Breaking cable TV’s power

last updated 8 January 2015

Derek Thompson

The Atlantic

Why is cable television’s monopoly so stubborn? asked Derek Thompson. The Internet sapped the profitability of newspapers, and Apple broke the recording industry’s stranglehold over music distribution. But cable TV remains impervious to disruption, sticking consumers with “eye-popping bills for hundreds of channels that we couldn’t possibly watch even if we wanted to.” One big reason for that is that any channel you watch is likely to be owned by one of just seven media companies, such as Viacom or News Corp., which use their dominance to force cable providers to pay for their less-popular offerings. Apple and Google once seemed eager to bust this monopoly by offering cheaper à la carte programming. But these companies have now realized that they don’t “have to beat Comcast and Verizon to own your living room”—they only have to join them. Ultimately, the power of the big media companies won’t be broken until some “deep-pocketed companies” bankroll quality shows and sell them individually. Alas, “there’s little sign that this day is coming anytime soon.”