Will linear television be an extinct business by the end of the decade?

[Markus]

6.99 in Finland. Still cheap as the salary is better in this country

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

Most cable boxes are with internet and streaming version already available on the home page. It's very easy to have access to them on cable. Everytime I open the TV, it's automatically on the home page so I have to manually switch back to live TV.

For now cable will keep losing subscribers but once the streaming prices are up by 50% from now, just watch people return to cable. Why would people overpay for streaming? With ad-free services, the problem is that usually the content you want to watch isn't available and ads are not skippable which you can do on cable TV recordings. I do it all the time. I always record and watch later.

There's no right or wrong answer. It's more about the pricing. I'm telling you this now, people are not stupid and save money more than ever before due to uncertain future.

Well cable subs did go up last year so you're on to something.

Cable channel subscribers grew for the first time in 8 years last quarter

Sports and YouTube TV played big roles, MoffettNathanson report says.

arstechnica.com

 

[glennbyrnes]

Let's face it. TV is out. Streaming is in.

 

[Pro D Yungster]

The more I think about it, the more it worries me, with particular regards to kids TV. A child can't be left to the mercy of algorithms as they could be left to the mercy of linear TV channel schedulers. And very young kids prefer repetition and comfort, they will watch the same thing over and over again if left to their own devices. It's better for them to come into contact with all sorts of shows at regularly scheduled time to give them the space to grow and discover what they like and dislike, and more importantly for pre-schoolers, to be properly educated.

I suppose the difference between the 2000s (and even the early 2010s) and now is that you were limited by your library of home entertainment. YouTube very much eliminates that, and if it wants to be the major player in such an important space, it should be forced to co operate with the broadcasting standards of every country it operates in.

Ive been thinking about this more recently because of the new Balamory reboot and something interesting dropped by one of the actors in an interview - that the main reason they were asked back is because Cbeebies really wanted something with humans front and centre. And after a quick look at their schedules I can see why.

This is not the type of show that would be commissioned by Netflix, or most streaming services. They would much rather commission or procure series that focus more on ensuring eyeballs stay watching with no regards for child development. And I'm not even beginning to touch the actual crisis of 6+ children's content. It seems like most involved parents these days are at a loss for that age group. I don't blame them either.

Linear TV has always had some sort of incentive to cater for those age ranges, whether it was financial or idealogical. And to lose all that ground to streaming just means there will be nothing of value and quality left over for them. And again, I put a lot of blame at networks' door for giving up so much ground willingly. The problem isn't hard to solve at all. As Cbeebies has just shown.

 

[RandomMe]

Ive been thinking about this more recently because of the new Balamory reboot and something interesting dropped by one of the actors in an interview - that the main reason they were asked back is because Cbeebies really wanted something with humans front and centre. And after a quick look at their schedules I can see why.

This is not the type of show that would be commissioned by Netflix, or most streaming services. They would much rather commission or procure series that focus more on ensuring eyeballs stay watching with no regards for child development. And I'm not even beginning to touch the actual crisis of 6+ children's content. It seems like most involved parents these days are at a loss for that age group. I don't blame them either.

Linear TV has always had some sort of incentive to cater for those age ranges, whether it was financial or idealogical. And to lose all that ground to streaming just means there will be nothing of value and quality left over for them. And again, I put a lot of blame at networks' door for giving up so much ground willingly. The problem isn't hard to solve at all. As Cbeebies has just shown.

You've been dropping facts especially with Balamory. I remember Gen 1 CBeebies from a cable company that relayed the channel (with burnt-in subtitles) or from BBC Prime (I didn't have the CBeebies channel) and its programming back in the early days was truly engaging. It had its own visual language, its own aesthetic, its own aura. I mean, there were pre-CBeebies shows like Teletubbies, Tweenies and Come Outside, but Gen 1 CBeebies was where it's at: a heavy amount of original productions, all live-action, with human actors (Balamory) or actual puppet characters (Fimbles, Storymakers). Or both (Tikkabilla, Bits and Bobs). Sure, from Gen 2 onwards, CBeebies began a gradual devolution and now we're in the height of the Numberblocks phase of the channel. Whatever happened to the puppet shows? It's no rosy retrospection, but it's a sign that kids nowadays only prefer CGI content with high stimulus - even though CBeebies also airs 2D animations - and no "handcrafted" stop-motion or puppet shows. I think that the reason why Bob the Builder made the upgrade to CGI was because stop-motion wasn't a thing among kids in the mid-2010s, meaning that it would end up like a relic from a distant civilization.

6+ crisis? In Portugal we have the idea that cartoons are just Bluey, PAW Patrol and movies from the Minions, Frozen and Ice Age franchises. Mostly from people of a certain age. If any given ideology (mine was English from soft power) or amount of money is an obstacle to lure kids away from linear platforms, then it's a reflex of today's society.

Streaming services prefer content with high stimulus, something kids networks 20 years ago wouldn't approve. And by "high stimulus" I mean very high stimulus. More hyperactive than, say, George of the Jungle 2014. Say, Masha and the Bear (the intro is too fast to me) or the Belarusian Sunny Bunnies. If you know how to do a cartoon with both high stimulus and good for kids, check out The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, which was commissioned for (and recently removed from) Netflix. When I first watched it on the soon-to-be closed Panda Biggs a few years back, it felt like the sort of cartoon I would have watched in 2003. And it works well on linear too. But then again, remember what I said last paragraph? Kids don't prefer linear content, period. It's impossible to revert these trends.

 

[Pro D Yungster]

You've been dropping facts especially with Balamory. I remember Gen 1 CBeebies from a cable company that relayed the channel (with burnt-in subtitles) or from BBC Prime (I didn't have the CBeebies channel) and its programming back in the early days was truly engaging. It had its own visual language, its own aesthetic, its own aura. I mean, there were pre-CBeebies shows like Teletubbies, Tweenies and Come Outside, but Gen 1 CBeebies was where it's at: a heavy amount of original productions, all live-action, with human actors (Balamory) or actual puppet characters (Fimbles, Storymakers). Or both (Tikkabilla, Bits and Bobs). Sure, from Gen 2 onwards, CBeebies began a gradual devolution and now we're in the height of the Numberblocks phase of the channel. Whatever happened to the puppet shows? It's no rosy retrospection, but it's a sign that kids nowadays only prefer CGI content with high stimulus - even though CBeebies also airs 2D animations - and no "handcrafted" stop-motion or puppet shows. I think that the reason why Bob the Builder made the upgrade to CGI was because stop-motion wasn't a thing among kids in the mid-2010s, meaning that it would end up like a relic from a distant civilization.

6+ crisis? In Portugal we have the idea that cartoons are just Bluey, PAW Patrol and movies from the Minions, Frozen and Ice Age franchises. Mostly from people of a certain age. If any given ideology (mine was English from soft power) or amount of money is an obstacle to lure kids away from linear platforms, then it's a reflex of today's society.

Streaming services prefer content with high stimulus, something kids networks 20 years ago wouldn't approve. And by "high stimulus" I mean very high stimulus. More hyperactive than, say, George of the Jungle 2014. Say, Masha and the Bear (the intro is too fast to me) or the Belarusian Sunny Bunnies. If you know how to do a cartoon with both high stimulus and good for kids, check out The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, which was commissioned for (and recently removed from) Netflix. When I first watched it on the soon-to-be closed Panda Biggs a few years back, it felt like the sort of cartoon I would have watched in 2003. And it works well on linear too. But then again, remember what I said last paragraph? Kids don't prefer linear content, period. It's impossible to revert these trends.

You've been dropping a lot of facts too - I totally agree with the part about the high stimulus programming never being approved by networks of the past - and the studies are coming out now to back up the harm they do!

But I'd like to gently urge a different POV - that being kids under the age of 6 don't particularly have preferences - especially at a very young toddler age - they'll simply watch anything on and when everything looks similar, it becomes difficult to introduce a different art style or puppetry/live action etc. Don't you think if the only thing on streaming services was gen 1 Cbeebies type live action, they would prefer that to the rare CGI show? It's an interesting thought for sure. And from my own experiences dealing with the 5 cousins I have who are 7 or under, they'll actually happily watch linear content. There might be some questioning of "can I watch youtube?" Or something similar but after about 5 minutes it doesn't even matter to them.

Of course, I think Cbeebies helps it's cause as it doesn't have adverts! So no natural stopping point to break you out of watching it

 

[themidnightlore]

I'm sad that as time goes, specialized TV channels just... die? Especially in an age where streaming is king.
Happy that AMC Networks Global Media keeps the spirit alive with little gems like Kinowelt Television, Film&Arts and Europa Europa.

 

[RandomMe]

You've been dropping a lot of facts too - I totally agree with the part about the high stimulus programming never being approved by networks of the past - and the studies are coming out now to back up the harm they do!

But I'd like to gently urge a different POV - that being kids under the age of 6 don't particularly have preferences - especially at a very young toddler age - they'll simply watch anything on and when everything looks similar, it becomes difficult to introduce a different art style or puppetry/live action etc. Don't you think if the only thing on streaming services was gen 1 Cbeebies type live action, they would prefer that to the rare CGI show? It's an interesting thought for sure. And from my own experiences dealing with the 5 cousins I have who are 7 or under, they'll actually happily watch linear content. There might be some questioning of "can I watch youtube?" Or something similar but after about 5 minutes it doesn't even matter to them.

Of course, I think Cbeebies helps it's cause as it doesn't have adverts! So no natural stopping point to break you out of watching it

When I was under 6, there were no proper preschool channels, so kids channels followed a catch-all solution. CBeebies homogenized over time and you won't find a mix of animated, live-action and puppet shows (these are live-action, mind). CBBC fell into temptation with the linear crisis, and with the closure of CITV as a whole, it increased its budget for acquisitions just to fill its programming.

The problem with internet platforms is that they can bring undesirable content to children. There are platforms that are exclusively for kids. Smile of a Child shut down early last year which was a big surprise for a network for a technologically conservative audience of mostly puritan Christians, but has started to learn how to subscribe streaming. They redirected their viewers to Yippee TV, which existed before, and is also seen as an alternative to AI-filled YouTube Kids. But the downside is that virtually all of the low-end Christian programming, the shows produced in the 90s and 2000s mostly, with low production values, practically disappeared as part of the move to the streaming service.

For conservative viewers, there is Bentkey. However its most successful series weren't original conservative productions used as a lure to the service, but rather the recent iteration of Clangers and the French series Runes. These two shows would have otherwise aired on Primo TV and/or Kids Street, which absorb a wide amount of international titles that don't make it to the Big Three or streaming. But still, even Primo TV and Kids Street aren't that popular largely because they're on just one provider.

 

[Space Cadet]

I'm sad that as time goes, specialized TV channels just... die? Especially in an age where streaming is king.
Happy that AMC Networks Global Media keeps the spirit alive with little gems like Kinowelt Television, Film&Arts and Europa Europa.

Not sure about every country but those types of channels in the U.S. were usually part of a cable package bundled with more popular channels, so as soon as cord cutting took off, those channels would suffer the most.

 

[RandomMe]

Not sure about every country but those types of channels in the U.S. were usually part of a cable package bundled with more popular channels, so as soon as cord cutting took off, those channels would suffer the most.

There is a lot of specialized channels that for some reason, even with cord cutting and still being stuck on higher packages, refuse to close.

This group of channels includes MTV's side channels, including the heavily anticipated MTV Classic - hyped ten years ago, but quickly devolved into an automated playlist channel within 1-2 years.

No surprise that the MTV/BET side channels still use 4:3, which feels sick and wrong in an age dominated by widescreen and high definition. I'm expecting those to close by the end of the decade.

 

[Viewsic]

Let's face it. TV is out. Streaming is in.

Not really, people will still willingly purchase cable subscriptions for Sports, News and crap like QVC

But for animation? Nope. Will people care on what Bart is doing Today? Are kids gonna watch cartoons on TV after school? Nope.

 

[RandomMe]

Not really, people will still willingly purchase cable subscriptions for Sports, News and crap like QVC

But for animation? Nope. Will people care on what Bart is doing Today? Are kids gonna watch cartoons on TV after school? Nope.

There are still live shopping channels on OTA TV. I think QVC barely had an OTA footprint. Sports and news are what make the business nowadays

 

[SpecialColorfull]

Not really, people will still willingly purchase cable subscriptions for Sports, News and crap like QVC

But for animation? Nope. Will people care on what Bart is doing Today? Are kids gonna watch cartoons on TV after school? Nope.

To be honestly fair neither is streaming, Animation has nowhere to go now. In fact, the few sitcoms on Network tv are the only stability.

 

[FirePuppy]

Disney is keeping all its linear cable networks, despite there already being a Disney+.

I think the reason why most of the library is exclusively on Disney+ nowadays is because Disney doesn't want their content on free services like YouTube or Tubi. Streaming-wise, their linear channels such as their flagship Disney Channel and Freeform are necessary (at least to them) because they could actually potentially increase the company's revenue, no matter how many subscribers the channels get.

 

[Pro D Yungster]

So now that two Anglophone countries are implementing social media "bans" including YouTube (I doubt the effectiveness but still) - will we see any sort of government funding for youth and kids entertainment? CBBC keeps aiming lower and lower, and if the governments are actively trying to prevent children from using personal screens, that would logically leave just a TV to use.

In reality this is probably not going to be the case but you would have thought they would realise the problems of what they're trying to do and fund alternatives.

 

[RandomMe]

So now that two Anglophone countries are implementing social media "bans" including YouTube (I doubt the effectiveness but still) - will we see any sort of government funding for youth and kids entertainment? CBBC keeps aiming lower and lower, and if the governments are actively trying to prevent children from using personal screens, that would logically leave just a TV to use.

In reality this is probably not going to be the case but you would have thought they would realise the problems of what they're trying to do and fund alternatives.

I still wish there will be a new golden age for kids commissions, but then again Australia is at an all-time low except for preschool content.

 

[Pro D Yungster]

I still wish there will be a new golden age for kids commissions, but then again Australia is at an all-time low except for preschool content.

I think most places are, sadly. Even if we don't look at this from a linear perspective and simply streaming, there's a major lack of new work coming out targeting that demographic.

I saw a post recently about how difficult and impossible it is to blend together that tween/teen demographic - I don't think it's that hard really.

Everybody wants to watch what the people older than them are watching - that's a true enough problem - but I also think there's enough of a crossover period where you can capture both audiences. CBBC did it well with their live action output for some time, I'd be more interested in what was on a ton of other channels but if my younger siblings were watching Nowhere Boys for example, I'd happily sit and watch that too.

That's probably the sweet spot that media houses have forgotten to target. The show that feels a little too grown up for the tweens but perfectly interesting and watchable for the teens. And you can have channels dedicated to this level of programming, especially in this day and age where people dip in and out of apps for their viewing

Sadly they have largely kept giving up on producing entertainment for anyone bar pre schoolers and seem happy to let youtube and tiktok fill that space. They should be more of a supplement than the main course.

 

[RandomMe]

I think most places are, sadly. Even if we don't look at this from a linear perspective and simply streaming, there's a major lack of new work coming out targeting that demographic.

I saw a post recently about how difficult and impossible it is to blend together that tween/teen demographic - I don't think it's that hard really.

Everybody wants to watch what the people older than them are watching - that's a true enough problem - but I also think there's enough of a crossover period where you can capture both audiences. CBBC did it well with their live action output for some time, I'd be more interested in what was on a ton of other channels but if my younger siblings were watching Nowhere Boys for example, I'd happily sit and watch that too.

That's probably the sweet spot that media houses have forgotten to target. The show that feels a little too grown up for the tweens but perfectly interesting and watchable for the teens. And you can have channels dedicated to this level of programming, especially in this day and age where people dip in and out of apps for their viewing

Sadly they have largely kept giving up on producing entertainment for anyone bar pre schoolers and seem happy to let youtube and tiktok fill that space. They should be more of a supplement than the main course.

I've seen videos on the fall of tween media.

There were also videos on Disney Channel helping kids with time management, now it's impossible

I mean, what is it with the lack of tween content commissions for streaming? I don't know. Is that demographic hard to digest?

 

[Pro D Yungster]

I've seen videos on the fall of tween media.

There were also videos on Disney Channel helping kids with time management, now it's impossible

I mean, what is it with the lack of tween content commissions for streaming? I don't know. Is that demographic hard to digest?

My own theory is simply that it's a bit too much effort for a narrow demographic. If you have a high school series aimed at tweens why not simply age it up so you catch a larger demographic? If you have an animated show aimed at tweens why not slow it down and make it for pre-schoolers who watch more voraciously due to having more free time?

Still, it's a wasteland out there, both on streaming and otherwise. Obviously there's large back catalogues but kids aren't big on discovery like that and the algorithms don't really push those older shows either. That's why scheduling is a full time job! Someone has to figure out how to sandwich the premiere between two mainstays to get it to become a hit overnight

 

[themidnightlore]

As I wish things would be, I'd love a renaissance of those "third-rate" channels that no one watches or are so niche. (Like, where are my Sony Crime Channel and Nolife in this world nowadays - For a very UK example still alive, yes, I need more oddities a la Court TV around. Or something akin to the Spanish Squirrel, that no one probably wanted but it is here.)