And lo , a hero emerges .
Today , Dish announced Sling TV , a new web goggle box inspection and repair ( read : no cable contract demand ) that ’ll be you $ 20 a month to observe a handful of networks you do n’t care about and one , ESPN , that you do .
But Dish is n’t the chronicle here . The report is Disney , the troupe that owns ESPN and is shape the future of c o n t e n t in a way that ’s more accessible , and more human - friendly , than we ever could have hope for .
The problem with cut the electric cord has always been that you ’re alsocutting yourself off from the showsyou really need . A disappointing issue of popular networks are have by the cable companies themselves , and more profitably sold when bundled with the less popular channels that contaminate your overseas telegram card today . There ’s just too much money in making your life more expensive — and less commodious .
That seemed to view as true for ESPN , too , which commands a substantial tithe — as much as $ 6 per calendar month per drug user , per Recode — for Disney from the cable company . From a profitability stand , the organization was n’t broken , so why prove to fix it ?
And yet ! By setting ESPN free , that ’s exactly what Disney has done . It ’s used its considerable mouse clout to shake off entrenched interest and get its content to its fan wherever they might be . It ’s no sacrifice ; it ’s a long biz . If you may see the world changing around you , you might as well do what you may to mold it in your interest . And Disney ’s interests , in this face , are your eyeballs .
It ’s also not just today ’s ESPN move . One of the more unpredicted opening of 2014 was Disney Movies Anywhere , which ensures that when you buy anything Disney digitally , you ’re die to feel it wherever you are . There ’s no freestanding Google Play and iTunes library ; you ’re not lock into whatever platform your phone happens to be . If you corrupt shipwreck - It Ralph through Disney Movies Anywhere , it ’ll be there waiting for you on your Apple TV and your Android Phone and your … Vudu . They ’re just an Amazon Instant Video out from being a sincerely cosmopolitan solution .
It ’s hard to exaggerate how important this is , and how hard it must have been to make happen . Apple and Google likewise ( and … Vudu ? ) are passing protective of their walled garden . Locking you into their stores has clear , incontestable benefit both concrete and intangible . It make no signified for them to allow for the kind of cross - platform pollenation Disney offer now . But Disney owns Mickey . Disney owns ESPN . Disney own Star Wars . Disney own Marvel . Not even Apple wants to mess up with Iron Man .
All of which is to say that the futurity of content is n’t as desolate as it might have seemed a year ago . Yes , it ’ll still be expensive . Yes , you ’ll still terminate up having to pay the cable cringe for the broadband that gets all those delicious shows to your telecasting box . But it ’s more clear than ever that you ’ve also got a brawny advocate on your side , one whose master concern is your ability to watch what you want , when and wherever you want it .
It may not be The Great Unbundling we might have hoped for ; it ’s not pure a la menu wonder . But for now I ’ll bundle ESPN / Hulu Plus / HBO Go with an antenna , and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with my tiddler on whatever machine is most commodious , and never look back at the cord that Disney assist me cut .
Top double cheer by : S - F / Shutterstock
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