The new form that mass media is heading

   I have lived through a number of forms of mass media.  As a child, I saw the move from radio to television as the most popular form of mass media.  Many of the old radio programs had already made the move of their content from radio to television.  Television of the 1950s and early 1960s was limited to the three major networks--NBC, CBS, and ABC.  Starting in the mid-1960's cable television started to provide a new way to get clearer pictures to areas that had poor reception of the three major network programming.  As cable television grew new cable-only shows developed and the number of shows offered grew beyond the three major network shows.  Specialty cable networks developed for more narrow content viewers.  The Discovery Channel, the Food Channel, ESPN, and CNN were just a few of the cable channels that offered this specialty content.

     If you haven't noticed the days of cable viewing are numbered.  The new means of obtaining mass media is streaming services.  As internet-ready TVs become the norm more of our content will come through streaming apps rather than cable channels.  Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu started the trend away from cable for movies and other forms of mass media content.  The pandemic was a boom to this movement. Google TV, Apple TV, YouTube TV, Sling TV are drawing more people away from cable with their downloadable apps.  Not to be outdone many of the cable channels are seeing this trend and are wanting to stay in the new revenue stream by developing their own streaming services apps with a monthly charge--typically $4.95 a month.  NBC's Peacock, Disney+ and Discovery+ are the way that content that used to be obtained on cable is now being offered on an app with a monthly subscription fee.  You will be able to watch old programs through these streaming services by signing up for their $4.95 premium service.   We will soon exchange a flat monthly cable charge for multiple $4.95 charges for the premium streaming apps we choose. In the future, we may end up paying more for our premium streaming apps than we do for cable.  In a few years, we will look back at cable services the way we now look back at the old TVs with the rabbit ear antennas and three major networks of the 1950s.