Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has stated that he believes linear TV – broadcast and cable television – will become extinct within the next 20 years.
Speaking during the Media Convention in Berlin, Hastings said that online streaming is the future of television as a medium, and it will eventually spell the demise of traditional TV viewing habits.
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During the talk, Hastings made note of when he believes linear TV will be out of the door and replaced by an app-based ecosystem, saying: “Sometimes I say that linear TV is like the fax machine. That, in the ’80s and ’90s, the fax machine was amazing. But then you started attaching files on documents and the fax machine was not so amazing. And linear TV, it completely transformed society… but now there’s something better: Internet TV.”
Watch Hastings’ full talk below:
Boasting 54.5 million subscribers, there’s certainly a lot of credibility to Hastings’ opinion. Unfortunately, there are considerable road blocks Netflix must first overcome in order for it to become as ubiquitous as traditional TV. For one, region-locking is currently proving to be a huge thorn in the service’s side, with broadcasters voicing their displeasure at VPN services that allow workarounds for users outside the US to access the US Netflix. While it’s a no-brainer that Netflix should open its gates to allow everyone to access the same content, broadcasters don’t see it the same way, and so Netflix is currently being forced into stating that they’ll shut down the accounts of anyone who is caught using a VPN or other such service.
On top of that, Netflix is still being held back by pointless TV scheduling. In the case of Netflix exclusive shows such as Daredevil, every episode of its first season was made available immediately, which is exactly how the service should operate. Unfortunately, with TV stations still stubbornly keeping their fingers in the pie, shows such as Better Call Saul are made to follow a strict schedule that is not befitting of the streaming service. Though this certainly isn’t as major a quibble as region-locking, if Netflix and other such services want to usurp television, they’re going to have to offer a much greater alternative – providing access to every episode of a show immediately is certainly the way to do this.
A key component of Hastings’ theory that linear TV is facing extinction was 4K TV. Netflix currently supports shows in the ultra HD resolution, offering a 4K service before many of the major TV platforms. Hastings believes that when major events such as the World Cup roll around, people will choose to watch the matches live via the Internet rather than on TV, due to the increased visual quality and steadily improving data transfer abilities of streaming services.
Predicting that TV as we know it will be dead within two decades is a bold statement for the Netflix CEO to make, but it’s not exactly an unbelievable one.
Photo: Getty Images
