Streaming platforms have become an overwhelmingly popular option for consumers to easily access their favorite movies and TV shows at their own convenience, allowing them to watch whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want. It’s easier than ever to pull Netflix up on your laptop or open the Hulu app on your cell phone and catch up on the latest episode of your favorite show.
These streaming services offer a wide variety of movies and TV shows, ranging from oldies like Friends, Gilmore Girls, and The Twilight Zone to newer productions like Young Sheldon and This is Us. Often, these shows air on cable TV from time to time – however, you don’t get to choose what episode you watch or when you watch it because it is run as scheduled programming. Many opt to watch these shows on streaming platforms so that they can choose what episode to watch and when to watch it, which are options that are not available with cable TV.
Aside from offering cable TV shows, many streaming services have started to produce original programs that are only available to watch on their platform. As such, viewers are often required to purchase a monthly subscription plan in order to keep up with these shows.
Season two of the HBO original Euphoria was released on Jan. 9 and was only available to watch on the HBO Max streaming platform. Episodes were released every Sunday night until the season finale on Feb. 27, requiring viewers to pay a subscription fee in order to keep up with new episodes as they were made available on the streaming platform. This is becoming an increasingly common practice as consumers stop purchasing cable TV subscriptions and turn to streaming subscriptions instead.
The editors agree that cable TV has become far less popular among younger age demographics as streaming platforms continue to become more and more popular due to their convenience.
“Cable television is a dying form of media,” commented one editor. “Why flip through channels when you can pay for something that has exactly what you want?”
Streaming platforms may be the more convenient option, but the editors agree that it feels weird to see cable start to phase out among new generations since most of the editors grew up without these streaming platforms. For most of the editors, cable TV was all we had to watch.
“Although I do not watch cable anymore, I have a sort of nostalgic relationship with it, so I hope it doesn’t become completely obsolete,” said another editor.
Still, the editors believe that cable will still be around for a while, even if it isn’t the most popular option. “I think cable TV will still be around for news but will not be relied on heavily,” added a third editor. “It’s like radio. Radio use has died down but people still use it once in a while.”
“I don’t even have cable at my house,” mentioned another editor. “While I don’t think it will outright die, I do think streaming services will eat up a large part of the market and play their own role alongside cable.”
Not all streaming platforms are a viable replacement for cable TV. Most of the editors have monthly subscriptions for multiple streaming platforms, which can quickly get expensive. In order to manage these costs, many opt to only purchase subscriptions for platforms that have a wide range of content that will provide the most entertainment.
“Some of these streaming platforms are worth paying the fees, but others not so much. There are some platforms that only offer one show that I like, so I don’t think it’s worth paying a high price to watch one thing,” explained another editor. “Platforms like Netflix offer a variety of content and have series that are fairly interesting.”
Ultimately, the editors are confident that cable is on the decline as streaming platforms continue to dominate the entertainment market.