What are you paying for when you buy TV?

[Commentary] When pay TV options came out in the 1980s the consumer was buying choice — more channels and more options for their prime time or daytime or anytime entertainment. But in today’s world, where the choices are infinite and spread between Facebook, So You Think You Can Dance and Angry Birds, consumers aren’t demanding choice. So in today’s world what am I actually buying when I buy TV packages, be they from a pay TV provider, Hulu, Amazon on Demand, or Netflix?

After thinking about TV in this way, I realize that traditional cable is no longer about choice, it’s about access: we have an abundance of choice, but not necessarily what we crave. As an access provider for content, cable has the widest depth of content right now, but it also costs the most. When I thought about what I was actually buying, it shed light on cable’s problems but also led to insights about Netflix, content companies and broadcasters, and also helped me as consumer to think about TV in a new way that could help me better spend my money. For example, I don’t have cable and this reaffirmed that call.