At some point in the not too distant future the majority of the US will be wired for high speed Internet or some wireless solution will bring high speed to every house. At that point satellite TV will be doomed because everybody will be able to get any channel they want without satellite and competition between providers should bring prices down. Unfortunately the future looks grim (to me) for DirecTV and Dish and do you think ATT is blind to this?
I don't for a second believe prices for "Skinny Linear TV" or Streaming TV will ever come down in price. First off the BIG PLAYERS (Content Owners and national Cable/Sat Monopolies) are entrenched with VAST sums of Cash on hand to Stave off competitors.
It costs far far too much money to launch a service and prop it up for years until it turns profitable. Look at all the streaming players, within a year or two most will be GONE GONE GONE. Those that look like they MAY survive have raised rates multiple times as well as dropped content to try to maintain the ability to become profitable. Streaming also DEPENDS on the end user maintaining an internet connection capable of receiving the content, as well as that connection doesn't belong to your streaming company, this means your internet provider COULD use their monopoly status to throttle said service so the end users streaming content is Unusable.
I don't anytime in the near term seeing Internet becoming cheaper and or more widespread for Rural America. 5G will not work for Rural America, DSL won't work, Running COPPER CABLE or less likely FIBER Landlines for VERY LOW Density areas won't work is its just to costly, Maybe a better NON Terrestrial Provider will be able t grab these prospect end users, but I Doubt it.
I for one, see Linear TV staging a comeback in the not to distant future as prices increase and content channels disappear from Streaming services, bundled service will become more attractive.
Satellite has ONE GIANT advantage over all of their competitors, their distribution system is AVAILABLE Nationwide without running any more wires, paying for Pole Licenses, Local governmental fees etc. All that is needed is an onsite Dish at the service location simple easy.
John