The writing is on the wall -- traditional cable television is dying.  Whether you choose to accept it or not is totally up to you.

I happen to be a traditional cable television subscriber.  I pay a ridiculous amount of money each month and only watch in the range of 5 to 10% of the channels I pay for.  It's no wonder so many people are taking a "cord-cutting" approach to their entertainment... a move I'm seriously considering.  Hulu and Netflix have already established themselves.  While these were good alternatives for some, many people stayed behind with cable providers for one or two reasons... sports and premium programming. 

Enter Sling TV and HBO Now.  Sling provides a streaming option that includes a good chunk of your sports programming in the form of ESPN and ESPN2.  Throw in an extra $5 on top of the $20 monthly cost and you get additional ESPN channels plus NBC's Universal Sports Network (Olympics and Olympic sports).  Hate on ESPN all you want, but they often carry our beloved Buckeyes' games.  Additionally, HBO has released pricing for their standalone streaming service, HBO Now, at $15 monthly.  No cable AND Game of Thrones?  I'll give you a moment to soak in that wonderful thought...

(I'm in now way advertising for Sling and HBO, but rather showing the strength of cable alternatives that are starting to take hold)

These prices start to add up, but they often come nowhere near the monthly costs of a full cable channel package.  However there remains one channel that, to me, sticks out as a big holdout --- the Big Ten Network.  Unless I'm mistaken, in order to view BTN programming you need to have a cable television subscription.  But for me, one channel is not enough to stick with cable.  This is not an original thought either.

The Big Ten Network is tied to the mast of the shinking ship that is cable TV.  The longer that BTN stays committed to cable, the more it will suffer in the long run.  Even BTN's streaming services require a cable sub.  If it were to offer up a standalone streaming service similar to what HBO is doing, I feel they could find great success.  And if it were priced fairly, I would absolutely buy in.

Even cable providers are starting to realize that their traditional model is no longer sustainable.  The increase in enhanced internet offers and packages (as well as heated debates in DC that would get us all banned if we started discussing it) reflect this.  Increased streaming means an increased need for more bandwidth and data limits (for those that have those).

So what do you think?  As people start leaving cable TV in masses, can BTN survive?