Here's another explanation: every year the TV audience gets older [1]. Advertisers notoriously chase the coveted 18-49 demographic. Younger viewers are increasi

Here's another explanation: every year the TV audience gets older [1]. Advertisers notoriously chase the coveted 18-49 demographic. Younger viewers are increasingly not watching traditional TV. So, you can view Time Warner's move to cut ads in prime time as simply a way of raising prices by reducing supply (inventory). As for cable companies shoving TV packages down customers throats, well that's easy to explain. The bargaining power a cable company has with media companies is directly proportional to how many TV subscribers they have. So every Internet-only customer a cable company has marginally raises the per-customer cost of TV. This is also why Comcast wanted to merge with Time Warner. It's simply about reducing TV costs. This business model really has to die. [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/05/tv-is-increasingly-for-old-people/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/05/t...