Speaking at the 2022 Code Conference, former Disney CEO Bob Iger unloaded a cannon of predictions, calling into question the future of some streaming sites and shrugging toward the end of traditional television.
“Linear TV and satellite is marching towards a great precipice and it will be pushed off,” Iger said, according to Deadline. “I can’t tell you when, but it goes away.” That’s not the wildest of claims considering we’ve all been watching the slow death of traditional shows that just (gasp) come on at a scheduled time and (double gasp) hope the human in front of the TV chooses them. However, instead of sharing a rosy post-TV vision of the future for every on-demand outlet, Iger was steadfastly bleak about the streaming battle royale.
“I don’t think all streamers are created equal. I don’t think they’ll all make it,” Iger said.
Naturally, he claimed that Disney+ would emerge just fine, alongside Prime Video and Apple+ because of their huge war chests and different goals as tech-first companies, as well as Netflix because of its staying power. The big-name he left out of his prediction was notable: HBO Max (now in turmoil after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and new CEO David Zaslav treating movies like tax write-offs).
He also didn’t speak about specialty streamers or pour out an on-stage Four Loko for Quibi.
Dubbing this an “era of great transformation,” Iger also predicted that cinemas would never be packed to the degree they were before Covid, but that movies would endure. Presumably, we’ll all just be watching them from the comfort of our couches on whatever streaming platforms survive.
(via Deadline)
