They may be old but Charles Dolan, 86, and Sumner Redstone, 89, have their eyes on the future -- and what they see there may be what all of us will be looking at eventually.
Dolan controls Cablevision, a major cable TV provider, while Redstone controls Viacom and CBS. Their current tussle involves "bundling" -- the practice whereby cable TV systems sell "tiers" of service to us couch sprouts.
You can't just call up Cablevision and say you want to subscribe to MTV, Nickelodeon and the Comedy Channel, Viacom's most popular cable channels.
One reason you can't is that Viacom and other program providers require cable systems to buy a package of channels -- not just, to extend the example, MTV, Nick and the Comedy Channel but also Tr3s and Palladia, two of Viacom's lesser-known channels.
The cable industry, which has never been shy about putting the hammer down when it comes to setting prices, is beginning to fret as the average monthly cable bill nears the $100 mark and as Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming giants begin cherry-picking some of the best shows and series.
In a weak economy, $100 is a lot of money to shell out every month just to watch TV when, after all, when you can do it for next to nothing through Internet streaming.
The cable industry -- not just Cablevision -- would like to get a handle on all this but the big program producers aren't showing any mercy. So Dolan has taken the first shot -- filing a federal antitrust suit against Viacom in U.S. Federal District Court in New York.
Cablevision charges that Viacom twisted its arm in the last contract negotiations, forcing it to carry and pay for numerous obscure channels that do nothing but line Viacom's pockets at Cablevision's expense.
Viacom fired back, vowing to "vigorously defend this transparent attempt" by Cablevision to squirm out of its two-month-old agreement.
No one is required to feel sorry for either Dolan or Redstone but it will be interesting to watch this unfold, as this may be the time when the cookie starts to crumble and cable TV becomes a lot more like Netflix and Amazon.
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