Cable operators and networks keep threatening divorce

If you've read any decent media coverage in the last few weeks, you could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that networks and cable operators have all gone totally bonkers at once. So why is it all going down now?

1. Netflix and Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, and half a dozen other content providers, including the networks' own websites. Consumers like these services; they don't require you to set aside a six-hour window to wait for a cable guy who probably won't show up, they don't cost an outrageous amount of money, and they allow you to watch whatever you're interested in watching when you have time, rather than having to schedule an appointment with your television set. Streaming content makes that even easier. If you can watch a digital copy of a television show with no ads any time you want, why would you ever go back to watching live TV for anything but sports? That's the question a lot of viewers are asking themselves, and it's led to quite a few cable cancellations, especially among young people.
2. Bundling. Pay TV providers HATE bundling.
3. Retransmission consent. Cable operators used to get a very cheap or even free signal from broadcasters (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) so that viewers didn't have to turn off their cable boxes to get the major over-the-air networks. Since the big switchover to an all-digital signal a few years ago, however, it's harder for viewers to get signals over the air, especially in urban areas, and most viewers have been watching broadcast networks exclusively on cable. Cable networks, meanwhile, are steadily on the rise, and fewer people are watching those broadcast networks than used to, though they still usually maintain a lead over cable. So broadcasters are suddenly charging more—sometimes a lot more—for a signal that used to be very cheap.