How Streaming is Beating Cable TV
Watching TV is the best pastime activity for almost everyone, and it has been like this ever since it was introduced. And there is always a family member in the house whose stuck to the TV screen 24/7. This is even more evident when there is a special game, movie, or series being premiered. Americans adore their TV boxes and nearly every house in the US has a minimum of one TV. This single gesture shows the importance of cable and TV in our day-to-day life.
People are dependent on television broadcasting for not only entertainment but also for live telecasts of news around them as well as all over the globe, in addition to watching sports. Also, the content which is shown on television has also changed a lot over time.
In the beginning, the TV lineup consisted of a handful of programs and channels that were available for viewers but over time this lineup has evolved into something much more diverse and content-rich. Today the entertainment industry accumulates billions of dollars and the major contribution to it comes from cable TV.
Talking about the content lineup of cable TV, according to a research conducted in 2017 1,761 television channels are operating in the USA alone, all these channels are fully functional, and this number is stunning compared to the television landscape of 2001 when there were only around 750 channels in total. This shows how far cable TV has come in terms of progress and that too in only a couple of decades.
Current Technological Landscape
Taking a look at the current technological landscape, it is consistently progressing and evolving which in turn has allowed it to take a grip on different fields of life, changing them for the better, making progress, and restructuring new technologies from the ground up. Something similar has happened in the field of visual entertainment. This is the age of smartphones and computers that can fit into our pockets without compromising on features and performance, rather enhancing it further.
Since everything was going portable, it only made sense to have a portable TV, and rather than creating a separate gadget what we did was that we created an alternative that has now transformed into the standard way of consuming all kinds of content, yes we are talking about Streaming Apps.
These apps are the well-deserved successors to the standard television experience, and many trade analysts also predict them as the future of the entertainment industry. But these platforms solely work over the internet and for that, you need a good internet connection. Luckily service providers like Cox exactly offer that great internet experience for customers of every ethnicity, for example, if you are a Spanish customer then you can definitely find some good deals on Cox internet Español, so do check them out.
Significant Edge of Streaming Apps Over Conventional Television
These streaming apps have an added advantage of ease and convenience, especially in times when users want to watch content on the go. The content options on these apps are limitless but can also be customized according to a user’s watch style. Plus, new content including newly released movies is occasionally added to the content library of these platforms. This can be seen in the form of Disney+, which is a streaming platform specifically made for Disney-owned content and every new Marvel and Star Wars film is added on this platform after they end their theatrical run. On the other hand, the sort of variety of content these apps give to their viewers is unparallel as compared to any other media service, and is far superior to what’s shown on cable TV, which is generally confined by restrictions imposed by specific channels and media houses as well as civil laws regarding censorship.
Every other day a new Netflix show or a new movie released on Amazon Prime is receiving heaps of praise from viewers and critics alike. Plus the advantage of portability that has been introduced with the arrival of these platforms is a treat for every type of viewer. Users now have the option to install these apps on their phones and watch content on the go with just the internet.
Top-Notch Features like parental control, on-demand programming, and pay-per-view are only limited to these streaming platforms. On the monetary end, the cost of subscribing to services is significantly lower as compared to even a basic cable subscription, which is an added perk for someone looking to cut their entertainment expense.
Future of Cable TV
Seeing the success of streaming on such a large scale, numerous cable companies have partnered with these streaming platforms to make their apps available on their lineup and handed fresh discounts and promos in yearly subscription costs. On the other hand, countless service providers took a drastic step of launching their own streaming apps that were compatible with smartphones and smart TVs and equipped users with the facility to not only watch on-demand and pay-per-view content but also live TV channels, including live broadcasts of news and sports.
Now as a marketing tactic specifically designed to lure customers to cable TV, cable providers add their own streaming app for free in their every package. This enables a user to watch both the regular television channels as well as on-demand content when they subscribe to a cable package with a said provider.
Final Words
We are living in a time of Smartphones and Smart TVs and taking the example of the bankruptcy of a billion-dollar company like Blockbuster, cable companies should realize that internet-based entertainment options like streaming are the future of the entertainment industry, and if they won’t evolve they’ll also meet the same fate. This is also a fact that satellite dishes and TV boxes feel like a thing of the past. So cable companies that have launched their own streaming apps have played quite a smart move as this will be their only option for survival in the near future.