“On Friday night, I was reading my new book, but my brain got tired, so I decided to watch some television instead.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Can you recall, when was the last time you sat down on your sofa or bed to watch a show on your regular cable television? If your answer is no, that is alright. The reason behind this is the rise of online streaming services. There has been a significant rise in online streaming content which has left television with a fewer audience.
Not only the streaming services with new shows or web series is the reason behind cable television becoming obsolete but the very fact that the TV shows are also available online in the form of digital media, so people don’t have to take out time from their busy schedule to watch a particular show at a particular time, as they can catch the show anytime and anywhere on their mobile phones or laptops.
People simply choose the option of paying for what they want to watch and this becomes very easy to choose when the price for the streaming services are economical. Digital media provides a vast variety of TV shows or series. For example, all movies of all genres, sitcoms, documentaries, stand-ups, etc, are available on a single platform. Even sports like cricket matches are available online and people when busy just catch the live match online. This is why people are ready to quit cable TV and enjoy the no-credit-check cable service that streaming options provide.
Cable TV came down with the rise of Netflix and Amazon. Now after these two there are many other companies and television channels which are also trying to provide online streaming of their content. According to a Netflix representative, in the U.S, every three households have subscribed to Netflix. If you add that up, keeping in mind the entire population, the numbers would reach around 40 million in the United States alone. The streaming services provide the audience with an option of binge-watching while on the other hand, one cannot receive that as the shows on television air according to a set schedule.
The high-speed internet connections paved the way for ‘Smart TV’ as the audience wants to watch their favourite Netflix or Amazon prime show on the television this also one of the reasons for the downfall of cable television.
Cable TV vs TV shows online
There are some benefits of cable television that cannot be ignored and because of which there are some people who sit in front of the cable TV once in a while.
The conventional cable television offers a fixed bandwidth for the videos it plays, so the audience will never face technical issues like pixilation, buffering, lagging, etc.
The picture quality is never affected when it comes to ‘live’ content.
The current scenario is even after these few advantages that cable TV entails, people are switching to online streaming services, and they seem to enjoy the experience. The decline of cable TV is slow but seems to be inevitable.
References
https://nocable.org/news/is-television-going-the-way-of-the-dinosaurs/
https://techaeris.com/2019/10/12/is-cable-tv-becoming-obsolete/
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