Billionaire entrepreneur and sports team owner Mark Cuban isn't all that impressed with streaming video as a competitor to cable TV. In fact, he takes issue with boasts that streaming services such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will soon dance on cable's grave, arguing instead that the two media need each other.
Cuban, in a story reported by Business Insider, said the two industries should work together, not compete, to provide the best consumer experience. To bolster his argument, he pointed out that Netflix's programming lineup, while convenient for subscribers, is based primarily on shows that first appeared on cable.
"With the exception of five or six shows, their brand was established somewhere else," he said in the interview. "We will evolve to a point where people will get what they want, where they want, when they want, but there will always be a front-end presentation."
Cuban's comments, delivered at Business Insider's Ignition conference, were actually a bit complementary to those delivered recently by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who said that the existing broadcast TV business model of free, over-the-air, advertising-based television won't be sustainable in the next few years.
"It's kind of like the horse, you know, the horse was good until we had the car … the age of broadcast TV will probably last until 2030," Hastings said in a story reported by Screen Rant.
For more:
- Business Insider has this story
- The Hollywood Reporter has this story
- Screen Rant has this story
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