I dumped cable/satellite in 2018, have saved over $2K, and I'll probably never have to go back. While I don't think streaming will outright replace cable/satellite in "5 years" as the OP asked, I do think streaming will continue to erode and eventually kill off cable/satellite. The appearance of ESPN+, Paramount+, Disney+, Discovery+, Peacock is clear evidence the content providers believe they'd better establish themselves in streaming as they watch their cable/satellite subscription revenues decline year after year. And that's without including the serious damage Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YTTV, Apple TV and others have done/are doing.
We are entering an Ala carte phase unfortunately, whether or not the tide turns back to bundling I don't know, but somehow I doubt it for the foreseeable future. ...
It is clear that content, live sports especially, will largely drive winners and losers between cable, satellite and streaming - but that tide may have turned. Yes I know some people don't care about sports (but some will disagree and post anyway), but live sports is still the biggest factor holding cord cutters back. ESPN has faced a decline as the non-sports people ditch cable/satellite lowering revenues for all content providers who have resisted streaming (see ESPN+).
I'm going to quote Midpack here because I agree with pretty much everything he says. Here's the funny thing, a few years ago I was very much in disagreement with him. Like in the Bible, Saul first persecuted, then became the biggest evangelist. I'm kind of like that. I'm a cord cutting evangelist now.
Even though we have quite a few services, the cost is reasonable compared to cable. We actually have more than we could ever watch, from every genre except sports.
Ah... sports. Yep, that's the kicker. ESPN+ is "fake" in some regards because it isn't ESPN. (Conversely, discovery+ has most cable Discovery content, sometimes even 12 hours earlier than broadcast time.) Sure ESPN+ have exclusive content, but most of it is the non-major sports. The one exception is they have a wide range of NHL offerings, but NHL is the least of the "major" sports and is frequently viewed less than some minor sports.
What I do with sports is this:
- Watch what is on broadcast TV. This includes my local NFL team for most games.
- Watch occasional stuff on the free streamers, or my $0.99 cent Hulu package which throws in an NHL game every week.
- Listen to my local NHL team on the radio/stream (for free), then watch the highlights minutes later on the free NHL stream.
- Swallow my vomit and subscribe to DirectTV-Stream for a month or three to watch my NHL team during the playoffs. YTTV and Hulu+Live used to be an option, but they bailed.
If Bally Sports ever gets their act together and goes ala cart, I might consider subscribing for a few more months a year. But so far, Sinclair is digging their own grave by slowly caving in on themselves with the exclusive cable contracts only (and DirectTV-Stream).
The future of ESPN (not plus) hangs on the balance right now. Midpack's chart shows where it is going. They will not be God Of Sports forever at this rate.