Streaming television was supposed to end cable and broadcast television. Ad-free, endless options, on-demand and on your schedule, they meant the no-compromise TV experience of our dreams. Except it hasn't turned out that way and now it's starting to look like the old models, the ones that powered cable TV and broadcast TV for decades, are rising like phoenixes from the ashes and will soon return to you through, of course, all the best streaming platforms.
This week, Information reports that Disney Plus is now considering adding a selection of genre-based channels that, instead of on-demand content, simply run a 24/7 content schedule, which will include breaks commercial.
If this sounds familiar, it just means you were watching cable and broadcast TV in the years before the rise of Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video, and many other options.
Details on what Disney Plus can or cannot do are scarce, but they are more than plausible. In recent months, most large companies have reshaped their streaming platform strategies to offer a more affordable tier that, while still on-demand, includes commercial breaks (Amazon did this with existing Prime customers with little to no warning).
And as I discovered when I cut the cord earlier this year, there are ample FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) options to fill the gaps between your streaming appetite.
A schedule to see by
FAST has more in common with potential Disney Plus plans in that networks like Tubi have dozens of channels that, like cable, air content on their own schedules. This means that instead of searching for something to watch, you can simply turn on Tubi (or FuboTV), open the guide, choose a channel, and start watching whatever's in progress. Right, like old school cable.
This change is partly due to your habits, in the sense that people still like to have the television on in the background and that means that you are not watching a movie or even a low-key streaming series where if a family member He sees her without you and is excommunicated. No, these channels, like the ones Disney Pluys might launch, are for passive viewing while, perhaps, doing laundry or working from home.
At home, I like to have the Paramount Plus CBS stream running while I work. I don't pay attention to The Talk, The Bold and the Beautiful, or The Price is Right, but I like the white noise of these mostly harmless shows.
pay your way
However, for streamers, this is more than just a viewing option, it's a major potential source of income. Disney Plus, which remains a premium service whether you pay to remove ads or pay less to suffer through them, could once again receive payments from advertisers willing to deliver ads to this less attentive audience.
In the highly competitive streaming space, Disney (now with Hulu), Paramount, Netflix and others are in a knife fight for consumers' eyes and dollars, and the only way to keep them is with more new content, which It costs money. Put another way, these companies will never stop looking for new ways to generate revenue from your reviews, whether they are thoughtful or not.
The result, however, is a landscape that looks more and more like the cable streaming world of the early aughts and less like the escalating streaming wars of 2018.
Eventually, I hope all streamers offer 24/7 schedules and programming guides. It will be a value-add and could lead to the rise of much more entry-level programming. Think game shows, talk shows, and cheap laugh-themed series to fill this channel. They won't have the same kind of quality we've come to expect from original streaming programming, but they'll serve their purpose and viewers like me will probably eat it up.
