The list of memorable characters and personalities who entered popular culture through cable television is long: Honey Boo Boo. Tony Soprano. Lizzie McGuire. Don Draper. Jon Stewart. Beavis and Butt-Head. Chip and Joanna Gaines. SpongeBob SquarePants.
Pick your own favorites. Chances are there won91裸聊视频檛 be many more to join them.
Few cable and satellite networks are a force anymore, the byproduct of sudden changes in how people entertain themselves. Several have lost more than half their audiences in a decade. They91裸聊视频檝e essentially become ghost networks, filling their schedules with reruns and barely trying to push toward anything new.
Says Doug Herzog, once an executive at Viacom who oversaw MTV, Comedy Central and other channels: 91裸聊视频淭hese networks, which really meant so much to the viewing public and generations that grew up with them, have kind of been left for dead.91裸聊视频�
As they fade, so are the communities they helped to create.
WHAT HAS BEEN LOST?
Pockets of success remain, notably with lifestyle and news programming. And it91裸聊视频檚 not like there91裸聊视频檚 nothing to watch. You91裸聊视频檒l find more options on Netflix than a diner menu.
Yet something undeniably has been lost. Stewart91裸聊视频檚 to Comedy Central91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淭he Daily Show91裸聊视频� this winter only begs the question: Did it really have to be this way?
Cable TV primarily took flight in the 1980s, breaking the iron grip of ABC, CBS and NBC. Essentially the first fragmentation of media, cable brought people with common interests together, says Eric Deggans, NPR television critic.
91裸聊视频淧eople who were previously marginalized by the focus on mass culture suddenly got a voice and a connection with other people like them,91裸聊视频� Deggans says. 91裸聊视频淪o young music fans worldwide bonded over MTV, Black people and folks who love Black culture bonded over BET, middle-aged women bonded over Lifetime and fans of home remodeling convened around HGTV and old-school TLC.91裸聊视频�
Nickelodeon and Disney became de facto baby sitters. CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC changed the nation91裸聊视频檚 political discourse. ESPN occupied sports fans. HBO and Showtime, and later networks like FX and AMC, offered edgier fare that broadcasters shied away from.
Networks were endlessly malleable, too. Once MTV recognized there wasn91裸聊视频檛 much money in music videos 91裸聊视频� people would change channels when a song they didn91裸聊视频檛 like came on 91裸聊视频� the network became a . Generations had their own touchstones in programs like 91裸聊视频淧unk91裸聊视频檇,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淭he Osbournes91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淭otal Request Live.91裸聊视频�
Now MTV is a ghost. Its average prime-time audience of 256,000 people in 2023 was down from 807,000 in 2014, the Nielsen company said. One recent evening MTV aired reruns of 91裸聊视频淩idiculousness91裸聊视频� from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
The general interest USA Network91裸聊视频檚 nightly audience tumbled 69% in the same time span, and that was before January91裸聊视频檚 announcement that viewer-magnet 91裸聊视频淲WE Raw91裸聊视频� was .
Without favorites like 91裸聊视频淭he Walking Dead91裸聊视频� or 91裸聊视频淏etter Call Saul,91裸聊视频� AMC91裸聊视频檚 prime-time viewership sunk 73%. The Disney Channel, birthplace to young stars like Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez, lost an astonishing 93% of its audience, from 1.96 million in 2014 to 132,000 last year.
TBS, TNT, History, Lifetime, FX, A&E, BET, E! Entertainment, SyFy, Comedy Central, VH1 and Discovery have all lost at least half of their 2014 audience.
For many, most of the schedules are big blocks of reruns: 91裸聊视频淪einfeld91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淭he Office91裸聊视频� on Comedy Central, 91裸聊视频淭he Big Bang Theory91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频淵oung Sheldon91裸聊视频� on TBS. Tyler Perry movies dominate. Cheap and cheesy nonfiction fills time: 91裸聊视频�90 Day Fiance,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淧rison Brides,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淢arried at First Sight,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频淐ontraband: Seized at the Border.91裸聊视频�
That91裸聊视频檚 not appointment TV. It91裸聊视频檚 accidental. Ghosts.
MAYBE GOING DOWN THIS ROAD WAS INEVITABLE
With the explosion of Netflix, the giant companies that dominate the entertainment industry saw that as the future. To a large extent, they91裸聊视频檝e concentrated time, energy and resources on these services, launching a competition that still hasn91裸聊视频檛 shaken out 91裸聊视频� no one knows yet how many streaming services the market will support and which ones will survive.
Was the downfall of cable the inevitable result? 91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 the gazillion-dollar question,91裸聊视频� Herzog says.
91裸聊视频淭he conglomerates, they definitely jumped the gun, I think, in shifting their assets away from the cable networks and left them as zombies,91裸聊视频� says Michael Schneider, television editor at Variety. 91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檙e paying the price.91裸聊视频�
In 2015, some 87% of American homes had a cable or satellite television subscription, according to the Nielsen company. By 2023, only 47% of homes subscribed. If you include services like Hulu or YouTube TV, the percentage of homes with access to multiple channels was 62% last year, Nielsen said.
If fewer people have cable, then obviously fewer are watching. But it91裸聊视频檚 a classic chicken-and-egg situation: Have the number of subscribers dropped because people feel the networks have less to offer? Or is less being offered because there are fewer viewers?
To illustrate how fast habits are changing, a survey taken in January by the digital marketing agency Adtaxi found that 73% of viewers turned to streaming before cable or broadcast when they sat down to watch TV. Only a year earlier, 42% said streaming was their default choice.
Much of what people stream are programs originally on broadcast and cable. That provided a windfall hard to resist for creators of those shows, one top executive said. The tradeoff was getting people accustomed to a different kind of viewing experience 91裸聊视频� watching what they wanted, when they wanted it, even binging. All without the distraction of commercials, at least at first.
Remember couch potatoes? Channel surfers? Now the 91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� generation has taken over.
That91裸聊视频檚 more than trading descriptive phrases. Reclining before a big screen with a remote control, searching for something to do, is an activity fading with the times, says John Landgraf, chairman of FX Content & Productions and a big-picture thinker of the media industry. It was Landgraf who to describe an overwhelming flood of television programming.
Streaming is more pro-active, he says. Tik-Tok, YouTube and gaming are supplanting television in occupying people who are simply looking to fill some time. 91裸聊视频淭hey figured out passivity,91裸聊视频� Landgraf says. He says he91裸聊视频檚 optimistic FX91裸聊视频檚 parent, Disney, will solve this puzzle.
That91裸聊视频檚 no small thing when the industry is built upon advertisers who pay to reach those consumers 91裸聊视频� active or passive.
While streaming offers viewers the convenience of making their own schedules, its algorithms are designed to push people into ever-smaller circles, suggesting programming similar to what they91裸聊视频檝e already watched before, Landgraf said. It further lessens the opportunities for communal viewing experiences, or stumbling upon something that broadens your outlook.
91裸聊视频淐ollectively,91裸聊视频� he says, 91裸聊视频渨e91裸聊视频檝e lost something.91裸聊视频�
THE ROAD TO STREAMING 91裸聊视频� AND TO THE FUTURE
Landgraf91裸聊视频檚 FX is one of the few companies keeping its brand strong while making a transition to streaming. 91裸聊视频淭he Bear,91裸聊视频� which for best comedy, is an FX show but available exclusively on the Hulu streaming service. 91裸聊视频淎merican Horror Story91裸聊视频� is on the actual FX television network. Several shows toggle between both.
HBO is also making the transition well, while Bravo programming is a strong draw for Peacock. Nickelodeon and MTV are among the brands having a harder time; S&P Global last week put their parent company, Paramount, on a negative credit watch, citing 91裸聊视频渢he deterioration of the linear television ecosystem.91裸聊视频�
There are still networks keeping the light on. Fox News Channel is cable91裸聊视频檚 top-rated network; news-oriented outlets thrived during the Trump administration but have faded recently. HGTV91裸聊视频檚 home remodeling holds up. The Hallmark Channel, with wholesome stories aimed at older women, averaged 929,000 viewers in prime-time last year, up 12 percent from a decade ago.
Despite the exodus of viewers, ghost networks survive because they still make money for their owners. Cable and satellite systems pay fees to carry them 91裸聊视频� passed on to consumers, of course 91裸聊视频� and advertisers buy commercials.
When that changes, all bets are off, and odds are the ghosts will move on.
READ ALSO:
