LAS VEGASWe're going through a big change in how we consume television. It arguably started back when the first home VCRs (ask your parents, kids) came out, but it really got rolling when Netflix started offering content streamed directly over the Internet. Instead of physical media, just click and you can start watching your favorite show or movie. Since then, streaming has exploded into a huge field that includes other heavyweights like Hulu and Amazon.
However, live television remains a strong part of home entertainment, and while streaming services have proven invaluable, there's still a strong desire to watch things as they happen. Dish has introduced what could be the final piece of the streaming service puzzle in Sling TV, and it could finally kill conventional television service.
Sling TV is a subscription service that provides access to live feeds and on-demand libraries of several cable channels, including ESPN, TBS, and Cartoon Network. You load the service on your computer or smartphone just like Netflix or Hulu, select the channel you want to watch, and you start watching. It's satellite service without the satellite dish, or cable without the cable box.
Services like Netflix and Hulu Plus have been steadily digging into live television viewership, thanks to the convenience and affordability they offer compared with cable and satellite subscriptions. However, they've almost always presented some form of lag between when a show or event is broadcast and when it shows up on the service. It might be the day after, like a prime-time television episode on Hulu, or it might be agonizing months, like entire seasons on Netflix. Users are often willing to wait those periods, but the allure of live television and staying up to date on shows remains strong. Sling TV throws that allure out of the window. And Dish knows it.
Enter Sling TVExit Cable?Dish was up-front during its press conference announcing Sling Television on its target audience, intent, and concept. Sling Television is for millennials, younger and more tech-savvy users who grew up through the information revolution and have stood at the forefront of streaming media adoption. People who would much rather spend $20 per month for Netflix and Hulu subscriptions than four times that for cable, and who have become so accustomed to the flexible nature of streaming content that watching everything at the same time as everyone else isn't a huge factor. That focus on millennials means Dish could be very quickly and very thoroughly eating cable providers and even its own satellite service's lunches.
Sling TV is designed to fill a specific hole left by other streaming services. Well, it's less a hole and more a transforming robot animal shape among other transforming robot animals. Choose your generation and giant robot, but Sling Television is set to combine with Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and other streaming services to become the Voltron, Megazord, or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann of television watching. It's the armored chestpiece to the other services' limbs.
For prime-time network television, Hulu grants day-after access to most new episodes. For binge-watching shows and movies, Netflix offers a huge back catalog. And now for live-viewing content, Sling Television grants access to live programming for a handful of popular channels. It isn't nearly the full selection of cable or satellite channels available, but it doesn't have to be. It only has to be the most appealing ones, with a price that's scaled down to reflect the smaller selection.
When you have Netflix and Hulu for about $20 per month, spending several times that for subscription television isn't very appealing. You already have lots of content available, much of it up-to-date, so why spend so much more for the few other things you watch? Cut that price down and offer a smaller selection of live channels, though, and you have an easy argument for an "add-on" that merely doubles rather than quadruples your monthly media bill.
That puts watching shows as they're broadcast into a much more appealing form to a generation that doesn't prioritize it nearly as much. It offers users something to watch spontaneously, live, without the active decision to watch something specific. I like sports, I'll see what's on ESPN. I like cartoons, I'll see what's on Cartoon Network. It's a more laid back experience than the conscious selection of Netflix and Hulu, and it provides access to content that isn't quite as easy to find in on-demand streaming form.
Many Obstacles RemainThis doesn't mean Sling TV is guaranteed to succeed. The $20 monthly price tag and $5 add-on packages are much more appealing than cable and satellite subscriptions, but the selection remains a bit light and a few names are notably missing. Comedy Central and FX are significant omissions for any service looking to appeal to millennials, even if a great deal of the content from those channels are available on Netflix and Hulu. If the owners of those channels decide to keep access limited to conventional television services, it presents a hurdle for Sling Television's growth.
Aereo offered access to an over-the-air tuner and DVR service for users in certain regions, but it was brought down by legal battles. NimbleTV goes with a cable-based live television service accessible to users through the Internet, but it's limited to certain regions for local programming and its price structure is more in line with full cable and satellite subscriptions. Sling TV has the backing of Dish behind it, so both the legal and logistical questions pose much less of a problem. It's a much bigger name and much bigger organization already, with major in-roads with networks. That size and scope is shaping up to be exactly what streaming media services needed to not just dig into cable and satellite television, but potentially deal a mortal wound to it.
We'll have to see how widely Sling TV is adopted, and how much it can expand its channel selection. Still, a national service under Dish's brand name that offers live cable channels for $20 a month? Mix it with Netflix and Hulu, and you have a media potion that could prove irresistible to a very big, very important demographic.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2474678,00.asp
