TV’s Slow Death

How Mergers and Acquisitions Are Dismantling the Factual TV Industry You Loved

In recent years, we’ve all been told the same story about why TV is dying: cord-cutting, the rise of streaming services, shifting audience habits, and the aftermath of COVID-19. But that’s not the real story. Demand for content has never been higher. Audiences are more eager than ever to learn, explore, and be entertained by factual TV. The issue isn’t that people don’t want what we’re offering—it’s that the industry’s creative engines have been hijacked by the ruthless mechanics of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

I’ve seen this unfold firsthand. As a producer at Arcadia Entertainment, I’ve spent decades creating compelling, educational, and inspiring FACTUAL TV for global audiences. I’ve worked with some of the most iconic brands in the industry—brands that once represented the pinnacle of knowledge-sharing: Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian Channel. These names used to carry weight, credibility, and trust. Now, they’re shells of their former selves, caught in the gears of conglomerates more interested in squeezing free cash flow than fostering creativity.

ARCADIA TV SHOW REEL - over 500 programs shared with the world about science and engineering, history and mystery, the ocean, and all the things lost and hidden, waiting and whispering in the world.

PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television in the UK) has expressed growing concerns about the pressures facing UK independent production companies, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic and the ongoing M&A invasion. PACT’s 2024 Census revealed a significant decline in television production, with a 35.4% decrease in new shows from an already undermined post-COVID start. Worse, the knock-on effect is terrible with more than 50% of UK factual production companies expected to be out of business by the end of 2024. This is in a world where the UK has been the global hub of factual production for generations and no new production centres emerging in the world.

Here’s an up-to-date industry overview from TV insider Peter Hamilton.

 The Fall of Giants

The decline began with a wave of M&A activity that swept through the industry like a wrecking ball. Warner buys Discovery. Disney buys National Geographic. Paramount buys Smithsonian. And suddenly, the world’s best-loved informational brands—once at the vanguard of factual content—found themselves cogs in massive corporate machines.

These mergers weren’t about expanding the creative vision of the brands; they were about leveraging brand recognition and content libraries for short-term financial gain. Instead of investing in new, groundbreaking content, these companies prioritized slashing costs, maximizing efficiency, and milking their intellectual property to extract as much cash as possible. The result? A creative vacuum, where budgets are gutted, staff are slashed, and the visionaries who built these brands are pushed aside in favor of executives with MBAs and spreadsheets.

To them, it's all about the numbers. But to those of us on the ground floor, it’s about something far more critical: the slow, painful death of the industry we’ve dedicated our lives to. This isn’t just a corporate strategy gone awry—it’s the collapse of a cultural institution.

 What Audiences Are Losing

It’s important to understand the ripple effects of these mergers, beyond the boardrooms and financial reports. The damage is real, and it’s widespread.

Audiences who once turned to Discovery, Nat Geo, and Smithsonian for well-researched, expertly produced content now face a desert of recycled programs and filler. Original productions, which were the backbone of these networks, have been sidelined in favor of reruns and cheaply made reality TV. The quality gap is glaring. Audiences who crave thought-provoking documentaries, in-depth investigations, and explorations of science, history, and nature are being starved.

And it’s not just about entertainment. Factual TV has always been more than that—it’s been an essential part of our cultural and educational landscape. Many people’s first point of contact with science, history, and the natural world comes through these channels. They spark curiosity, introduce new ideas and characters, and inspire action. In an era of climate change, social upheaval, and scientific discovery, the loss of high-quality factual content is more than just a missed opportunity—it’s a disservice to society.

 The M&A Playbook: Squeeze, Milk, Repeat

The typical M&A playbook is simple: acquire a brand with an established reputation and loyal audience, cut costs, extract cash, and ride the wave until the brand’s value is depleted. For factual TV, this strategy has been particularly destructive. Unlike other sectors of entertainment, where profit margins can be bolstered by blockbusters or franchises, factual content has always been a slow-burn business. It takes time, patience, and investment to create something truly great.

But in the world of M&A, time is a luxury these conglomerates aren’t willing to afford. Their focus is on efficiency and financial optimization at all costs. That means cutting corners on research, production, and talent—essentially, gutting the very elements that made these networks great in the first place.

The irony is that demand for quality content has never been higher. Audiences are more willing than ever to pay for access to premium content, whether through subscriptions, streaming services, or one-off purchases. The appetite is there. What’s lacking is the willingness of the M&A overlords to meet it.

 The Creators’ Perspective: Talent as a Cost Center

For those of us who create the content, the M&A wave has turned what was once a dynamic, creatively rewarding industry into a grim race for survival. We’ve watched as the budgets for our shows have been slashed, as entire teams have been laid off, and as the drive to innovate has been replaced by the drive to cut costs.

Producers, writers, directors, and researchers—the people who are the lifeblood of factual TV—are now seen as nothing more than cost centers to be minimized. This commodification of talent is not only demoralizing, but it’s also leading to a brain drain in the industry. Talented creators are leaving for other sectors, taking their expertise with them. Those who stay are being forced to do more with less, often at the expense of quality and creativity.

While we can quantify the decline in revenues, jobs, and companies, we can’t measure the potential growth that never happened—the new companies never formed, the original content never created.

This hidden loss is especially apparent in places like Nova Scotia, where after a decade of steady growth, no new independent production companies have emerged to create original TV content. The root of this issue traces back to the mega-companies formed by mergers and acquisitions. Obsessed with self-dealing and short-term cash extraction, these conglomerates, no matter how heavily incentivized by government, are loath to give even the bare minimum of commissions to the independent sector—the same sector that has been the creative engine of television since the industry's inception. This reluctance to invest in fresh, original content means fewer opportunities for emerging voices, stifling innovation and strangling the creative pipeline that drives cultural and economic growth in TV production.

And that, dear viewer, leaves you—the loyal consumer—after shelling out for your internet bill, cable bill, Apple subscription, Amazon Prime account, Crave, Paramount+, Disney+, and every other plus they’ve concocted to drain your wallet, in the absurd, Kafkaesque situation of sitting down after a long day, firing up the television for a moment of peace, and finding absolutely *nothing* on. That’s right—*nothing*. In a world drowning in content, you’re stuck scrolling through endless garbage, trying to remember which service you forgot to cancel, while the media mega-giants who merged everything worth watching into oblivion sip cocktails made from your hard-earned cash. It’s the ultimate insult: a wasteland of reruns and reality slop, while those companies squeeze every penny out of once-great networks like Discovery and Nat Geo, giving zero commissions to the indie producers who used to make for you the TV worth watching.

 What This Means for Our Cultural Future

The decline of factual TV is about more than the loss of a few beloved channels. It’s about the erosion of our cultural fabric. These shows and channels have long been gateways to education, awareness, and understanding. They’ve introduced us to the wonders of the natural world, taught us about history’s great lessons, and brought important social issues to the forefront of public consciousness.

As M&A continues to gut these brands, we risk losing more than just good TV. We’re losing the ability to inform and inspire future generations, to provoke thought, and to foster curiosity about the world around us.

In an era where fake news and misinformation dominate the headlines, the role of factual TV as a source of reliable, trustworthy information - like the neatly stack bright yellow National Geographic magazines of the generation before it - is more important than ever. Without it, we’re left with a gaping hole in our cultural curiosity landscape—a void that will be filled by noise, misinformation, and superficial entertainment.

The Need for a New Approach

The TV industry doesn’t need another merger. What it needs is a re-commitment to creativity, to investment in new ideas, and to the talented people who make it all possible. It needs visionaries, not bean counters, at the helm. If we don’t act now, the M&A wave will leave nothing but a wasteland in its wake—a barren landscape where the only things left standing are the hollowed-out shells of once-great brands.

As someone who has lived through this industry’s golden era and now its slow decay, I believe there’s still time to reverse course. But we need to recognize the real culprit behind TV’s decline: not the audience, not the technology, but the corporate greed that values short-term gains over long-term success. We need to demand better—not just for ourselves, but for the audiences who deserve so much more.

A solution to the current problem in the TV industry would be a decentralization or deconsolidation strategy that breaks up the monolithic media conglomerates and empowers smaller, independent companies. This would involve policies and market shifts designed to:

1. Increase Direct-to-Consumer Platforms: Encourage smaller producers to bypass traditional distribution channels owned by conglomerates and go straight to platforms like YouTube or emerging FAST TV (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV). These platforms offer more creative freedom and fewer gatekeepers. This can reintroduce the diversity and innovation that's been lost in mega-corporate consolidation.

2. Local and Regional Content Investment: Governments and funding bodies could incentivize the growth of smaller, independent production companies by providing grants or tax credits aimed specifically at new, original content. This would help re-grow regional production hubs like Nova Scotia, where local stories could be told, breaking the stranglehold the big players have on distribution and content.

3. Public Broadcasting Revitalization: Public broadcasters like the CBC or PBS haven’t been Merged or Acquired, but they have centralised to an incestuous degree, creating - especially in CBC’s case - an echo chamber of orthodoxy, a shrill purveyor of pop political ideology more so than a place to find Canada. Public broadcasting decentralized and depoliticised could become a home for independent creators by increasing their commissioning of original content. By bolstering public broadcasters’ regional and local funding and mandate to create diverse, educational, and entertaining content, the industry could reinvigorate the kind of grassroots storytelling that has been sidelined by corporate media.

4. Breakup of Media Conglomerates: More radically, some advocate for anti-trust actions that would break up media conglomerates, allowing for a more competitive and diverse marketplace. This would make it easier for independent creators to pitch and sell their original ideas, reinvigorating the creative landscape.

5. Creative Cooperatives: Independent creators could band together in cooperative structures that share resources, distribution networks, and even profits. By pooling their efforts and cutting out middlemen, they could create a new ecosystem where creators control more of their destiny, free from the top-down control of the mega-corporations.

A New Frontier: The Future of Factual TV

But here’s the thing: I’m not without hope. In fact, I’m bullish on what comes next. The future of factual TV isn’t dead—it’s simply moving to a new frontier. And, ironically, the industry and everyone in it are wildly underestimating what this next frontier really is: YouTube. It’s not just a platform, it’s a wild west of opportunity, a realm of endless possibility, and a free-for-all for creators who are willing to step outside the traditional boundaries.

It did not make much sense to consider YouTube alongside Netflix, Disney+ and the like at the height of the streaming wars.

But as the streaming landscape has shifted, so, too, has the context in which YouTube should be viewed.

While TikTok and its ilk are still tied to smartphones as their primary viewing platform, YouTube has not just made the leap to big-screen viewing but solidified its dominance over that arena, giving it a unique advantage over other social video platforms.

YouTube is not just doing $8b per quart plus in top-line ad revenue, it’s by an increasing margin the most watch - “most engaged” platform in the business.

Market analysts are waving a big flag that Google (Alphabet) is undervalued because people aren’t realizing the value and future of YouTube.

If you want to know what’s really coming, look to music. Music has always been the trailblazer in creativity, technology, and industry change. The corporate M&A machine gutted the music business just as it’s now cannibalizing TV. Today, 99.9% of the money in music goes to 0.1% of the artists and companies. The inequality is staggering, and yet, music thrives. People still love, create, and share music—not for profit, but out of sheer passion. They’re keeping the flame alive, searching for a new model, a path back to the golden age.

It’s the same for factual TV. We did it as a business, and we’ll continue to do it as long as we can—because for creators like me, it’s more than just work. It’s a passion, a creative compulsion that burns deep within us. We can’t stop, even if we wanted to. And that’s why YouTube, despite being undervalued by the industry at large, is a beacon of hope. It’s where creators can still dream, build, and share without the constraints of corporate oversight.

But it won’t just stop at YouTube. We’re seeing the rise of FAST TV (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV), a new way to deliver the same high-quality factual content we used to love on cable—only now it’s mostly free, supported by a programmatic advertising model, with subscription-based options for those who want more.

It’s a tried and true model, not revolutionary, but steady. We don’t need to reinvent the business. The system wasn’t broken to begin with—it was just hijacked by greed. All we need to do is fix or abandon the mess left behind by the M&A invasion that brought us to this dark age.

There’s a good time coming. A new world is emerging. It won’t look exactly like the past, but it’ll be built by the same hands—the creators, the storytellers, the educators. We’re not done yet. We’re just getting started.