Many predicted that Netflix would kill pay-television much like murders occur in popular cable dramas—suddenly, painfully and quickly. So far, however, pay television’s death has not occurred so speedily or dramatically. The main reason for this is that content-producers and pay-TV operators have been adept at making sure consumers cannot watch current episodes of their popular shows unless they pay for cable. In other words, they have not made the same mistake that newspapers did a decade ago, offering the same content online for free that they expect subscribers to pay for. Content-owners have restricted Netflix’s ability to buy rights to shows until after they have aired on television. And anyone wanting to watch live sports still needs a subscription, since Netflix has not bought expensive rights to sports. Netflix may have had success with “House of Cards”, but most hit dramas are still on traditional television.
