Amid the sea of numbers about and sectors carved from entertainment detailed in the latest annual PwC U.S. Entertainment and Media Outlook is this tangy prospect: Cable TV, or an evolved version of it, might make a comeback over the next few years.
Mix a “TV lite” version of the traditional cable bundle, a few choice streaming services, add in newer entertainment experiences like cloud-based video gaming, delivered through a broadband connection, and voila, you have a possible revival/reformation of what was the most lucrative entertainment sector of the past few decades.
“Our insights and forecasts suggest evolved packages that center around a broader definition of entertainment are in the future,” PwC’s C.J. Bangah, a consulting principal on TMT Customer Transformation, wrote me in an email interview from the Cannes Lions conference. “How we get from where we are today to that future is still being written. The pace at which new pricing models and packages are delivered will likely correlate to a few factors, including the broader economic environment.”
It’s hard to imagine the evil ol’ cable tyrants seizing back the monopolistic power they exercised 20 years ago. But what might result over the next few years could settle into a sustainable long-term business instead of one in seemingly inexorable decline, PwC’s report suggests.
Consumers will likely have choices even for broadband connectivity, especially if 5G fixed wireless or ATSC 3.0 deliver on their promises over the next few years. That means the cable providers' first job is keeping as many of the customers they already have engaged at some minimum level.
For all their eroding consumer base, cable providers are still in 63% of American homes, the report says, and can use their broadband beachheads to amortize delivery costs for everything else they may sell. The key is maintaining the broadband/lite TV relationship…