All roads lead to cable

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on streaming platforms, FAST channels, and the future of entertainment, follow Charles Pulliam-Moore. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Before Netflix fully committed to becoming a streaming service and leaving DVDs behind, the company experimented with the idea of giving its subscribers a physical box that could access high-resolution digital copies of movies. Films would have been downloaded to the box in the evening and become available to users the next day. But Netflix changed course around 2006 once it saw people were flocking to watch grainy viral videos on YouTube. Though Netflix had already been making waves by disrupting the movie rental business, pivoting to streaming turned the company into a powerhouse that posed a threat to traditional cable services. People loved being able to instantly access large catalogs of movies from their computers without having to sign up for expensive cable plans. Once the company got into original series in 2012, its binge model helped generate buzz and drive new sign-ups. As Netflix’s user base continued to grow in those early years, other companies, like Amazon, Disney, and NBC, realized there was money to be made by launching (or contributing to) streaming services of their own. And while cable didn’t completely disappear as streaming took off, the number of people subscribed to cable plans began (and has continued) to drop over the past decade. How it’s going Streaming is now the most common way that people consume films and television, and many people subscribe to multiple services in order to be able to access all of the things they want to watch. The proliferation of streaming services has led to an explosion of media, but the streaming market’s maturation has also made it much more difficult for companies to find and keep new subscribers. Platforms have tried to get ahead of that issue and stay on top of their finances with countless price hikes that have made it much more expensive to keep up with shows compared to when streamers first hit the scene. In hopes of courting more price-sensitive customers, many companies have introduced ad-supported tiers to their paid services. But some have also launched free ad-supported television (FAST) services that look and feel a lot like traditional cable. Unlike regular streamers where constant ads and endless choices have become an annoyance, FAST services like Tubi, Roku, and Pluto TV keep things relatively simple. In exchange for watching a few commercials, users can browse through entertainment libraries or choose to focus on channels that are dedicated to specific series. When you look at the way that most FAST services present their channels in long lists, it’s easy to get the sense that they’ve been intentionally designed to mimic old cable interfaces. That might speak to entertainment executives beginning to think that icon-dense carousels aren’t necessarily the best way to show off a streamer’s offerings. It could also be a sign that viewers have grown weary of the algorithms streamers use to suggest what content to watch. But it also feels like as the streaming wars have carried on, newer companies realized that the old guard got a few things right. What happens next Because people still want to keep up with all of the new stuff coming out of the paid streamers without having to individually sign up for every service, we’re probably going to see even more bundling in the future. Bundling gives consumers a way to save money on their entertainment budgets, and almost every single one of the major streaming companies has offered some kind of deal that gives you access to one or more of their competitors. Similar to FAST channels, streaming bundles are reminiscent of the tiered cable packages telecoms sell, and some companies, like Verizon and T-Mobile, include access to streaming bundles as perks for their subscribers. More individual streaming platforms will likely roll out always-on channels that are designed to give people a way to watch certain series without having to choose a particular episode for themselves. For services like HBO Max, that would be almost like a return to the way HBO’s various channels air on terrestrial television. In addition to helping viewers deal with decision paralysis, always-on channels could also help streaming services ensure that user engagement stays high. And if every streamer in the game decides that paywalled always-on channels, bundles, and even more price increases are the way forward, it’s really going to feel like we’ve come full circle back to cable. By the way * More streamers have also begun experimenting with vertical content in an effort to meet mobile users where they are. Some of this is a clear response to platforms like TikTok, but it’s also a sign that Hollywood might be serious about getting into microdramas. * Cable prices gradually rose as well, but The Hollywood Reporter has a great breakdown of how much more quickly the cost of streaming services rose. Read this * You should definitely check out The New York Times’ piece looking back on the history of the Cable Center museum in Denver. * Digiday has a great breakdown of just how much more expensive streaming services have become since 2019. * Though many people have fallen out of love with binge-watching, TheWrap has an interesting report about how the model may be coming back into favor.