There’s no doubt the last 10 years have completely changed the way we watch television. Live viewing has taken a backseat to binge-watching Netflix and Hulu original content. Where is it all headed? Where will television be in, say, 5 years?

As more and more people opt out of watching shows when they air, live viewership ratings have dwindled, while online numbers are up. The days of being slaves to time slots are pretty much long gone. The one area that still brings in big ratings: sports.

A sporting event is one of the few programs left on television that still pulls in relatively unharmed live viewership numbers. And in the case of the Super Bowl, big numbers. People don’t have much of a choice. We all want to watch a sports game while it’s on; the surprises and outcomes are all known and dissected by the next morning.

But now sports will be making a change the old-school TV landscape will need to deal with. The Nation Football League recently signed a deal with Twitter to allow the social media website to stream 10 games from its upcoming season.

The deal means viewers can tap into Twitter’s live-streaming video app, Periscope, on their phones, laptops, etc. It’s a monumental deal that will likely have a significant impact on how sporting events are consumed in the future.

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It’s a move that also shows the next step in the evolution of the way we watch all television. With people now binge-watching programs through Netflix and catching up with shows after the fact on Hulu and through their DVR, the NFL may be seeing the writing on the wall with this new deal.

Without sporting events, will we need to turn on a television? After all, HBO, Starz, and CBS have already begun offering their own monthly subscription services to consumers, in the hopes of catering to their audiences’ viewing habits. These monthly subscriptions allow people access to all the channel’s content all the time, as an alternative to live viewing.

Viewership numbers have prompted a change in the way ratings are processed and counted. It used to be that a series needed strong live viewing numbers to sustain it with advertisers. Now, there are plus-three and plus-seven ratings that account for people catching up with a series 3 to 7 days after the fact.

Evolving viewership patterns and new providers entering the original content field (Netflix, AMC, Crackle) have helped boost the overall TV offerings, with more original programming being produced today than ever before. Many have referred to this age as the new “Golden Age” of television. Some have claimed this has led to oversaturation.

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Phillip Swann, a noted speaker and expert on television and president of Tvpredictions.com, says live viewing has nothing to worry about in the coming years. “Live viewing will actually increase to keep people watching TV at appointed times rather than just via in-demand,” he says.

Content providers have, in fact, done their best in recent years to force audiences into live viewing. Channels like The CW have promoted crossover events with their costumed avenger shows, and many have been jumping into the event-viewing field, with live tapings of beloved classics like “Grease” helping to bring in hefty viewership numbers. Upcoming live tapings of ABC’s “Dirty Dancing” and “A Few Good Men” — from Aaron Sorkin to air on NBC in 2017 — are already planned.

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With deals like the NFL/Twitter agreement suggesting a new streaming future for all things television, the real question is whether all these online platforms will eventually replace what we know as television and live viewing altogether. Many people’s favorite shows are already online or available not long after they first air, so there could be a future where advertisers and content providers make the full switch.

Swann doesn’t see things that way. In fact, he says many market watchers and culture observers may be reading too much into deals like that of the NFL with Twitter. “Streaming will continue to evolve in the coming years but live streaming still will have too many technical issues to replace pay TV. It will be a supplement, not a replacement.”

Whatever platform dominates the future, the real winners right now are viewers. Not only is there more (and better) content provided than ever before, streaming and subscription services provide convenience. Plus, you’ll now be able to watch a football game live on your phone or laptop — wherever you are. Not much to complain about.