Reinventing the Internet: What if AMC took the plunge and unbundled from cable?

[Commentary] There’s been much speculation about the possibility that HBO could one day directly compete with Netflix by offering consumers a way to subscribe to its HBO Go service without signing up for cable.

HBO executives have long said they’re not interested in such a proposition, so here’s a different thought: What if AMC took the plunge instead and became the first network to leave the traditional pay TV world and sold its service directly online?

AMC is currently in 99 million US households, which means that the network makes about $32.6 million per month from retransmission fees. So if 3.2 million people paid $10 a month for a Netflix-style AMC subscription, it could ditch the retransmission revenue stream entirely.

By going online, AMC wouldn’t just reinvent itself. It would also reinvent television for the Internet age, and in turn change the economics of media on the Internet.