Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for June 21, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
June 21, 2017: Over the past five years, the largest cable companies have lost 4 million subscribers while Netflix has added 27 million. As a result, the popular streaming service now has more subscribers than the cable television industry. The popular video streaming service boasts 50.9 million subscribers, while the top six cable companies together serve 48.6 million subscribers. Smaller cable companies add a couple of million more to that total.[1]
Satellite TV services have 33.2 million subscribers, and phone companies add 9.8 million more. Internet services like Sling TV have grown quickly but still claim just 1.7 million subscribers.[2]
These figures highlight a growing trend of decentralization in American society. During the 1950s through the ‘70s, three television networks dominated the media landscape. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, cable television networks provided a much wider diversity of programming, leading to explosive industry growth. The growth of cable devastated the three networks and their broadcast affiliates.
Now, services like Netflix are doing to cable what cable did to broadcast television.
In my new book, Politics Has Failed: America Will Not, I point out that American society grew more centralized from its founding until the 1970s. Then, a Great Turnaround took place with the beginnings of the digital revolution—and since then, American society has been decentralizing.
At the same time, however, the Regulatory State began growing and centralizing the power of America’s government. This disconnect between a decentralizing society and a centralizing government is the underlying cause of the extreme political tension facing the nation today. A one-size-fits-all federal government cannot survive in the iPad era.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- June 20, 2017 50 million dollars plus spent on special election Georgia 6; all-time record
- June 19, 2017 52 percent of conservatives expect economy to improve; 14 percent of liberals agree
- June 16, 2017 6 billion dollars worth of legal marijuana sales in 2016, $25 billion of illegal sales
- June 15, 2017 17.6 billion dollars of person-to-person payments handled by Venmo in 2016
- June 14, 2017 17 percent of voters not happy Trump is president—but happy Clinton isn't
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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