Cable news took a major ratings hit on election night, a stark reminder of an industry struggling amid a mass shift towards streaming and alternative media.

“There isn't a media executive that doesn't know that there's a problem. There isn't a media executive that isn't actively working on that problem,” former CNN CEO Chris Licht told me at the Yahoo Finance Invest conference on Tuesday.

“The facts are that people have lost trust in legacy media,” Licht added. The media veteran was the head honcho at CNN from May 2022 to June 2023.

How to fix the issue is the multibillion-dollar question facing the nation’s most powerful news executives, as growing distrust is one of several factors contributing to the industry’s steady ratings decline.

Nielsen data showed TV viewership of the presidential election coverage fell by a quarter from four years ago, with the three largest cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News — all reporting a drop from 2020.

Recent executive commentary and Q3 results have further highlighted the massive challenges in the industry. Paramount (PARA) reported continued declines in its linear TV business in the third quarter, while Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) saw a 3% year-over-year decline in revenue, fueled in part by cord cutting.

The decreasing viewership has prompted media giants to rethink the strategy surrounding their linear networks.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Licht’s former boss, said on his company’s earnings call last week that he’s exploring "all things operationally and strategically" to ensure shareholder value.

One of the options long speculated by Wall Street: a potential spinoff. Recent analysis from Bank of America explored a possible split of WBD’s streaming and studio businesses from its traditional linear TV division.

And WBD is far from the only legacy media business that could be headed for a split. Bloomberg Intelligence senior media analyst Geetha Ranganathan recently told me on Yahoo Finance’s Morning Brief that “we can expect to see more consolidation” across the industry.

“If there's any sector that is in need of consolidation, it really is the media sector,” Ranganathan said. “There are just so many headwinds right now that are affecting the sector, especially as consumers are migrating in droves away from the linear TV model to the streaming model.”

Despite the increase in cord-cutting and the seemingly inevitable consolidation wave, Licht still believes the cable industry will survive. The networks that adapt successfully won't only see a boost to their bottom lines, but will significantly help society, he said.