If you don't watch sports, paying for cable is a waste of money Considering canceling cable? The true cost of cutting the cord considering canceling the cord? The True Cost of Cutting Cord When you add everything up, do you really save money by cutting cord? We do the necessary calculations to cancel the cable in favor of Internet services. Read more . Cable Cutters Know This Well 4 Real Benefits Of Cutting Cable Wire 4 Real Benefits Of Cutting Cable Wire In the end, I decided to cut the cable. Refraining from cable television has a number of advantages. Read More However, cord cutting is an over-reported phenomenon.
The biggest trend is people who have never paid for cable, and never will:rope lanyards. Adweek reports that by 2025 half of Americans won't be paying for cable, and people who've never had cable are a big reason why.
This is often portrayed as a matter of money, and that's sometimes a factor:cable TV can easily cost up to $100 a month. But Nevadans don't often skip cable because it's cheap or because they can't afford it:they're skipping cable because the Internet is better on video than on TV. .
If you just want to watch something, right now cable TV is a horrible way to do it, and the rope laces know it. This is what they have discovered and what you can learn from them..
Humans have a habit of confusing “familiar” with “intuitive”, which is fair:once you know how to do something, it feels intuitive.
This is why longtime Mac users think Windows is unintuitive and vice versa:they haven't spent years learning the platform, so there's a lot they need to relearn. People forget that they once learned their Mac-specific habits and unfairly blame the need to learn new ones on Windows.
We all do this, without realizing it. So if you grew up watching cable TV, you probably think it's the easiest way to watch things:turn on the device, then flip channels until you find what you want. But this is only intuitive to you because you know how to do it, because it's familiar.
For newcomers, cable television is not at all intuitive. For starters, you can only watch shows when they're "on" - a concept that sounds simple, but only because you learned it at some point.
You need to train if something you want to watch is “on”, and you need to know what “channel” is broadcasting it. Channels seem intuitive, because you're used to them, but they're actually kind of weird, being 24/7 video streams that, unlike online video, only show particular programs at specific times.
Because there are so many channels, and they all broadcast different things at different times of the day, you need some sort of reference to figure out what's on when.
For a long time, this meant checking the newspaper or a dedicated magazine, but most TVs now have a built-in interface that you can navigate, slowly. They usually include channels that you can't watch, because you're not paying for them, and various other bits of irrelevant information that you just have to review.
YouTuber Hank Green described how frustrating all of this is:
The cable is not intuitive:it is a complex system that you are used to. Compare this to Netflix or Hulu, where you just search for what you want to watch and then watch it until you run out of episodes, and the idea of watching a “channel” when something is “on” seems unnecessarily complicated. And all this does not even mention the Byzantine. “bundling” System you need to navigate just to configure the cable.
Cable not only costs more than online video, it's worse.
Sure, you could set up a DVR to watch shows whenever you want, but that's just adding even more complexity to an already complex system.
Instead of watching something when it comes out by streaming it directly, you're recording it from a 24/7 stream to your own hard drive, which means now you have to schedule a programming show and manage files on a hard drive. I'm not saying it's rocket science, but it's not intuitive either:just familiar.
This isn't to say that video on the web isn't complicated:certain programs are only for certain services, and it can be hard to figure out what's where. Amazon's video service doesn't work on Chromecast, for example, and there are plenty of other inconsistencies like that.
However, while online video is getting easier to use, cable seems to be getting more complicated over time. New layers of complexity are layered on top of an outdated system.
Personally, every time I visit a hotel I am amazed at how difficult it is to find something worthwhile on television. I usually give up, then turn on my laptop if I feel like watching something, ignoring the big screen across the room.
I'm not alone:For a growing number of people, the easiest way to settle in for the night and watch something isn't cable:It's Netflix, or a similar video service. Learning the complex system that is cable television would not make it easier for them to watch things, and so they are not interested.
Here's Why I Think SlingTV Isn't The Future Of TV TV Channels Are Dead:Why SlingTV Isn't The Future Of Sports TV TV Channels Are Dead:Why SlingTV Isn't The Future of sports television Children do not watch the channels; they watch shows Worse yet, television channels have been an obstacle to comprehensive coverage of live sporting events. The slingshot doesn't solve that. Read More:It's built around channels, and channels are an anachronism. More and more people don't care about the channels:they care about the shows.
You probably don't like the ads, but you put up with them, despite paying for cable. Netflix has no ads. Calm Down, Cord Cutters - Those Ads On Netflix Are Just Trailers Calm Down, Cord Cutters - Those Ads On Netflix Are Just Trailers. Netflix is going to be like any other TV network, where you have to sit back. Commercials while watching a TV show or movie? Let's sort fact from fiction. Read More Kids who grow up on Netflix won't have the patience for them.
It seems that even Comcast is aware of this:NBC, its subsidiary, will launch a commercial-free comedy service later this year, so you can watch comedy shows like:Monty Python , Saturday night live , and The office no ads.
Hulu, a collaboration between several streaming networks, also offers an ad-free service. Cord-Nevers hate commercials, and media companies are starting to figure this out.
It would be crazy to say that cable offers nothing of value:there are all kinds of programs that can not be watched without it, at least not without waiting. And trying to watch sports without cable is tricky at best.
However, none of this is because cable TV is good technology:it's all about licensing. Basically, right now, TV channels, with all their unnecessary complexity and mood-killing commercials, are the entities that pay for the rights to most content.
This is temporary. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are ramping up their original programming efforts, and HBO Now is now available without cable. HBO Now Launching in April, Apple Delays iPad Pro Until September [Tech News Digest] HBO Now Launching in April, Apple Delays iPad Pro Until September [Tech News Digest] HBO Now Coming Soon, Apple Delays iPad Pro, EA will shut down Maxis, Chromebook battery killers, the Smithsonian bans selfies, and Chappie explores artificial intelligence Read More . In the long term, cable television as we know it will cease to exist and web television will win. In the short term, you can get a much better entertainment experience if you unplug the cable early, and the ones that come with cords can show you the way.
Cable sucks, and the younger generation has come to realize that it is a relic of the past that is no longer needed. It is for this reason, and for this reason alone, that they will never get cable TV, and why you should cancel it sooner rather than later.
Let's talk more in the comments below.
If you have cable, please let me know what you like and don't like, and ask any questions you may have. If you're a string cutter, talk about what you do and don't get lost. Or, if you're one of the many shortening the most, let's talk about what Internet services you use instead.
Personally, I'm pretty happy with the PVR. I prepared to record free streaming TV. How to watch live streaming TV with Kodi and NextPVR. How to watch live streaming TV with Kodi and NextPVR. . It's perfectly legal, and a free Windows program called NextPVR makes the process (relatively) simple. Read More Watch classic TV shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Twilight Zone, or beloved cult classics like The Weird Al Show and Mystery Science Theater 3000... Read More .
