Throughout every decade there has been evolutions in the advancement of media. From radio, television, vinyl, cassettes, cds, hd, 4k and now streaming. Now that the 2010s have become the decade of streaming, and Netflix has entered both our lexicon and popular culture, it is now time for the next step. Streaming television will soon takeover the cable television industry, but how soon and at what cost?

The cost of streaming giants Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu have generally stayed stable at around ten dollars per account. They also have higher priced options for more screens in Netflix’s case or less commercials in Hulu’s case.

A newcomer to the so called “streaming war” is Disney+, created by the Walt Disney Company using BAMtech, the technology used to run MLB.com for a number of years before its purchase by Disney in 2015. The streaming service is set to launch in late 2019 and contain content from many of Disney’s pantheon of owned properties and their subsequent franchises such as Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones), Marvel (The Avengers, The Guardian of the Galaxy and the Marvel television universe),  Pixar (Toy Story, Cars and the Incredibles) and Disney Animation (Aladdin, the Lion King and Frozen). Not to mention an enormous backlog of shows and movies starring famous characters like Mickey Mouse, the Muppets, all of your favorite Disney Channel shows and Winnie the Pooh.

Using this extensive catalogue of properties, Disney has announced many Disney+ original shows and movies. Movies that have been announced for the service include remakes like Lady and the Tramp, Father of the Bride, the Parent Trap, Peter Pan, 3 Men and A Baby and the Sword and the Stone. For the television sphere they have a number of Marvel limited series in the pipeline including Falcon & Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch & Vision, and Loki. From the Star Wars universe we will have the much anticipated release of season seven of the animated Star Wars: The Clone War Series, a live action series called the Mandalorian and a live action Rogue One prequel series. Also debuting on Disney+ will be a High School series, a Monsters Inc. series, and a Muppets series.

Adding to this, Disney finalized their long awaited purchase of Fox on July 27, 2018, for $71.3 billion. Assets being assumed in the acquisition include the 20th Century Fox film and television studios, Fox owned cable networks such as FX and National Geographic, and Indian production company Star India. This will give Disney control over franchises such as Avatar, X-Men, the  Fantastic Four, Die Hard, Planet of the Apes, and the Simpsons. Fox will keep the Fox network, Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, as well as sports networks FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network, and its 28 local TV stations. The media company has said it plans to launch a Fox Nation subscription streaming service in the fourth quarter.

Also through the deal Disney receives a 30% stake in streaming giant Hulu. This compounded with Disney’s already 30% ownership of Hulu, gives them majority ownership over Hulu. Disney CEO Bob Iger has reiterated that Disney’s three over-the-top content services, ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+, will remain separate in both platform and content, with ESPN+ focusing on sports, Disney+ focusing on family oriented content, and Hulu being used for Disney-owned adult or mature content. 

According to a report from eMarketer. by the end of 2017 there were 22.2 million cord-cutting adults (people who have gotten rid of cable) in the US.

According to that same report there were 34.4 million cord-never adults (people who have never had cable) in the US. This coincides with what will be an estimated 7.2% drop in total ad revenue spending on TV from 2016 to 2021. This has led to a rise in television package providers like PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and DirecTV Now, which are not traditional cable, but alternative sources of cable channel content. These new providers are highly appealing due to their flexible program packages and viewing capabilities. Due to this rise in alternative programming providers, the total market ad revenue spending will actually rise from 71.3 billion to 74.3 billion, in the same time frame of 2016 to 2021.