This may be looked back upon as the golden age of choice in viewing. Consolidation is coming.
1500 channels and there’s nothing on.
Yup! Cutting the cable makes sense for some, some not. I have done without many times, mostly if I couldn’t afford it or if it kept kids from homework.
Empty nest now, Mrs p6 and I don’t go out much and choose to have cable. $180/ month for hundreds of channels plus great phone and 100mbs internet. Expensive yes but I can watch live harness racing from the local track..I don’t bet...and things like the Pennsylvania Farm Show live..starts next week...and live coverage of state government. I could watch the farm show online but the cost offsets just having cable.
The movies and sports are nice but not a deal breaker.
We have Xfinity X1 service and the remote is also a huge plus!
Oh and the DVR that records 6 channels, Mrs p6 uses that a lot!
All that said if I was young with kids or couldn’t afford it there would be no problem cutting the cord.
I think one likely effect will be a "deconsolidation". Rather than get cable TV or even Netflix, each channel will have their own subscription. So if you like something on SyFy you'll have to pay for that channel individually. Its programs won't be on Netflix, Amazon or Hulu or any other aggregator's site.
What I would probably do then is subscribe for a month or two, binge watch a year's worth of programming for that channel and then dump it. If many people do that, the channels will respond by requiring long term contracts or driving up month-to-month prices vs. full year pricing.