Comcast may not be the largest multichannel video provider for much longer. Unlike many titans of old, like Sears or Blockbuster Video, the threat to its dominance doesn’t stem from resisting new technology. Nor does it stem from taking political or social stances that many Americans find offensive. Instead, it seems viewers simply want something else, and that something is YouTube TV.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, last year “analysts at MoffettNathanson predicted YouTube TV would become the largest linear pay-TV provider in the U.S. by 2026.”
How We Got Here
Earlier this year, Cord Cutters News made a list of the top ten reasons to ditch cable TV. On their list are things like rising costs, contracts, and equipment rental fees. They go on to emphasize the flexibility of streaming and that live TV is still available for those who want it.
Comcast Logo – Comcast
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YouTube is an app which virtually everyone in the U.S. has heard of, and YouTube TV is an extension of that. Live broadcasts are available on services like Paramount+, Hulu, and Comcast-owned Peacock, but YouTube TV stands out because these services can be easily bundled.
YouTube TV didn’t kill cable — it absorbed it. Or as they describe themselves, “YouTube TV is cable reimagined.” While Google has the scale to take financial risks and expand into new areas, the comparatively smaller companies that own traditional cable networks are splintering to survive.
What’s Happening Behind the Screens?
NBCUniversal and Comcast are shedding most of their cable and media assets into a new company called Versant later this year. When the name of the new company was announced, Variety said, “Comcast spun off the assets in a bid to focus NBC on broadcast and streaming, while giving the rest of its media assets a chance to eke out a new existence.”
Warner Bros. Discovery announced a similar split planned for the middle of next year.
While the other media companies are breaking up and diversifying, Google’s YouTube TV is steadily growing. Forbes notes “there are about 18.2 million total [virtual multichannel video programming distributor] subscribers, YouTube TV is the category leader with a market share in excess of 40%. Disney’s Hulu + Live TV is the second largest vMVPD with 4.6 million subscribers.” They add that one reason for the growth is YouTube TV’s deal with the NFL, which runs through 2029.
Google’s growing dominance in program distribution has not been without pushback. In February, Paramount and YouTube TV reached a multiyear distribution deal after what Variety described as “several days of intensive negotiations.” This was after the previous deal had expired and Paramount warned customers of a potential blackout of their content on the service.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison being interviewed – YouTube, CNBC Television
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More recently, Google and NBCUniversal negotiated through a similar standoff. Once a deal was finally reached, Matt Schnaars, president of platform distribution & partnerships at NBCUniversal, said, “We’ve secured long-term access to our full portfolio of broadcast and cable networks on YouTube TV, and we’re advancing our Peacock strategy with an upcoming launch on YouTube Primetime Channels and ongoing presence on Google TV.”
That’s good for NBCUniversal and Versant, but if things had gone differently, would Google have noticed?
Who Holds the Remote?
As the tech titans battle over the means of distribution, it seems that it’s the audience who have the control. At $82.99 a month, YouTube TV is comparable to cable. Yet if they can still watch their favorite shows and sporting events, with a greater sense of control, YouTube TV may only continue to grow and the old providers will have to go along with it or risk being cancelled for good.
Is cable TV dead? Is YouTube TV inevitable? Let us know in the comments!
Why is it not spoken more, the betrayal of the runt?
He was granted a stage due to his modicum of his handful of roles as a serious dwarf:…. yet he used his pulpit to only lift hisself up , whilst denigrating everything that lifted him up in the first place.
He single-handedly cost, what, at least seven out of a job, whilst swirling some single-malt during an “interview”. The fact that there’s no hate directed at this runt is fascinating to me…. From all sides of the angry spectrum.
“He’s an angry dwarf.”
Let’s aim at some more deserving targets than jimmel, at this point.
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And what about that skeletal, ET eyed snow brown? Apparently, the only applause she got is when the understudy took over and shone. I hope she becomes Dana Plato, 2020’s version.
Sad to see this – with Youtube being quite involved with censoring people and conservatives, I know I’ll certainly never subscribe to any of their paid services.
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