I listened to a talk by an Aereo exec at SXSW and he made it clear then that there was no plan B. This was an all or nothing fight. Unfortunately the Supreme Court squashed them, but they really could have changed the world had the ruling gone the other way. ABC, NBC, CBS, and all the other broadcast networks would have had to change their business model and adapt or slowly die like the Blockbusters of the world. Des…
" ABC, NBC, CBS, and all the other broadcast networks would have had to change their business model and adapt or slowly die" But here's the thing. They still have to do that TV viewing is at an all-time low. Broadcast TV has a different business model than Cable, but viewings have been going down for both. Aereo's was too much a bet for too small of a win. "Now you can watch open TV on the internet" Any broadcaster c…
Kind of. Viewership numbers for individual networks and shows have been declining, but only because there is much more high-quality programming available to watch on cable. Used to be, networks like TBS, AMC, etc. only showed reruns of shows in syndication. Now they produce a significant amount of their own content, adding to the pool of high-quality shows. These shows draw viewers away from the historically "top" networks because TV entertainment is a fully mature /saturated market and thus zero-sum rules apply.
Also, while viewership numbers may look like they're declining overall, it's really because nobody can agree on the best way to measure viewership that is fragmented across the various title VI video services (live, DVR, on demand). People are undisputedly watching more video content than ever, and the vast majority of it comes from cable or broadcast. But it looks like viewership is declining because advertisers and broadcasters can't agree on a consistent measurement and ad sales methodology across the broadcast windows.