• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 26, 2024

Modern media predications can be loaded with mishaps. But senior media executives keep making them -- seemingly in a realistic and serious tone.

Perhaps we need a more tongue-in-cheek approach.

Consolidation is one strong theme for next year -- but not always about entire media company mergers. Possible combinations of media companies' high-profile media assets include cable TV networks, TV/movie studios, streaming and TV stations.

Comcast Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and Fox Corp. are obvious names here, according to one report. Perhaps not too suspiciously, Walt Disney has been left off the list-- only the prospect who might be succeeding Bob Iger, as chief executive officer.

Some outside, lower-profile ideas are consideration of what happens to over-the-air TV stations, which are increasingly focused on their network partners as they navigate their necessary streaming and digital operations.

Are those TV stations still important when it comes to promoting TV network daytime and prime-time shows?

One CNBC executive believes financial hardship might mean E.W. Scripps, Tegna, and Sinclair Inc. would consider selling out -- as cord-cutting exerts a depressive effect on their business, which has resulted in weaker stock-market prices. A merger between Comcast Corp. and Charter is on the mind of another executive.

Still another believes relaxation of FCC rules will have major TV network groups buying up vast numbers of their TV station affiliates -- all of which might have some scratching their heads.

Why pursue businesses that don’t seem to have a strong, fast-moving growth trend? Surely that’s a question for many -- including the long-term prediction about what happens to cable TV networks.

Should we look at history? Think about what the future views were in the 1950s/1960s when TV was increasingly the media darling over radio -- and ruminate over where newspapers were around the same time.

Closer to modern times, where is the single program/movie digital (or even physical) rental business these days?

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the owner of Redbox, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late June 2024 and later converted to a more drastic Chapter 7 liquidation. That’s not good news.

The prediction process costs nothing. It’s always good to make a guess -- because a year from now we will be focused on what happens next.

TV Watch’s not-so-obvious ironic forecast: A new prime-time sitcom, on a Fox network, starring Elon Musk as a hapless, mediocre TV news reporter who doesn’t always get things right. It garners high ratings -- and makes lots of money.