With Netflix and Hulu, as well as new standalone internet streaming services from HBO, Showtime, Nickelodeon, and CBS, there are more ways than ever to watch “TV” without actually subscribing to bundle of channels from a cable, satellite, or telephone company. There’s even a new subscription video on demand streaming service for horror movies — it’s appropriately called Shudder — that came out this month.
“Watching ‘Friends’ on Netflix or watching ‘Sopranos’ on HBO Now or going back and watching ‘Weeds’ on Showtime… those shows are probably better than the vast majority of what’s live this evening,” And when you can watch all of that content without advertising, episode after episode in a very cinematic fashion, I’d kind of dispute your premise that live is important.”
Watching live sports, of course, will still be very important for some people, he conceded, and big events like the World Cup, Super Bowl, and March Madness, as well as event programming like the premiere of the new season of “Game of Thrones” will continue to draw huge viewership. But with everything ever created available for us to watch anytime, the portion of what needs to be watched live versus what doesn’t falls more and more all of the time, says Rich Greenfield of BITG Research.
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