The Streaming Skinny Cable Bundle Isn't Dying, It's Just Under New Ownership
It was supposed to be the cable television industry's answer to the advent of much cheaper streaming options. Consumers may be increasingly unwilling to pay full price for a full-blown cable TV service. But they might pay a lower price for a more modest channel lineup of live television options, regardless of how it's delivered.
That's not quite how things have panned out, though. Instead, a couple of unlikely providers have become the leading names within this sliver of the cable market -- at the expense of the players that arguably should be winning the race. Namely, Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube TV and Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Hulu Live TV have proven there's interest in a more modest cable package. The trick is simply being able to sell it.
On the whole, virtual multi-video program distributors -- or vMVPDs -- such as Sling TV and Hulu's Live TV fared about as badly as linear cable television providers did during the first quarter. MoffettNathanson Research's Craig Moffett estimates that vMVPDs lost 341,000 subscribers in the three-month stretch, versus conventional cable's customer attrition of 1.8 million.
Source Fool.com
