The daredevil pulled his emergency parachute with only seconds to spare. ABC News’ Andrea Fujii shows us.
You’ve probably seen the headlines about the decline of TV news, or at least the decline of cable television. Today’s audiences are becoming more averse to traditional media, and news networks are feeling the heat. While broadcast TV and cable television still have their place, the number of people watching cable television has dropped significantly. In fact, the Fox News Channel alone lost $20 million in yearly subscriber fees in 2016. Today, 85 percent of U.S. households subscribe to a streaming service. This trend is likely to continue.
With the proliferation of free news streaming services, the broadcast news industry is in trouble. The competition is fierce, and if you don’t pay for cable television, you’ll be cut off from the news you need. Even cable news broadcasts have to pay their workers. The free news streamers are trying to get a piece of that action. But the problem is that they mimic the way and style of cable broadcasters. This means that, by advertising free news, these companies are effectively telling viewers that they’ll be able to cut their cable subscriptions, and that they can get cable quality news without paying for it.
When CNN first launched in the 1980s, it had no background in journalism. Its president, Bill Leonard, was baffled by Ted Turner’s new venture. The company soon had more journalists than any other U.S. television news operation, and spawned MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Even CBS tried to buy CNN, but was unsuccessful. Instead, the network’s success paved the way for competitors such as Fox News Channel and MSNBC.
