Disney Plus' possible cable-style Star Wars channel plan proves we're never getting rid of cable

Opinion
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published

500 channels and everything's on

A relaxed man watching TV on a couch
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Streaming television was supposed to kill cable and broadcast TV but that's clearly never happening and streaming platforms like Disney Plus are to blame.

Ad-free, endless choice, on-demand, and on your schedule meant the no-compromises television experience of our dreams. Except it hasn't quite turned out that way and now it's starting to look like the old models, the ones that buoyed cable and broadcast television for decades are rising like phoenixes from the ashes and will soon be coming back to you through, naturally, all of the best streaming platforms.

This week, The Information is reporting that Disney Plus is now considering adding a selection of genre-based channels that, instead of on-demand content, just run through a 24/7 schedule of content that will include commercial breaks.

If this sounds familiar, it only means you were watching cable and broadcast television in the years before the rise of Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video, and countless other options.

The details on what Disney Plus may or may not do are scant, but they are more than plausible. In recent months, most of the majors have reshaped their streaming platform strategies to offer a more affordable tier that, while still on-demand, includes commercial breaks (Amazon did it to existing Prime customers with little to no notice).

And as I discovered when I cut cable earlier this year, there are ample FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) options to fill the gaps in between your streaming appetite.

A schedule to view by

FAST has more in common with Disney Plus' possible plans in that networks like Tubi have dozens of channels that are, just like cable, running content on their own schedules. This means that instead of searching for something to watch, you can just turn on Tubi (or FuboTV), open the guide, choose a channel, and start watching whatever's on, in progress. Right, just like old-school cable.

This change is partly about your habits, in that people still like to have TV on in the background and that means you're not watching a movie or even a discreet streaming series where if a family member watches it without you they are excommunicated. No, these channels, like the ones Disney Pluys might launch, are about passive viewing while, perhaps, you do the laundry or work from home. 

In my house, I like to have Paramount Plus' CBS broadcast stream running while I work. I pay no mind to The Talk, The Bold and the Beautiful, or The Price is Right, but I like the white noise of these mostly innocuous shows.

Pay their way

For the streamers, though, this is more than just another viewing option, it's a potential major revenue stream. Disney Plus which remains a premium service whether you pay to remove the ads or pay less to suffer through them, could get paid again by advertisers willing to deliver commercials to this less attentive audience.

In the highly competitive streaming space, Disney (now with Hulu), Paramount, Netflix, and others are in a knife fight for consumer eyeballs and dollars and the only way to hold onto them is with more fresh content, which costs money. Put another way, these companies will never stop looking for new ways to generate revenue from, your views, attentive or otherwise.

The result, though, is a landscape that looks more and more like the broadcast cable world of the early oughts and less like the fast-growing streaming wars of, says 2018.

Eventually, I expect all the streamers to offer 24/7 programming schedules and guides, It'll be a value-add and could lead to the rise of a lot more entry-level programming. Think game shows, talk shows, and cheap laugh-track-bound series, to fill this pipeline. They won't have the same kind of quality we've come to expect from streaming original programming but they'll serve their purpose and viewers like me will probably eat it up.

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Lance Ulanoff
Lance Ulanoff
Editor At Large

A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.