General Discussion

There is almost no watchable entertainment coming from the original 3 networks, other than the late-night comics and sports programming. I admire the work of Kimmel and Colbert, but in general, the late night format has been losing share steadily over 20 years.

Sports programming, particularly NFL and the Olympics, (and to a lesser degree, the NBA) is what keeps the network doors open at this point. Advertisers value the sports programming because it is mostly watched in real time, making it more likely the ads will be seen. But even the sports programming model is showing big danger signs. The younger generations aren't as addicted to cars, and they aren't as addicted to TV sets. They are much less likely to sit in front of a TV for two solid hours.

People are turning elsewhere for their information and entertainment. There is actually a thought process behind CBS' moves. They see they are in a death spiral trying to appeal to the traditional average family audience. So they are trying to at least solidify a niche. The problem is, the world doesn't need that niche. RWers already have Fox, Newsmax, and 1000 Russian bots to feed their eyeballs and earballs. They don't need CBS.

The strength of the original 3 networks has been their collection of local stations. But those are independently owned. It will be increasingly difficult for the 3 original networks to maintain these systems