> TV has been totally disrupted by streaming services.
Has it?
Let's look at the whole TV chain; traditionally, you've got as chain of consumer So, what has streaming done to break up consolidation, working back from the consumer?
Well, at the MVPD level, it's added a few alternatives, but that weakens consolidation less than you'd think because you've got as major streaming players:
- YouTube TV, controlled by one of the best biggest corporations on the planet, but a genuine new player in the MVPD industry.
- PlayStation TV, controlled by a major player in TV studios and channels who wasn't previously in the MVPD business in the US.
- Sling TV, owned by Dish Network, an existing MVPD (satellite) player
- DIRECTV NOW, owned by AT&T, an existing MVPD (cable and satellite) player
- Hulu with Live TV (owned primarily by a handful of major players in the TV content industry, two of which—Comcast and AT&T—are also major players are MVPD industry.)
- Xfinity Instant TV from an existing major MVPD, and only to their ISP customers.
Well, what about channels?
You can get what amount to individual premium channels with decent first and sometimes third-party on-demand catalogs without and MVDP now, but is there less consolidation? Not really. There's a couple of big new independent players (e.g., Amazon, Netflix) and a lot of new brands offered (individually or jointly) by existing big players who continue to consolidate.
Streaming hasn't really done anything to reverse TV consolidation.