Commercials could be the scissors that cut the cord

This is a big week for network bigwigs. The honchos are trying to sell their fall season of shows to advertisers at industry events commonly known as “upfronts.” And, mostly, it’s business as usual; advertisers are still ponying up big bucks to lead into Glee or Big Bang Theory, but they’re also busting out their checkbooks for online shows. The Wall Street Journal reports: “At these events, online executives are likely to stress the audience shift toward online video. Fewer people have been watching traditional TV channels so far this TV season, the first such decline since at least 2007.”

Maybe we’ve been looking at the cord-cutting trend the wrong way. We keep waiting for “the movement” to sweep the nation, and we seem to be kept wondering why it doesn’t. Maybe we the people don’t have enough cash to cause a sea change, but the advertisers do. Commercials? Who knew? They just might be the TNT that busts open this revolution.