“Music got transformed with digital technology. News got transformed. Books got transformed. Radio got transformed. Video rental got transformed. What’s with cable? Why is it offered pretty much the same way as in 1997?” - Stanford business professor Ali Yurukoglu

 

Nearly every debate about the pay TV industry centers around three burning concerns. How should cable companies respond to the inevitable unbundling of channel offerings? What to do about the increasing numbers of “cord-cutters” – consumers who cancel their cable subscriptions entirely? Fight or embrace streaming video options – is there a way out?

 

The conclusions often drawn – a la carte and cord-cutting are destined to destroy the business of television, and streaming video is a force that can’t be reckoned with – are sobering for the industry. In each case, they relate to the power of content – who has it, and how to get more, or enough, of it, at lower prices?

 

It turns out that the real story is quite different.