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 wonB次元官网网址檛 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. TheyB次元官网网址檝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: B次元官网网址淭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.B次元官网网址�
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 itB次元官网网址檚 not like thereB次元官网网址檚 nothing to watch. YouB次元官网网址檒l find more options on Netflix than a diner menu.
Yet something undeniably has been lost. StewartB次元官网网址檚 to Comedy CentralB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Daily ShowB次元官网网址� 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.
B次元官网网址淧eople who were previously marginalized by the focus on mass culture suddenly got a voice and a connection with other people like them,B次元官网网址� Deggans says. B次元官网网址淪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.B次元官网网址�
Nickelodeon and Disney became de facto baby sitters. CNN, Fox B次元官网网址 Channel and MSNBC changed the nationB次元官网网址檚 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 wasnB次元官网网址檛 much money in music videos B次元官网网址� people would change channels when a song they didnB次元官网网址檛 like came on B次元官网网址� the network became a . Generations had their own touchstones in programs like B次元官网网址淧unkB次元官网网址檇,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭he OsbournesB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭otal Request Live.B次元官网网址�
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 B次元官网网址淩idiculousnessB次元官网网址� from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
The general interest USA NetworkB次元官网网址檚 nightly audience tumbled 69% in the same time span, and that was before JanuaryB次元官网网址檚 announcement that viewer-magnet B次元官网网址淲WE RawB次元官网网址� was .
Without favorites like B次元官网网址淭he Walking DeadB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址淏etter Call Saul,B次元官网网址� AMCB次元官网网址檚 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: B次元官网网址淪einfeldB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淭he OfficeB次元官网网址� on Comedy Central, B次元官网网址淭he Big Bang TheoryB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淵oung SheldonB次元官网网址� on TBS. Tyler Perry movies dominate. Cheap and cheesy nonfiction fills time: B次元官网网址�90 Day Fiance,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淧rison Brides,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淢arried at First Sight,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淐ontraband: Seized at the Border.B次元官网网址�
ThatB次元官网网址檚 not appointment TV. ItB次元官网网址檚 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, theyB次元官网网址檝e concentrated time, energy and resources on these services, launching a competition that still hasnB次元官网网址檛 shaken out B次元官网网址� 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? B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the gazillion-dollar question,B次元官网网址� Herzog says.
B次元官网网址淭he conglomerates, they definitely jumped the gun, I think, in shifting their assets away from the cable networks and left them as zombies,B次元官网网址� says Michael Schneider, television editor at Variety. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e paying the price.B次元官网网址�
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 itB次元官网网址檚 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 B次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� generation has taken over.
ThatB次元官网网址檚 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. B次元官网网址淭hey figured out passivity,B次元官网网址� Landgraf says. He says heB次元官网网址檚 optimistic FXB次元官网网址檚 parent, Disney, will solve this puzzle.
ThatB次元官网网址檚 no small thing when the industry is built upon advertisers who pay to reach those consumers B次元官网网址� 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 theyB次元官网网址檝e already watched before, Landgraf said. It further lessens the opportunities for communal viewing experiences, or stumbling upon something that broadens your outlook.
B次元官网网址淐ollectively,B次元官网网址� he says, B次元官网网址渨eB次元官网网址檝e lost something.B次元官网网址�
THE ROAD TO STREAMING B次元官网网址� AND TO THE FUTURE
LandgrafB次元官网网址檚 FX is one of the few companies keeping its brand strong while making a transition to streaming. B次元官网网址淭he Bear,B次元官网网址� which for best comedy, is an FX show but available exclusively on the Hulu streaming service. B次元官网网址淎merican Horror StoryB次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址渢he deterioration of the linear television ecosystem.B次元官网网址�
There are still networks keeping the light on. Fox B次元官网网址 Channel is cableB次元官网网址檚 top-rated network; news-oriented outlets thrived during the Trump administration but have faded recently. HGTVB次元官网网址檚 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 B次元官网网址� passed on to consumers, of course B次元官网网址� and advertisers buy commercials.
When that changes, all bets are off, and odds are the ghosts will move on.
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