In 1974, when I graduated from high school, there were 3 national TV networks that delivered “over the air” content from major city TV stations. Major cities usually had a public broadcasting station focused on “educational TV” and perhaps an “independent” TV station that catered to reruns of movies, cartoons and TV shows, local news and weather, variety shows, political commentators, sports and traffic. At night, you might sometimes be able to get a fuzzy picture from 2-3 other TV stations 60-100 miles away if you moved the roof or tv antenna around a bit. “Maximum TV” was 10 stations.

We now have cable, satellite and internet connections to provide hundreds or thousands of channels to most citizens for viewing now or later. It is challenging to convey this “two orders of magnitude” change.

Rise of Cable TV Delivery

The US TV market grew from zero to 100M homes with cable access by 2005, before beginning a slow decline in direct connections replaced by internet connections.

Now or Later: Streaming Increases

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/nielsen-streaming-makes-up-only-26percent-of-time-spent-in-front-of-tv.html

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-gauge-nielsens-monthly-total-tv-and-streaming-snapshot-for-december-301460235.html

Close to 30% of TV content is now consumed in a time-shifted manner versus zero historically. When “The Wizard of Oz” was played on TV every 2-3 years, we all watched it.

Decline of the Big 3/4 Networks’ TV Market Share

1980 – 85-90%

1990 – 60%

2000 – 40%

2010 – 35%

2021 – 30%

Conversely, this means that “independent” content increased from 10% to 70% of available programs.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-17-ca-128-story.html

Click to access art-the-big-threes-prime-time-decline-hindman-2008.pdf

https://variety.com/vip-special-reports/fading-ratings-a-special-report-on-tvs-shrinking-audiences-1235142986/

https://www.tvguide.com/news/2010-11-ratings-1033838/

https://apnews.com/article/eff68f5c5a5a15bcbc17cf788a17556d

http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1991/08/2000-01-ratings-history.html

Decline in Ratings of 10th Ranked Major Network Shows

1950 Mama 40

1960 Jack Benny 26

1970 FBI 23

1980 Little House 22

1990 Golden Girls 17

2000 The Practice 12

2010 Criminal Minds 9

2019 Good Doctor 7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_1950%E2%80%9351

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_1960%E2%80%9361

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_1970%E2%80%9371

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_1980%E2%80%9381

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_1990%E2%80%9391

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_2000%E2%80%9301

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_2010%E2%80%9311

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_of_2018%E2%80%9319

1980 – Still Just 3 Networks

50 news items. Just 4 cable items. USA Network, BET, ESPN, Cinemax.

49 debut programs. 3 PBS, 1 ESPN, 2 CNN, 1 Nickelodeon. 42 (6/7ths) major networks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_in_American_television

Other Network Options Grew Exponentially

5 in 1970-80.

153 networks in 2021. 97 with “material” average daily viewership of 100,000+.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/network-ratings-2021-top-channels-1235143630/

29 largest networks in 2010.

Of the top 29 in 2010, 14 remain strong competitors in 2021. ESPN, Fox News, TBS, History, Ion, Discovery, HGTV, Lifetime, Food, TLC, Bravo, Hallmark, TV Land, MSNBC. 5 retain more than 500K average daily visitors, but dropped by at least 50% from 2010 to 2021: USA, TNT, A&E, FX and AMC. 10 dropped by more than 50% to less than 500K daily viewers: Disney, Nick, Cartoon, SyFy, TruTV, MTV, Comedy, Spice, BET and E! 8 networks moved up to more than 500K viewers per day: CNN, telemundo, CW, Insp, Me, Invest, Hallmark movie and Unimas. This is a very competitive marketplace.

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/network-ratings-2021-top-channels-1235143630/

Much More Original Content is Now Provided

https://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6273