RCBH928 wrote:I don't understand the "cablecutters" movement... I thought they are abandoning tv altogether. Seems like they are canceling their cable subscription for other alternatives like apps, or online subscriptions which might as well be served over cable internet. Does it matter how you get the entertainment?
Yes, the cost matters. Around here, cable costs over $100/mo. Most streaming services are something like $10-20 each. If you're fine with having just one streaming service, you'll be paying a tenth of what you pay for cable. Even if you wanted multiple streaming services, you could have 5-10 different services before it's as expensive as cable. And something like Hulu + live TV, or YouTube's TV service, those are only around $50-60 a month, so still half of what cable costs. Also, a lot of people around here have Amazon Prime, which allows you to stream quite a lot.
I know a lot of people that "trade" streaming services. So they might have NetFlix but only use one profile for themselves, they allow a friend with Hulu to use their NetFlix and vice versa. And a third friend that has HBO Max or whatever. So if you're willing to do that, you end up with access to several streaming services but only pay for one or two of them.
And on top of that, you can get free over the air local HD broadcast channels for
free. All you really need is an antenna. When I was born, EVERYONE around here had a roof antenna for TV. TV was something you got for FREE, and cable was an luxury thing that only rich people payed for. Now it's the opposite, and most people are completely unaware that you can still get your local channels with an antenna. And maybe some are unaware that it's now digital broadcasting, so you're either gonna get the channel or not. It's not like back in the 80's or 90's when you had to constantly deal with snowy channels because your signal was too weak. But it's kind of absurd when you think about it. You got your over the air broadcast channels for free, and that's why there's commercials (same as radio). Now people pay for expensive cable packages, just to watch mostly non-premium channels, and STILL have to watch commercials.
I think roof antennas would be more popular here, but there's two things holding it back. One, there's a huge flood of antenna for sale and most of them are garbage. So unsuspecting people buy one and don't get good results with it, then write off antenna completely. And two, even when you get a decent antenna, it require proper installation. I think the spec is at least 30 feet above the ground, which means on the roof, and most people don't want to do that. They'd rather just stick this thing on their wall and complain that they're not getting any channels. And also, even if you're willing and able to mount the antenna on your roof, it requires you to tweak the position to get the channels you want, or the most amount of channel you can, and most people just can't be bothered with things like that.
But that said, there are still plenty of people that are "cutting cable" in favor of antennas.