Television, as we know it in America, started in the late 1920 and early 1930s, per Be Businessed. Since then, we have had the opportunity to channel surf and enjoy our favorite shows and watch news broadcasts live with just the push of a button and a piece of furniture you can sit on with the whole family.
Nowadays, televisions are nothing more than big screens for us to enjoy our favorite shows and video games on. This fact is especially true now that we have smartphones that can stream videos on demand anytime, anywhere, making television an unnecessary luxury at best and a drain of resources at worst.
That is what Netflix is counting on: the death of classic linear TV.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reportedly restated his belief that classic television would be dead in the immediate future during a recent Netflix investor call.
The call and its proceedings, as well as Netflix's past earnings calls, can be viewed online on YouTube.
Hastings "TV Must Die" Belief Details
Hastings mentioned in Netflix's investor call for the second quarter of 2022 that despite the losses Netflix has registered during the first two quarters of 2022, it is still in a "great place" as linear TV would be dead in five to ten years, per The Verge.
For those unaware, linear TV is the system we are most familiar with when watching television wherein you, the viewer, would tune in to the TV to watch a scheduled TV program when it airs on its original channel, per Oracle.
However, Hastings believes that this system would die out soon thanks to the streaming on-demand service provided by streaming apps similar to Netflix.
The company is also counting on the death of linear TV as it needs the people who are still watching TV the classical way to switch to Netflix.
Simply put, Hastings wants people to stop tuning in to their TV, regardless if they have cable or not, and get Netflix instead.
The company is also making efforts to make its streaming app even more attractive by adding ad-supported subscription tiers to lower the cost of a Netflix subscription.
Will Linear TV Die?
Unfortunately for Hastings, some experts agree that linear TV will not die anytime soon.
Better Software Group found that it would be some time for linear and cable TV to die due to the platform being built for longevity. Their study claims that TV brands will still be relevant for decades to come and that advertising on TV is still relevant despite being expensive. Additionally, their study found that some content types, such as news broadcasts, live content, and sports, are better suited to linear TV than streaming.
Hollywood Insider's Austin Oguri also reached the same conclusion, saying that live events like news and sports shows and TV networks giving themselves "unique personalities," would keep the platform alive and kicking for a long time.
"I don't see it going away anytime soon, even if streaming is the more popular way to watch things," Oguri said.
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