Skip to main content

Turner CEO: There are too many TV networks in the United States

A person watching Sling TV on an iPAd.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Turner has not yet cut the cord completely, but it’s inching closer. In a recent interview, Turner Broadcasting CEO John Martin explained the effect that too many TV networks in America is having on the pay-TV industry.

According to data from Leichtman Research Group (LRG), the top 13 pay-TV providers lost a record 385,000 subscribers in 2015, more than double the 150,000 subscribers lost in all of 2014. Martin says the biggest reason for the decline is overabundance. “There are just too many networks in the United States,” Martin said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. “There are a lot of households that just can’t simply pay, say, $80 and pay for all of these networks they really don’t care about.”

There’s a lot of truth to Martin’s claim. In 2014, Nielsen released a study that showed the average U.S. household receives roughly 190 channels. However, those same households actually watch an average of 17 channels, less than a tenth of what they are being offered.

None of Turner’s channels with original programming allow you to view episodes online or on mobile without a cable subscription in the way Comedy Central’s stand-alone app does, but Turner has been making efforts to trim the cord. Turner has made its channels such as TBS, Cartoon Network, and TNT available on Dish Network’s skinny cable bundle Sling TV since its inception back in 2015. Turner even made those channels available in Sling’s new offering that allows multiple streams from one account. This caveat is what caused Disney to not include its channels in the multi-stream plan, as to not take away pay-TV subscribers, particularly multi-person households, which enjoy being able to watch channels on multiple TV’s in the home from one cable subscription.

Martin’s Bloomberg interview was predicated on the news of Turner leading a new $45 million funding round for digital media company Refinery29. Martin says the investment is part of a “big transformation happening within our company” centered on having more control on how viewers consume its content.

“We as media and content providers and creators need to take our own destiny into our own hands,” Martin said “To make sure our video can get to consumers in more places and in more ways — and frankly, maybe better ways in terms of user experiences — than what they’ve been used to experiencing through traditional cable satellite telco [telecommunications] providers.”

With the majority of U.S. households having at least one subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service like Netflix, Turner may be getting ahead of an inevitable wave of subscriber losses in the near future.

Editors' Recommendations

Keith Nelson Jr.
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…
PlayStation Vue: The master guide to Sony’s internet TV service
PlayStation Vue gives you a lot of channels — for a hefty price
hbo cinemax come to playstation vue now on ps4 ps3 1

Citing a highly competitive pay-TV landscape, Sony has announced that it is shutting down PlayStation Vue in January, 2020.

What was once one of many options available for the ever-growing tribe of cord-cutters who hate cable but must have live TV, Vue began life on PlayStation gaming consoles, but since then the service has gone through a number of changes. Channels have come and gone and pricing has shifted. But clearly the service hasn't attracted enough users.

Read more
Sling TV vs. YouTube TV: Which live TV streaming service is right for you?
YouTube TV

Cord-cutters seeking to rid themselves of cable or satellite have more choices than ever. And while going with free, over-the-air (OTA) TV from a quality HD antenna will definitely save you the most money, you'll have to give up a lot of your favorite channels and programs. It's exactly this compromise that has spawned the creation of a new breed of live TV streaming services, which offer many of the conveniences of cable, without the bonds of cable boxes and contracts.

Here we look at two of the most intriguing players in the live TV streaming space: Dish Network's Sling TV, launched in 2015, and Google's YouTube TV, which launched two years later in 2017. These two services may offer the same benefits to cord-cutters -- a new way to pay for live TV -- but there are big differences between them when it comes to price, channels, features, and device support. Which one is right for you? Let's do the math ...
Price
Sling TV follows the pricing model of its satellite parent company, Dish Network, with essentially three base tiers to choose from and multiple channel add-on options. As such, you can get into a Sling TV subscription for as little as $25 per month, but that can quickly climb well over $75 per month depending on the extras you choose. For the $25 monthly base fee, you can choose between two different channel line-ups (more on these choices later) depending on your taste in TV, or you can grab all of the basic tier channels for $40 per month.

Read more
The 10 most popular movies on Netflix right now
A woman stands in front of microphones with a man clapping behind her.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming services in the world, with nearly 250 million subscribers. And just what do those people tend to watch? In particular, what is the most popular movie on Netflix? Each week, the streaming service releases a list of its 10 most-watched movies over a recent seven-day period to keep subscribers in the loop regarding its most popular titles.

Lindsay Lohan's Irish Wish has won over the hearts of Netflix subscribers as it moved into the top spot, with Damsel falling to No. 2. One of the notable debuts this week is Shirley, a biopic about the groundbreaking politician Shirley Chisholm, played here by Oscar winner Regina King. Below, we've listed the top 10 movies in the U.S. from March 18 to March 24, along with general information about each film, such as genre, rating, cast, and synopsis.

Read more