ve asked my Salon editor to add a clarification where I make this point in my story there.